"Wireless/Satellite Internet Access Connection
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The Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center of the University of New Mexico has been initiating work with the Pueblo Tribal Nations of New Mexico and the Bands of Mission Indians in California to be testbeds for a Statewide Wireless Tribal Broadband Network proof of concept. The AHPCC's Education, Outreach & Training Department has been working with the Tribal Colleges over the last three years to get high-speed internet (Broadband*) technology to the 32 Tribal Colleges. (See the EOT poster - "Distributing Grid Technologies Across the Southwest" )
The identified methods will be a way to create models for a "Statewide Wireless Tribal Broadband Network" so that initial funding can be identified to create a pathway for providing high speed Internet access to Tribal Communities. The approaches will help identify various models, according to specific Tribally defined requirements.
Summarizes the thirteen various online reports here in the "Native American Distance Education Community' website and answers the question; "What are the obstacles to integrating technology for improving education into Native cultures?"
U.S. demographics predictions indicate that African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asian/Pacific Islanders together will constitute the majority of the population in both schools and the work environment by the year 2030; the State of California is experiencing this shift in 2000. To address this change in society, a recent Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC) workshop report, "Recruitment and Retention of Underrepresented Minority Graduate Students in Computer Science," offers 25 practical suggestions for university computer science departments to attract and retain minority students.
A summary of the Tribal Colleges capable of utilizing some sort of Distance Education technologies, as well as an updated Tribal College President's contact list.
A summary documentation of all my activities over the last 10 years affecting Indian Country. There are also links to all the news articles and magazine articles written about those activities just over this last year, 2000.
Broadband Technology: Broadband penetration is expected to reach 10-15% of US households by 2003. Internet Service Providers are racing to deploy broadband solutions to connect "the last mile" of data from high speed fiber optic networks to end users who currently have narrowband access. The throughput or transfer rate of data per second defines "Broadband."
Until recently, broadband access was only available to urban businesses who could afford to pay around $1,200 per month for a T-1 connection. The recent introduction of Digital Subscriber lines (DSL) over phone lines and Cable Modems have opened up broadband access to consumers in large metropolitan areas where carriers are offering these services. (Quoted from Inficom: Broadband Technology, http://www.inficom.com/technology.htm )
The Electrical and Computer Engineering (EECE) Department of the University of New Mexico is a member of the "Global Wireless Education Consortium" formed by Lucent, Ericsson, Motorola, Vodafone, Verizon, AT&T Wireless, Nortel Networks, Nokia, Telcordia Technologies (formerly Bellcore), Raytheon, and Agilent Technologies to increase the quality and quantity of students in the wireless and Information Technology field. The EECE Department already offers courses in multimedia, networking, digital signal processing, wireless communications, optical communications, computer hardware, software engineering, watermarking for transmitting secure documents over the Internet, increasing Internet bandwidth, sensors, telemedicine, etc... The UNM Wireless Communications Group is researching all of the above wireless technologies.
The
Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center (AHPCC)
of the University of New Mexico (UNM) has been initiating
work with the Pueblo Tribal Nations of New Mexico, the BIA OIEP, Southern Pueblo Agency
and the Bands of Mission Indians in California to be testbeds for a Statewide Wireless
Tribal Broadband Network proof of concept. The AHPCC's Education, Outreach
& Training (EOT)
Department has been working with the Tribal
Colleges over the last three years to get high-speed internet (Broadband*) technology
to the 32 Tribal Colleges.
(See the EOT poster - "Distributing
Grid Technologies Across the Southwest" )
The identified methods will be a way to create models for a "Statewide Wireless Tribal Broadband Network" so that initial funding can be identified to create a pathway for providing high speed Internet access to Tribal Communities. The approaches will help identify various models, according to specific Tribally defined requirements.
Model - laptop access via the two-way wireless high-speed hub connecting classroom's full of single PC's. and Online Masters Degree in Wireless Technologies.
2) Starband with
Northern Arizona University (NAU) The Havasupai Tribe at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and 110 chapters of the Navajo Nation. - StarBand Communications Inc. (formerly known as Gilat-To-Home Inc.), America's first consumer, always-on, two-way, high-speed satellite Internet service provider, today announced it has joined forces with Northern Arizona University (NAU) to provide its StarBand(SM) service to 120 locations within the Navajo, Hopi and Havasupai Indian reservations in some of the most remote areas of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. In conjunction with the Southwest Navajo Nation Virtual Alliance (SNNVA) and Navajo Nation agencies, StarBand will enable Native Americans of all ages to access NAU's distance education programs. (Quoted from http://www.gilat2home.com/news/indiannations.html )
Model - access via the two-way satellite high-speed Internet service connected to a single PC.
