OCPV - One Connection Per Village

Name

Garrett Wyse

Department

Telecommunications Software and Systems GroupGroup

Institution

Waterford Institute of Technology

Address

Cork Road, Waterford

E-mail

gwyse@tssg.org

Tel

051-302965

Fax

051-341100

Do you hold a permanent contract? No

If no, when does your current contract expire? November 2009

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One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) was designed with the intention of providing cheap, easy to use, robust computing equipment for individuals in developing countries.  After initial difficulties, they have proved a spectacular success, with several million in production. In fact they have created a new product category (sometimes called ultra-portable or netbook PCs). However, connectivity has not been considered part of the brief of the OLPC programme, with the device itself only supporting Wifi access. However, in the developing world the access network is largely restricted to WIFI mesh networks, which connect groups of OLPCs together for collaborative purposes, but not for general Internet connectivity.

The purpose of this proposal is to design and prototype a One Connection Per Village (OCPV) service. This will leverage the OLPC to deliver a service focussed on improving the well being of individuals in the developing world as defined by the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). These are key metrics measuring the well-being of individuals in context of life expectancy, literacy, educational attainment and GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The OLPC on its own cannot deliver these benefits. However, if equipped with appropriate connectivity and information services, coupled with an associated developmental strategy, it has the potential to have a profound impact. This proposal, utilising the HDI framework, will prototype a suitable information service, access network and OLPC based client application optimised for a low resource and low power context, which will provide a critical infrastructure for improving HDI within developing communities.

The information service - termed the HDI Core - will be a web service application prototyping Health, Education, Financial and Community Information services. It will be developed as a secure Internet application, accessible from conventional browsers. It will also have an alternative interface for low resource, limited connectivity access. The access network - termed HDI Access - will leverage known approaches to low resource environments, including shortwave, VHF Radio, 2G and satellite connection. The HDI Access device will utilize a single OLPC + a specialised low cost link layer interface, optimised to transfer data periodically to the HDI core. The client device, again based on an OLPC and termed the HDI Client in this proposal, will run a series of applications oriented towards local development strategy. This strategy would support health care, education, financial (micro-credit) and general community information services and applications.

 
A typical scenario for the health domain would see a health care worker, perhaps a community nurse, visiting a remote region equipped with the HDI client device. She would check patients, record general well being, perhaps take photographs of injuries and ailments. When visiting the site location of an OCPV, she will have the ability to synchronize her HDI client with the HDI core, before proceeding to subsequent appointments. This synchronisation will be two way, downloading health related updates, diagnoses and other information useful on her rounds of the community. Equivalent scenarios could be envisaged in the financial, education and community information domains.

The Human Development Index as developed by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) in 1980 has become the standard means of measuring human development, which refers to the process of widening the options of persons, giving them greater opportunities for education, healthcare, income, employment etc.  It about building human capabilities-the range of things people can do or be in life.

In developing nations HDI levels are low and rising slowly, if at all in some places. Poverty traps exist for swathes of entire populations with low levels of human development ensuring they continue to experience low living standards with little chance of this situation changing.  Access to such services as devised in this proposal, while not being a silver bullet for poverty eradication, offers people an opportunity to begin to lift themselves from poverty, it also offers the various sectors in an economy the opportunity to engage in a meaningful and collaborative manner in projects specifically designed to improve living standards.  Poverty alleviation on a large scale is what this project attempts to address, it is about identifying and solving the problems in developing effective local communications systems and scaling these systems up.  Working with various entities, public, private and civil society, this project seeks to address this gap in effective communications provision for developing countries populations.

Access to communications is more than not being able to ring someone, it is about not having the resources to effectively communicate about a range of issues directly effecting living standards.  If we consider the integral part communication systems and devices play in our lives we can begin to comprehend life without them.  Take away your phone, laptop, PC, TV, radio, internet and imagine what education, healthcare, and financial services systems would be like, how would they function? Add to this not being able to make a phone call and you begin to get the picture.    

