Cellular networks inspire economic growth and
social development. As the cost of ICT equipment continue to
come down, ownership of cellular handsets has increased
tremendously even in remote rural areas. However,
deployment of commercial-based cellular network in rural
sub-Saharan region of Africa is limited. Telecommunication
network providers are reluctant to deploy and install
expensive infrastructure in areas sparsely populated and
characterized by low economic potential, low literacy level
and lack or inadequate electricity supply. As a result, 46% of
the rural population in Africa remains disconnected. To
address this problem, we propose the design of a low-cost
local cellular network infrastructure named CEMIS that
provides basic voice call and text messaging services in rural
areas. The system features an interface for developing,
storage and later delivery of text messages in addition to
voice call alerts that can be leveraged for improvement of
security, healthcare, business and social interactions. The
design is based on a case study conducted in Shallom village
settlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) along Nyeri-
Nyahururu road in Kenya. The system utilizes software
defined radio(SDR) and open-source solutions to provide free
local and cheap communication for rural, low density small
settlements. The design is simple and easy to deploy, yet
robust and requires little or no modifications to GSM
handsets. Simulation results of evaluation of the system show
that the network maintains low delay and jitter (20ms and
3ms, respectively) for voice call traffic, while providing high
call Mean Opinion Score of 3.16 which is theoretically
acceptable. The conclusion is that this is an attractive rural
area communication solution for sparsely populated remote
areas.
Published In : IJCAT Journal Volume 2, Issue 6
Date of Publication : June 2015
Pages : 150 - 155
Figures :07
Tables : --
Publication Link :Software Based Cellular System for Rural
Communication
Rajab Philip Muchiri : Computer Science Department, Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya
Emmanuel Ogoma : Computer Engineering and Telecommunications, Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
Lucyann Muthoni Karani : Strategic Management and IT Planning, Mount Kenya University, Nakuru, Kenya
Cellular Networks
openBTS
wireless
architecture
SDR
mobile communication
CEMIS
The introduction of software-defined radios(SDR) and
software that converts GSM signals to voice over IP
allows design of low-cost local cellular networks, which
can notably improve communication in remote
communities. SDR is a kind of device in which some or all
of the physical layer functions are software defined to
facilitate the transfer of information through wireless
transmission and reception of signals in the radio
frequency (RF) part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Conventional hardware based radio devices limit crossfunctionality
and can only be modified through physical
intervention. The effect is high production costs and
minimal flexibility in supporting multiple waveform
standards. In contrast, SDR technology provides an
efficient and comparatively inexpensive solution to this
problem, allowing multimode, multi-band and/or multifunctional
wireless devices that can be enhanced using
software upgrades.
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