Lighting up the digital divide with 'Fibre, Before the Fibre'

Imagine beaming airy from a fiber-connected suburban location to a 3D-printed wireless connection strategy to a schoolhouse successful an informal colony crossed the road, providing learners with instant high-speed, reliable net access.

This is however the caller Optical Communications Laboratory (OC Lab) successful the School of Electrical and Information Engineering astatine the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) successful Johannesburg plans to span the peri-urban integer disagreement successful South Africa.

A two-year project is underway to show the usage of wireless optical technologies to supply flexible and rapidly deployable communications infrastructure that researchers accidental volition beryllium a 'fiber earlier the fiber' solution for communities not yet connected to existing fibre infrastructure.

The 'Fiber Before the Fiber Project' is simply a collaboration betwixt Wits University successful South Africa and the Universities of Glasgow and Aston successful the UK. It was conceptualized earlier the COVID-19 pandemic that has dramatically worsened the integer disagreement owed to the accrued reliance connected energy and connection technologies for distant learning, working, and accessing wellness attraction services.

Lead researcher Dr. Mitchell Cox, co-founder of the OC Lab astatine Wits University, says: "In cities similar Johannesburg there's a stark opposition betwixt informal settlements that don't person fibre and adjacent affluent suburbs, often conscionable crossed the road, that do."

While determination are implicit 50 cardinal smartphones with entree to the net successful usage successful South Africa, Cox says information costs are excessively precocious and mobile net is not accelerated capable to supply an full building, specified arsenic a schoolhouse with connectivity suitable for streaming video, for example.

"What are the opportunities if we could simply 'light up' that integer divide?" asks Cox. "Access to the net enables children to broaden their horizons and grow their curiosity: thing that I judge leads to much-needed scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs."

How it volition work

The OC Lab, unneurotic with the Structured Light Laboratory headed by Professor Andrew Forbes astatine Wits University, and the UK collaborators, Professor Martin Lavery (Glasgow) and Professor Andrew Ellis (Aston), person implicit the past respective years been researching and processing low-cost, long-range, high-speed wireless optical connection technologies.

"We are present processing a low-cost, 3D-printed wireless connection system utilizing off-the-shelf components arsenic acold arsenic possible. These devices volition nexus anchor sites, specified arsenic schools, clinics oregon constabulary stations, via a wireless optical line-of-site awesome to adjacent fiber-sources successful affluent suburbs that are wrong astir a kilometer of the anchor sites," explains Cox.

Powerful partners

The quality to powerfulness the strategy is cardinal to the sustainability of this Project. The Fiber Before the Fiber Project has teamed up with different innovative task besides developed successful the School of Electrical and Information Engineering.

Professor Willie Cronje and his squad of Ph.D. students person developed the PeCo Grid, an affordable disconnected the grid vigor strategy that could perchance powerfulness full villages. The home-based electrical grid solution tin easy integrate aggregate vigor sources—from star panels to batteries. The commercialisation of the task with manufacture partners has led to a spin-off company, PeCo Power, that designs, manufactures, and distributes astute star products for household electrification.

Cox explains, "through our concern with PeCo Power, we've travel to recognize that reliable energy is simply a scarce assets adjacent for schools successful peri-urban areas. The PeCo strategy is simply a cost-effective and reliable mode to powerfulness our system, portion providing immoderate excess to the schoolhouse itself."

A lifeline for communities

Rapid urbanization is occurring crossed galore processing nations, and with astir of the world's colonisation predicted to beryllium surviving successful an municipality situation by 2050, projects specified arsenic the Fiber Before the Fiber Project volition beryllium a lifeline for galore evolving informal settlements.

It is for this crushed that the Royal Academy of Engineering successful the UK has provided backing of R1.7-million for the Project.

"This is capable wealth for america to physique a demonstrator system, money a fewer postgraduate students and to measure the opportunities and challenges of our idea. Rolling retired telecommunications infrastructure is an tremendous and costly exercise, and our volition is not to regenerate what the work providers do, but alternatively to effort leverage what's existing for maximum impact. Hopefully this is conscionable the commencement of thing awesome!" says Cox enthusiastically.

Project stages

The Fiber Before the Fiber Project volition rotation retired successful phases, and a scope of cardinal activities are planned, says Cox.

Recently, the probe squad met with a divers radical of stakeholders to stitchery insights astir the societal and method requirements, arsenic good arsenic acquisition opportunities afforded by the system. Design and operation of a suitable prototype are present underway, and successful 2022 the squad hopes to deploy the prototype linking a presently unconnected schoolhouse to adjacent accepted fibre infrastructure.

"We volition measurement the strategy performance, usage and societal interaction of the nexus implicit an extended period. This accusation volition assistance america to make a roadmap to deploy this exertion successful informal settlements globally," says Cox.

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