With the arrival of the OLPC, and increasing mobile phone penetration, it is now time to consider the possibilities of leveraging possibilities in education, financial services, healthcare and community information.  Many studies have shown that increased access to communications improves GDP levels and, potentially significantly, other HDI indicators.

Enhanced communications infrastructure, delivery mechanisms and content greatly enhance an individual’s consumption of healthcare, education, financial services, as well as communications themselves i.e. a range of goods and services which enhance a person’s well-being, life expectancy, and general personal utility.

As a result of consuming these services, individuals experience a higher Human Development Index (HDI) level.  This allows for a fuller life experience, a fundamentally better quality and standard of living.  It facilitates active engagement in local communities, greater participation in family and social activities and overall increased levels of social, public and private capital.

The solution relies on three components, the HDI client (a specifically adapted OLPC) linked to a HDI access point, (the a connection in the population centre) which in turn is linked to the HDI core (central information storage point) with periodic synchronisation.  This link is opportunistic, scheduled and/or always on and therefore information is passed from population group members to population centre devices and in turn to central information core storage areas, and vice versa. This provides cheap, flexible, robust information systems, which have the capacity to take in data from the HDI clients and send it on to a central storage facility, through the HDI access devices.  

The HDI access device will have the capacity to take information in through a number of different formats, from voice and text to photo and video.  This facilitates data gathered from the local populations existing 2G devices as well as the dedicated PDA's and also from the HDI core. The OLPC project was instrumental in the development of the idea, with the realisation that an offline device has limited potential for improving an individuals' HDI on its own.  However when harnessed to the potential of connecting existing communications systems with a central storage and processing point then real increases in HDI indicators may be achievable. 

This method of providing improved healthcare, education, financial services and information/communications services helps governments provide services that otherwise may not be available to the general population.  Also many other public, private and civil society entities would find that their particular mission may be better achieved using such systems. In short, funding for existing healthcare, education, financial services and communications/information systems in developing countries especially, would achieve far greater impact on the ground utilising such technologies and applying them optimally.

The project proposer has worked extensively in developing nations and seen and experienced first-hand the potential for such systems, and also the amount of existing funding being invested in systems and devices offering far less impact, then that proposed here. The three components of the overall service have to be evaluated in isolation and in tandem.  The core will have to be tested for its ability to pick up information in testing environments and with varying levels of connectivity.

The HDI access device's will have to be designed with their specific purpose in mind, whether healthcare, education etc. and also taking into account the environment, existing infrastructure and so on. The HDI clients (tailored OLPC devices) will have to be robust, reliable and cheap, as well as fulfilling the requirements as determined by sectoral experts. An evaluation of each of the three parts of the service will have to be carried out.

The final outputs will include the evaluation and feasibility of the overall service and of the three components of the service, the core, the access devices and the client devices. Depending on the environment, the technology available, the existing infrastructure in place and even culture, devices, linkages, connectivity and overall service management systems may be designed. This in turn lays the groundwork for the piloting of projects in a variety of simulated low-resource environments.

Given the large distances involved, the simplest scenario would be to utilise HF Radio as a data transport mechanism.  And example of HF radio being used for simple services would be Bushmail (http://www.bushmail.co.za/). Combined with Automatic Link Establishment (ALE), a reliable service could be offered with much increased reliability.  The main advantage of such a system would be no 'call costs'.

 
Another option would be to use a VHF Packet Data network, if each node in the network was able to operate in a 'store-and-forward' mode, it would be possible for a user to 'inject' data into the network, continue on their 'rounds' and allow the node to forward the data over a slower link (typically 1200-9600bps) than WiFi, though faster than the Shortwave solution discussed above.  Common distances achievable with a 'node' would be anywhere between 40-80km, depending on terrain and other factors.

