Dr. Eric Brewer believes WiFi can save the developing world.
Speaking before a crowd of budding computer engineers at U of T’s Bahen Centre last Tuesday, Brewer delivered a lecture entitled “Tech for Developing Regions: Computer Science Matters,” the first of U of T’s Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series.
An accomplished computer scientist himself, Brewer co-founded the Inktomi Corporation in 1996. Since 2005 Brewer has also been on partial leave as director of research at Intel. His current work focuses on connecting rural and urban regions of developing nations through a wireless networking scheme he invented called WiLDNet.
WiFi as we know it provides internet service within a radius of several meters, as found in coffee shops and school libraries. On the other hand, WiLDNet, which is short for Wireless Long Distance Network, will be used to connect rural communities across entire nations. These communities include three to four billion people worldwide who live on less than two dollars a day. His goal is to use technology to accelerate growth and prosperity among these populations.
Brewer’s driving force is his “wireless hypothesis” which claims that wireless systems are the first truly viable infrastructure for rural areas because they connect large areas at a very low cost. “Wireless is so affordable that you can put it in rural areas right now, and we’re going to do that,” he explained. He believes that introducing such systems can lead to increased rural income, bringing about other types of infrastructure such as health care, education, and government.
How feasible are these grand intentions? According to Brewer, there have already been a number of successful WiFi experiments where connectivity has increased rural income and quality of life. The introduction of wireless connectivity to the Aravind Eye Hospitals in Tamil Nadu, India has provided thousands of rural villagers with eye care they would have otherwise never received due to the severe shortage of doctors in the area. Connected by an antenna and a small Linux router, these one-room clinics are equipped with a single PC and a high-quality webcam which allows patients to video-conference with doctors in distant hospitals. For these doctors, who are used to working without instruments, the patient interview is the most important tool in diagnosis. Of the 80,000 patients who have used this service, over 14,000 have gone from being essentially blind to having effective vision, and 85 per cent have since been able to generate their own income.
Another company, I.T. Mountain, uses WiFi connectivity to send medical audio files to Bangalore, where trained workers transcribe the files and send the text documents back to the doctors. Outsourcing transcription from cities to isolated areas generates an average of eight dollars an hour—a huge amount by rural standards—for each employee.
Of course, the wireless revolution has its setbacks. The biggest challenge Brewer has faced so far is the low power grid quality in these areas. The unpredictable spikes and swells of voltage are responsible for 90 per cent of WiLDNet’s hardware faults, such as damage to power adapters and batteries. This poses a health risk to residents, who often try to refill the battery acid themselves. As solutions to these problems, Brewer’s team developed a low-voltage disconnect circuit which completely shuts off the power at the first sign of fluctuation. This includes a solar controller that effectively charges batteries independent of varying power levels.
For Brewer, who offers his software for free, the next step is to find a company that shares his goals to operate the WiFi networks. “It’s not about getting web pages to a rural village, it’s about using the technology to directly address the real problems, whether that’s health care, education, good governments, remittances, microfinance. All those need technical innovation.” Though it may take some time to convince companies of his project’s worth, Brewer shows no signs of worry: “I think they will come, if we’re patient about it.”
