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Mahesh

03/07/24 12:14 PM IST

New IIT Bombay-led network standard offers to improve rural connectivity

In News
  • Recently, IEEE approved a wireless network architecture for affordable broadband access in rural areas, developed at IIT Bombay.
Core Networks
  • The AN consists of base stations that provide wireless connectivity to mobile devices in a limited geographical area, called the coverage area.
  • A network operator usually installs base stations across the length and breadth of the region to be covered.
  • You would have seen these stations in the form of towers with boxes with antennae on top.
  • The CN of a cellular network has equipment that provides connectivity to other networks, such as the Internet.
  • Unlike AN base stations, the CN operates in a central location, and possibly far from any of the base stations.
  • The CN is linked to a base station by an optical fibre link called the backhaul.
  • Data from a user’s device must pass through both a base station and the CN to reach its desired destination, such as the Internet or another user’s device.
  • Even if two users are nearby and are connected to the same or adjacent base stations, the data must pass through the central CN.
  • It may not be apparent to the reader but the CN is essential to support user mobility, a key feature offered by cellular networks.
Rural Connectivity
  • Even though cellular networks seem omnipresent, their deployment and use vary significantly between urban and rural areas.
  • This is especially true in developing countries like India.
  • According to the latest Telecom Subscription Data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, urban tele-density in the country is 127% while the rural tele-density is 58%.
  • Put another way, on average, an urban user has one or more mobile connections (1.27) whereas only one out of two persons (0.58) is connected.
  • This data suggests an urban-rural digital divide. The situation in most other developing countries is similar or worse.
  • An important factor impeding the deployment and/or use of cellular networks in rural areas is the relatively lower income of the people here.
  • A big chunk of the rural population finds mobile services unaffordable.
  • Other relevant characteristics of rural areas are lower population density, populations distributed in clusters (villages) often separated by vast empty spaces, and remoteness.
  • Taking fibre infrastructure to a far-off village, in the Himalayas, say, to connect the base station there may neither be cost-effective nor easy.
  • These features of the rural landscape require a communication system that can efficiently cover a large geographical area — yet there has been limited research focus on these factors.
  • Most existing cellular networks cater to the urban populations in economically developed countries, e.g., the 5G network focuses on providing 10 Gbps data rate and 1 ms latency. Rural connectivity lags far behind.
IEEE 2061-2024
  • The standard defines a wireless network architecture for affordable broadband access in rural areas. It was approved on June 6 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
  • The IEEE-2061 network also includes a CN and AN similar to cellular networks.
  • However, the IEEE-2061 AN is heterogenous wherein different types of base stations coexist: it includes base stations covering large coverage areas — called macro-BS — supplemented by small coverage area Wi-Fi.
  • It is different from the 5G network, where the AN is homogeneous comprising base stations of the same type and typically smaller coverage area.
  • The macro-BS in IEEE-2061 can be built with any cellular technology that can support a large coverage area. While the macro-BS provides large-area coverage but possibly lower data rate, Wi-Fi is deployed within villages to provide high-speed connectivity.
  • A key capability of the system is that it allows a device to move from a Wi-Fi based connectivity to a macro-BS connectivity without any service disruption.
  • This is enabled by an integrated AN control functionality in the IEEE-2061 network.
  • As wireless systems evolve, both legacy and new technologies — including 4G, 5G, 6G, Wi-Fi and networks — will coexist and complement each other.
  • In such a heterogenous network, an integrated AN control functionality like the one included in the IEEE-2061 standard will help avoid issues like call drops. 
Middle Mile Network
  • IEEE-2061 standard proposes the use of a multi-hop wireless middle-mile network to extend connectivity to areas where optical-fibre links are not available.
  • A multi-hop wireless middle-mile provides cost-effective connectivity over long distances, eliminating the need for a costly and difficult-to-deploy optical fibre.
  • An IEEE-2061 network can flexibly use one or more technologies like satellites, or long-range Wi-Fi for the middle-mile.
  • The IEEE-2061 AN also has a direct and alternate path to the Internet, unlike the  (4G/5G) network, where Internet connectivity is possible only via the CN.
  • As mentioned earlier, the CN in cellular networks is required to support user mobility.
  • But many mobile network users today are stationary, this is all the more characteristic of rural areas.
  • Therefore, a direct connection to the Internet from an AN, avoiding the centralised CN, would be a more optimal solution for such users.
  • Unlike the 4G/5G networks, an IEEE-2061 network can also avoid the CN for communication between nearby users, which can be directly routed within AN instead.
  • This is like going directly from Belagavi to Hubballi (AN to AN) instead of going to Bengaluru first and then to Hubballi (AN-CN-AN).
Way forward
  • The EEE 2061-2024 is the second IEEE standard to come out of the research efforts of Prof. Karandikar’s lab at IIT Bombay.
  • It follows on the heels of IEEE 1930.1-2022, a standard on “beyond 5G networks”, which also incorporated some of our research ideas as its key elements.
  • If adopted, IEEE 2061 can help provide affordable connectivity to rural populations. Its novel concepts, including the CN bypass, and integrated AN control may also pave the way towards a flexible and scalable mobile network in future.
Source- The Hindu

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