 
Though more costly, there are still two other options 2G/3G access where available, and VSAT. 2G/3G access is only feasible where there is a Mobile Telecommunications Infrastructure already in place. VSAT on the other hand is really only of use in very isolated areas where higher bandwidths than either Shortwave or VHF communications links is required.  The problem is mainly the size of the dish required (1.2m) or larger, and the cost for data transfer.
   

Mobile phone penetration in developing countries is gathering apace, and the services on offer are becoming more widespread and sophisticated all the time.  A lot of these services though are oriented to first world consumer oriented needs, not particularly helpful to the worlds poor.  There are of course circumstances where a simple phone call may be very useful, for example finding out prices in markets, emergency services contacted, family and friends keeping in touch, job seeking made easier. However, if you consider developing technologies that can be used to deliver basic human needs and real indicators of HDI, then the explosion in communications in developing nations may begin to have a very real, substantial and long-term positive impact on peoples’ lives.

The growing demand for communications services and the myriad of complementary services now includes demand for healthcare, financial, educational and information services in developing nations.  It would not be unreasonable to estimate that demand for these services is close to the levels demanded by people in developed nations. By nature of the technology proposed here is to develop as much as possible future–proof technology and delivery systems to ensure effective, useful communications systems for the delivery of tailored and demanded services, such as those outlined above.  These HDI indicator services would be cheap to set up, maintain and update.  They would also be robust, being specifically designed with difficult environments in mind.  The system must also    be reliable as the service will have to be able to operate in adverse conditions and potential climatic and environmental shocks.

There are a number of service suppliers delivering communications in developing nations with a broad range of services available.  Companies such as www.bandway.com and www.t3comms.com offer communications systems and services in developing nations already, but as stand-alone entities.  This proposal seeks to organise the various communications possible, in order to achieve efficiencies and economies of scale in the delivery of education, healthcare, and financial services along with increase levels of communications within a given geographic area in rural settings and population footprints in urban settings.

As it is, radio is used quite extensively as a public information dissemination resource.  With the type of technology envisaged with this proposal individuals may get messages about public health, personal health, medication reminders etc. delivered to their phone at the appropriate time.  A medical examiner may access medical records for an individual through their dedicated PDA and all information may be processed and stored remotely at a secure site, the HDI core.

The distinct advantage of this idea is that the infrastructure would be publicly controlled, and/or owned, leased, regulated etc. depending on the country. A co-ordinated, consistent, information collection, organisation and dissemination system is the ultimate goal.  This system would be compatible with as many 2G devices as possible to allow for easy dissemination and consumption of information by the general population within a defined geographic area or population group.  This standardisation of communications types would allow for other services providers to use the system also, and over time a fuller range of services to be developed.

As it is there are any number of public, private and civil society entities developing systems and services, but without the standardisation needed to effect real change, such as measured in HDI. This rush to market has lead to fragmentation, and a rush to the bottom to supply consumer services on mobile networks, when the real potential and opportunity is to effect positive change in the lives of billions, as measured in greater levels of HDI indicators

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), has been a stunning success with literally millions of orders, but even more tellingly the development of low-cost ultra portable computers has accelerated since the development of the OLPC.  What started off as and Aid and Development project has transformed into an industry of net book PC’s and ultra-portables. The commercialisation of mobile phone networks in developing countries has in tandem grown exponentially.  The commercialisation of mobile telephony in developing world markets has exploded in recent times, and with such broadscale public acceptance the commercialisation of mobile services is following this trend.    

The Grameen Bank and Grameen Foundation (the founder Dr. Mohammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006) have developed the concept of ‘mobile phone ladies’ where a widow in an area gets a loan to buy a mobile phone and then pays it back from revenue earned as the local phone box.  This primarily initially Aid and Development issue has since become the biggest phone operator in Bangladesh, with 10, 000 base stations, with 98% of the countries population within coverage of the Grameen Phone network. Grameen are now looking at developing telecenters to disseminate information about healthcare, education etc. and so the beginnings of a generic system may be emerging.  Their partners on this project are Microsoft, Canada’s International Development Research Centre and the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation. This partnership then operates under the auspices of the UN body UNGAID, the Global Alliance for ICT and Development.  

