Wireless%20Local%20Area%20Network%20(WLAN)%20Applications%20Around%20the%20World

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Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Applications
Around the World
Lauren Maxim Van Wazer, Special
Counsel Office of Engineering and
Technology Federal Communications Commission
June 2003
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Sampling of Services Facilitated by WLANs

• Access to Broadband
• Community Networking
• Economic Development
• Education
• Telemedicine
• Basic Telephone Service Through Voice Over IP
  (VoIP)

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Few Barriers to Entry

• Relatively low equipment costs
• Off-the-shelf equipment for consumers and small
  businesses
• Access to spectrum -- in U.S., WLANs operate in
  unlicensed spectrum, therefore spectrum access is
  free
• Flexibility in regulations in U.S., type of
  technologies required to be used in unlicensed
  bands are not specified instead, users operate
  within certain technical parameters

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WLAN Growth

• With the potential benefits and the limited
  impediments, the use of WLANs has increased
  dramatically
• In the United States, sales of WLAN equipment are
  expected to increase from 1.1B in 2001 to 5.2B
  in 2005
• By 2007, it is estimated that more than 20
  million people will be using WLANs in the United
  States alone

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WLAN Case Study 1Southern CaliforniaTribal
Digital Village

• San Diego County, USA
• Project funded and supported by Hewlett Packard

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The Challenge

• Over 7,600 Native American Indians live on
  reservations in isolated and scattered
  communities in Southern California, near the
  Mexican border
• Area spans more than 150 miles and takes more 4
  hours to visit by car
• 18 Native American Indian reservations
• 50 unemployment

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The Challenge contd

• Connections between the reservations made
  difficult by rocky, mountainous terrain and deep
  valleys getting line of sight can be difficult

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Tribal Digital Village Areas of Focus

• Access to Education distance learning,
  including University of California at San Diego
• Cultural Preservation e.g., language
  preservation and Web link to specialized cultural
  library
• Community Development
• Economic Development
• Internet Infrastructure

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Tribal Digital Village Network Using IEEE 802.11b
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Power Sources and Network Access Points

• Flexible, solar and even car batteries
• Access points used as community centers

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New Skills and New Services

• All work constructing and maintaining wireless
  network done by tribal members including building
  communications towers and aligning the radios

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Community Bulletin Board

• E-mail exchange
• Events calendar
• Health information
• Education and school resources information
• Job opportunities

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Reflections on Success

• We sometimes have to take a step back to see
  what weve accomplished. I really thank all of
  the people involved in this project for having
  the faith to trust us. They gave us the
  opportunity, and weve done a great thing with
  it. Michael Peralta, member, Rincon Indian
  Reservation

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WLAN Case Study 2Indias Digital Gangetic Plain
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The Challenge

• 25 rural villages
• No electricity, roads, or running water
• No basic telephone service

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The Answer

• 85 Km-long multi-hop wireless corridor between
  Kanpur and Lucknow
• Project called Digital Gangetic Plain because
  wireless coverage cuts across the river Ganga and
  connects rural villages
• Done in conjunction with Indian Institute of
  Technology-Kanpur and Media Lab Asia

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The Answer contd

• Use 2.4 GHz band, which has been delicensed in
  India
• Use 802.11b and VoIP technologies
• Rural ISPs information kiosks
• May offer potential for much of rural India
  because many villages in India are within 25 km
  of fiber 802.11b may provide last 25 km
  access

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Success!

• Hello, How are you? I am calling you from our
  village. Everything is all right here. There is
  a long queue. All of us want to use this phone.
  So, will talk with you later. Prabhu Muniam,
  Kanpur farmer using communications services made
  available by the Digital Gangetic Plain project

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WLAN Case Study 3Linking Everest
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The Challenge

• Need for emergency and other communications and
  checking on weather conditions
• Educational needs
• Technical issues no power, placing wireless
  devices on moving glaciers and insulating
  equipment from extreme temperatures

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The Answer

• Laptop computers, powered with generators and
  solar-charged batteries, communicate with
  satellite link
• Temporary shed built with stone walls and covered
  with a tent houses Internet café
• Cisco equipment

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Everest Network
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The Answer contd

• Benefits for climbers facilitated emergency
  communications, routine e-mail communications,
  online booking for lodges
• Fees from climbers used to clean trash on Mount
  Everest
• Distance learning project four schools to be
  linked obtaining Internet access
• Cultural preservation