An IEEE 802.11 static mesh network design for isolated rural areas in developing regions

Abstract

Isolated rural areas often lack for any terrestrial telecommunication networks, specially in developing countries, which supposes an important obstacle for many professional and comunitary activities requiring PSTN and Internet access. On the other hand, low density and low concentration of population, lack of electricity in many points and accessibility problems make difficult to propose realistic solutions based on conventional technologies. This poster presents the development of an autonomous solar-powered wireless node for low-cost static mesh networks. The network is QoS-aware at the IP level providing reliable VoIP services. Nodes contain a software PBX so that any two nodes in the network can establish a multihop VoIP communication. This project has been proposed by EHAS Group in collaboration with Rafael Escolá Foundation.