Mobile financial services started in earnest when Vodafone was invited by an NGO to look into the possibility of mobile banking in Kenya.  Vodafone quickly realised the commercial potential and has since invested heavily in the roll-out of services in up to 30 countries, under the M-Pesa banner.  Citigroup and Visa have lately intimated their intention to enter these markets also. The proposer has substantial contacts in many of these organisations including the UN, World Bank, Grameen Bank, Vodafone, Citigroup etc. which will be fully utilised in this project.  The potential for complementary and innovative work, systems and device design and development is very substantial in a number of the countries and geographic settings envisaged.

There are a number of developed country Aid and Development sectors and public funding agencies (Official Development Assistance) initiating projects, which are then added to by a number of the larger international private actors in specific fields, such as Vodafone in telephony, Microsoft in software and Citigroup in banking. This combination of public, private and civil society actors working in concert facilitates the initial development of emerging industries on a national level with the potential for them to be replicated in any number of countries. Where private actors may not see the potential at the bottom of the pyramid, various entities and individuals have seen such potential and while developing prototypes and early systems they have attracted follow-on private investment, which in turn has created entire industries.  Such industry evolution is becoming more common as those with hands-on experience in developing countries and environments see the potential for designing and developing goods and services with commercial viability. 

Also fundamentally where public services are not supplied in developing nations, there is a large market for basic services to be provided on a private basis where no public provision exists.  This is not crowding out of public services but rather providing services where none exist at all and acting as catalysts to entice private sector actors into such sectors.   

This proposal offers a unique opportunity to develop a generic system for the collection, collation, organisation, processing and dissemination of information from and to, a local population.  This information coming in may be used for healthcare, education, news, financial services etc. Developed nation governments have also been to the fore in concept development as catalysts for private engagement.  The active involvement of the likes of the UN, donor governments and private foundations has together attracted numerous private sector actors as outlined above.

With this project, relevant public and civil society information may be disseminated also, as well as private or commercial information.  Personal information may be disseminated with regard to the various services outlined above, or news where local, public information may be disseminated throughout the population through their personal 2G devices. The growth in mobile phone ownership and use is phenomenal, the growth, development and roll-out of mobile financial services delivery is another phenomenon.  The development of healthcare and education services through mobile devices and other PDA’s is only beginning to emerge, with the potential limited by very surmountable hurdles.

There is however no uniform replicable infrastructure to help bring access to communications and the complementary services possible through these systems to the general public in developing nations.  Where communications infrastructures and access in developed nations is somewhat taken for granted and used extensively in financial services, healthcare and education this is not so now in developing nations, but it is emerging in a somewhat ad hoc manner. 

Consistency in infrastructure design, regulation, monitoring, supervision, costs etc. will allow for effective planning and roll-out of healthcare etc. across these networks and direct to the consumers of these services, the general population in developing nations.  While many issues are being debated (regulation, revenue sharing, licensing etc.) the technological know-how and device development, along with connectivity issues, are being addressed. 

The potential for such services is only beginning to be realised, with Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute in Columbia University noting the potential of mobile communications to increase HDI indicators.  He specifically states that with the continuing ‘convergence’ of digital information, wireless systems increasingly link mobile phones with the internet, personal computers and information services of all kinds and this results in an ‘array of benefits’ that are ‘stunning’.  Also Vodafone conducts research under its SIM project (Socio-economic impact of mobiles), showing GDP increasing by 0.5% for every extra 10% of the population that has access to mobile communications, and outlining many examples of where social and economic growth are directly positively effected at both the community and national level.  Therefore now is the ideal time to start looking at the foundations of such systems and designing the systems, tools, delivery channels, devices, business models, etc. that can make these systems work optimally.  Communications systems are emerging in developing nations and if consideration is made now to such services as those outlined above then real, substantial and positive change can be made.  And as outlined above where the private sector can be engaged the leveraging possibilities that emerge can have profound effects on large population groups in developing nations.

