E-Infrastructures and E-Services on Developing Countries. First International ICST Conference, AFRICOM 2009, Maputo, Mozambique, December 3-4, 2009. Proceedings

Research Article

A Rural Implementation of a 52 Node Mixed Wireless Mesh Network in Macha, Zambia

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-642-12701-4_4,
        author={Jonathan Backens and Gregory Mweemba and Gertjan Stam},
        title={A Rural Implementation of a 52 Node Mixed Wireless Mesh Network in Macha, Zambia},
        proceedings={E-Infrastructures and E-Services on Developing Countries. First International ICST Conference, AFRICOM 2009, Maputo, Mozambique, December 3-4, 2009. Proceedings},
        proceedings_a={AFRICOMM},
        year={2012},
        month={5},
        keywords={Wireless Mesh Network Rural ICT Implementation Test Case},
        doi={10.1007/978-3-642-12701-4_4}
    }
    
  • Jonathan Backens
    Gregory Mweemba
    Gertjan Stam
    Year: 2012
    A Rural Implementation of a 52 Node Mixed Wireless Mesh Network in Macha, Zambia
    AFRICOMM
    Springer
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-12701-4_4
Jonathan Backens1,*, Gregory Mweemba2,*, Gertjan Stam3,*
  • 1: Old Dominion University
  • 2: LinkNet
  • 3: Macha Works
*Contact email: jback006@odu.edu, gregory.mweemba@link.net.zm, gertjan.vanstam@machaworks.org

Abstract

In spite of increasing international and academic attention, there remains many challenges facing real world implementations of developing technologies. There has been considerable hype behind Wireless Mesh Networking as the ubiquitous solution for rural ICT in the developing world. In this paper, we present the real world rural mesh network implementation in the village of Macha, Zambia and draw both performance conclusions as well as overall experiential conclusions. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and analyze our low cost solution and extrapolate future trends for rural ICT implementations in Zambia.