Dritte

Overview
Teleputer is an initiative undertaken under the umbrella of Dritte to develop a low-cost cell-phone-based computing and communication infrastructure. By using a commodity cell-phone as a platform, our work aims to explore ‘computing’ as a value-added ‘software-service’ for cell-phone users in rural areas of developing regions. We propose that our Teleputer will be the computer for under-privileged regions of the world. This claim is substantiated by the fact that wide-spread use of desktop PCs in the rural areas is a remote possibility because of:

High Price of desktop PCs: An off-the-shelf PC costs around $500 making it prohibitively expensive for masses in rural areas with per-capita income less than $2200.
Low Literacy Rate: Rural areas of developing countries are characterized by very low literacy rates. Figures in the region of 30% are common. Such low rates result in a steep and long learning curve of configuring and using a PC.
Unsuitable Environment: High levels of dirt, heat and frequent power outages, common features of life in rural areas, make many components in an off-the-shelf PC susceptible to failure.
Different Application Context: Normally, people living in rural areas do not require traditional PC applications such as Word, PowerPoint, etc. Their need for computing mostly arises in the context of agricultural monitoring and management applications.

Since traditional PCs will not gain wide-spread use in the rural areas, our work aims to bring the benefits of computers into everyday lives of masses in developing world keeping their constraints in mind.

This observation coupled with the phenomenal growth in the use of cell-phones in rural areas lends us an opportunity to convert their existing cell-phones into specialized computing devices. With an always-on network connection, such a cell-phone computer can give rise to a variety of network-centric and sensor applications.

Approach

We contend that typical applications in a rural setting involve sensing some physical phenomenon. For example, agricultural applications will typically make use of the following sensed data: temperature, humidity level, salinity level, etc.In this context, we envision a mobile-phone embedded with a sensor node that is capable of sensing a
number of physical variables. Most available sensors (e.g. Berkeley Mote) provide this functionality. Traditionally, sensor network applications have been built by deploying networks of static sensing elements in remote areas. Such deployments have consisted of a few hundred sensor nodes within a pre-defined area. Only recently, researchers have started to explore the scope of wireless sensor network applications on a large-scale. Current research has dealt with deploying such large-scale urban sensor networks in urban areas that are equipped with sound infrastructure. Our research explores novel ways of using large scale ‘rural’ sensing to provide computing benefits to common people. Different users will be carrying there own cell-phones with there own sensor readings. When two such cell-phones come close to each other, they will share their individual data if required. We are exploring an architecture that best fits the scenario where the cell-phones embedded with sensor devices will collaboratively and opportunistically perform computations.

Another requirement for our Teleputer is to provide a text-free user interface to make the device accessible to illiterate and semi-literate users typical of rural settings. We are not seeking mere localization of software translation of user interface in a local language, such as Urdu). Rather, the computing device must use a fundamentally different paradigm for user interaction. Building on our previous work on intentional and goal-oriented interfaces, our Teleputer will be designed to use illustrative icons, videos, animations, and spoken-dialogue for user interaction.

Last edited at 01:20 PM on February 05, 2007