W3C in their ‘White Paper on Mobile Web for Social Development’ note that there is ‘still a gap between the development of few services that demonstrate the proof of concept, and the availability of thousands of services in all Developing Countries of the World’.  The paper specifically states that this gap has to be filled and the solution is to fill it with the ‘enabling of mobile technologies’. 

Team member

Skills & Experience

Role

Garrett Wyse

He has been a researcher in the aid and development sphere for a number of years, covering such areas as Global Public Goods, Access to Financial Services, ICT and Business Development Services, while launching a nano-venture capital fund for MSME’s in developing nations, attending various industry conferences seminars and courses, presenting papers and also undertaking professional exams in related areas.  He is now developing multi-media tools and services for generic communications systems, while acting as online editor for a regional newspaper, and contributing as a writer on global development issues.  He has thought at primary, secondary and third levels in areas from basic literacy, to one-to-one, to international trade and e-commerce, having designed and delivered some modules.  He has run business in foreign environments, adhering to local laws and regulations as well as being involved in third sector start-ups in post conflict situations.  He has also worked directly in the aid and development sector with Irish NGO’s abroad, as well as the day to day administration of private entities in a number of countries.  He has qualifications in business, law, economics and politics and is currently involved in a number of academic projects in the Global Public goods sphere.

Team Leader

A.N. Other

A software engineer with 2 years experience. This engineer will work closely with TSSG experts in the communications domain, leveraging test beds, equipment and other infrastructure.

Researcher

Team member

Commitment to

this project

Other active projects

& time commitment

Other duties

& time commitment

Garrett Wyse

85%

ME-Online 15%

A.N. Other

Full-time

WP #1

Project management & Scenario Development

Start Date

Month 1

Finish Date

Month 12

Manager

Garrett Wyse

Contributors

Description /

Activities

Set overall strategic direction of the project. Devise HDI metrics suitable for the project. Develop and document a healthcare related scenario to demonstrate key benefits.

Milestone(s)

M1: HDI Framework

M2: Scenario

Deliverable(s)

HDI Framework relevant to healthcare, documented scenario in this domain.

WP #2

HDI Core: Prototype HDI Core Internet Service

Start Date

Month 3

Finish Date

Month 8

Manager

Garrett Wyse

Contributors

Description /

Activities

Design and implement a web service to support M2: Scenario. This includes both a conventional web interface and a delay tolerant synchronization capability.

Milestone(s)

M3: HDI Core Prototype

M4: Synchronization interface

Deliverable(s)

Functional web service encapsulating subset of HDI indicators within the Healthcare domain.

WP #3

HDI Access : Prototype access service

Start Date

Month 5

Finish Date

Month 10

Manager

Researcher (A N Other in proposal)

Contributors

Members of TSSG Network management team

Description /

Activities

Select and integrate into OCPV a transport link layer implementation suitable for demonstration (shortwave or VHF)

Milestone(s)

M5: Transport Link Implementation

M6: OCPV driver

Deliverable(s)

Functional HDI access device

WP #4

HDI Client: Prototype client service

Start Date

Month 7

Finish Date

Month 12

Manager

Garrett Wyse

Contributors

Description /

Activities

Design a simplified health care application, incorporating indicative media element (voice/video). The application is to simulate the concerns of a health nurse or other health worker.

Milestone(s)

M7: OCPV Client Application Specification

M8: OCPV Client Application Prototype

Deliverable(s)

Functional healthcare client application running on a OCPV

Highly Successful Project:

Convincingly prototypes a new product category that has the potential to have a major beneficial effect on Human Development Indicators within the developing world.

Moderately Successful Project:

Demonstrates the benefits of a new type of connectivity service for OLPC devices.