3) Tachyon & Dandin Group with Advanced Networking
Project with Minority Serving Institutes (AN MSI)One or more tribal colleges and universities will soon benefit from a project to test wireless technology. As part of the Advanced Networking Project with Minority-Serving Institutions (AN-MSI), the pilot will test technology to provide multi-service IP--enabling voice, data, and video to be converged on a single IP network--to typically under-served areas. The project will also immediately benefit its participants by providing the hardware, software, and training to implement wireless solutions. (Quoted from http://www.anmsi.org/000818pr.html )
The Network Technology Committee of the AN-MSI project has completed the first draft of its highest priority project: guidelines to assist campus networkers in planning initial installations and upgrades of their campus architecture. The guidelines are based on practical experience, and offer examples of "best practices." The first draft includes notes to the Committee on improvements to be made to this living, continually evolving document, but because interest in the guidelines is very high, the Committee elected to issue the guidelines now.
A necessary element in any wireless Internet network is the ability to connect local user sites together. One method to tie these user sites together is to use highspeed wireless linking radios. The Dandin Group's HighSpeed Internet Linking Radio is such a device. It will allow highspeed connection to occur between these user local loop access points.
Model - Dandin has partnered with Interlink Products in the development of a High Speed Internet linking radio that can provide connection speeds from 1.54Mbps (T1) up to 6Mbps. Operating with the appropriate radio segment, this data radio will provide high speed Internet backbone capabilities over a wide range of operating spectrum. When used in conjunction with the TDR-900, it will provide all the necessary networking infrastructure for wireless Internet local loop access. ( Quoted from http://www.dandin.com/linkingr.html )
ADEC NSF - Advanced
Internet Satellite Extension Project will develop and deploy advanced Internet
services and technologies over satellite infrastructure for purposes of enhancing
research, instruction and learning in a diverse set of institutions of higher education.
This will be deployed with 70 rural/remote MSI & Native American sites, yet to be
identified.
A combined effort of the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) and Tachyon, Inc. will extend the benefits of Internet2 to a broader set of institutions and provide experience with advanced satellite-based Internet technology.
The NSF/ADEC Project Overview
Discussing the Digital Divide, Dr. Janet
Poley, President, ADEC. (Real Video)
Model: Two-Way High-Performance IP - Tachyon started with a clean slate and set out to deliver efficient two-way TCP/IP over a satellite link, so every aspect of the system is optimized for TCP/IP traffic. The TCP/IP shortcomings in the typical satellite environment - degradations due to slow-start, window size and acknowledgment frequency - are well-known. There have been attempts to deliver IP over satellite but the satellite technologies have focused on connection-oriented transmission protocols that are better suited for voice traffic than IP, unnecessarily squandering expensive capacity. Network traffic is carried via satellite between Tachyon Access Points (TAPs) at subscriber premises and a Tachyon Satellite Gateway connecting to service partner IP backbone capacity. (Quoted from http://www.tachyon.net/network.html )
Through the NSF funded High
Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN) is providing three Tribes in
Southern California; Pala Band of Mission Indians, Rincon Band of Mission Indians and the
La Jolla Band of Mission Indians, in San Diego County, California with Internet access via
a high-speed wireless backbone. The High Performance Wireless Research and Education
Network (HPWREN) team is creating, demonstrating, and evaluating a non-commercial,
prototype, high-performance, wide-area, wireless network in San Diego county. The
NSF-funded network includes backbone nodes on the UC San Diego campus and a number of
"hard to reach" areas in San Diego county. The HPWREN will not only be used for
network analysis research, but will also provide high-speed Internet access to field
researchers from several disciplines (geophysics, astronomy, ecology) and educational
opportunities, such as rural Indian reservations and schools.
Though many rural towns have access to the Internet via dial-up or cable modems, there are several areas in the country (including San Diego county) that lack stable, affordable commercial Internet services. In an effort to help bridge this potential "digital divide", the HPWREN project is working toward delivering high-speed Internet connectivity to several remote communities in east San Diego. (Quoted from http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/ )
The HPWREN team recently provided a wireless link
for the Pala Native
American Indian reservation, which is home to more than 600 tribal members -
including more than 150 children who attend elementary school on the reservation.
La Jolla Native American Reservation Collaborates with UC San Diego - Located just below Palomar Mountain at 2400 feet, the La Jolla Native American Reservation's Learning Center serves both young and old - with a rather extensive book selection and a computer lab that now has high-speed Internet access via UC San Diego's High Performance Research and Education Network (HPWREN).
Although the establishment of wireless connectivity is a great benefit to these communities, education programs are also an important aspect of any outreach project. To ensure that tribal members are fully aware of the opportunities available to them via high-speed Internet access, the HPWREN team is currenlty establishing an education program for each reservation's learning center. (Quoted from http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/education.html )
Models: HPWREN
Solar Power Relay Station Design - La Jolla Indian Reservation
HPWREN Solar Power
Relay Station Design - Rincon Indian Reservation.
Other Wireless Resources |
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Wireless Classrooms: |
Mobile Classroom: |
Virtual Laboratory |
More research areas are in progress,
check back for the final report on
"Wireless/Satellite Internet Access Connection & Community Node
Models"
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Evans Craig, EOT Manager Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center University of New Mexico 1601 Central, NE Albuquerque, NM 87131 (505) 277-9544
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