Satellite based Solution to Connect Rural India: The Village Resource Centers
- Paper number
IAC-07-E1.4.02
- Author
Mr. H. Rayappa, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
- Coauthor
Mr. K Sethuraman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
- Coauthor
Dr. V.S. Hegde, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
- Coauthor
Mr. A Bhaskaranarayana, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
- Year
2007
- Abstract
Satellites have brought major changes in rural India in the past. The use of Community Radio in rural India, screening of socially relevant short films during the village festival, deployment of analogue televisions nation-wide have brought transformation in the villages of India in a subtle way. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), through the SITE (Satellite Interactive Television Experiment) programme, was involved in providing awareness on a variety of subjects in the villages across the country by deploying satellite television during 1970s, and providing talk-back facilities on the return link. ISRO has continued such efforts for further catalyzing the transformation of rural India transcending the digital divide, and providing the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based facilities through the modern satellite technology. The Village Resource Centers (VRCs) are one such attempt to connect the remote villages of India, including the distant and far-flung Islands. A fully interactive high bandwidth VSAT network is established across India using the modern solutions like efficient compression techniques in the video coding and audio coding, modulation technologies and cost effective multimedia elements. The focus of this network is full interactivity between expert centers and villagers with return video. As part of establishing the VRCs, the education services, medical services, e-governance services and natural resources database services were unified as single point delivery outlets of space based systems through satellite communication. This innovative and informal education helps the rural population in women’s education , adult literacy etc. The VRCs have expert centers like agricultural universities providing expert consultancy at the doorsteps the villages, fisheries harvest related information and advisories delivered from the research stations to the fishermen on the coast, and the specialist doctors advising from their clinics to the patients at their own villages. The network solution adopted is a star topology and envisages possible integration of terrestrial technological solutions like WiFi and WiMAX for a integrated network solutions. The solution envisaged is a cost effective and the network is scalable environment for connecting the villages of the country. The systems and solutions facilitating such services being offered to the villagers are unique, and the technology adopted for the delivery of the services is most modern and state-of-the-art. The steps taken by ISRO through VRCs are preparing the Villages of India for the modern India and towards much more rich solutions in the future. The paper describes essentially the technological software and the hardware solutions adopted for the satellite based VRC network.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-E1.4.02.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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