ubuntu-ngo team mailing list archive

[Stephen Michael Kellat <skellat@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I should state at the outset that I am a duly-licensed amateur radio
operator who holds a Technician class license from the FCC.  Dante
probably never contemplated as one of his rings of Hades the realm of
telecommunications regulation across this planet of ours.  Having been a
working academic librarian does not exempt me from talking about offline
data forms either.

Prior to the next IRC meeting I wanted to throw out some thoughts about
the "no connectivity" situation being addressed.  I'll be referring to
points from the version of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NGO/NoConnectivity
extant today.  These are initial thoughts and should not be considered
as anything but works in progress.  I am still pondering workarounds for
some of the concerns I raise.

"We need to investigate D-STAR. This is a technology that can give you
~128Kbs via long range radio signals. Linux drivers exist. "

D-STAR is an interesting bit of technology.  One of the problems of
today's Internet world is that bandwidth most often refers to speed.
Since this is a technology rooted in radios, we must look at it from its
spectral bandwidth.  Unless you are going for super-cool signaling
patterns, the width in kilohertz of your radio signal varies directly
with the speed of your data transmission.  To pull off an over-the-air
speed approaching 128 kbps requires a signal bandwidth quite a bit
broader than your average narrow band FM signal that would come in at
about 5 kHz.

The D-Star article on Wikipedia that is linked to notes that the 128
kbps signal rate is only possible on the 1.2 gigahertz frequency band.
This is not a long range radio signal normally.  I am located on the
south shores of Lake Erie in central Ashtabula County and would likely
not be able to reach the population center of Cleveland to my west on
that microwave band.  Cleveland is approximately 60 miles or 97
kilometers away.  Typically that band is very useful for satellite
transactions or for really wide signals like amateur NTSC transmissions.

These high signaling rates do not work well on shortwave frequencies as
that is where we find long range possibilities.  Your practical limit
there unless you use super-cool modulation methods is about 2.4-9.6
kbps.  Unless this is in relation to in-country signal links, shortwave
is still where the best possibilities are for communicating.

Beyond these technical limitations, there are also regulatory
limitations.  Amateur radio frequencies cannot necessarily be used to
support NGO traffic routinely.  While occasionally traffic can be passed
it is necessary to secure licensing in the Fixed/Mobile Service or
equivalent for more routine use.  There are somewhere around 185+ member
nation-states of the United Nations who have separate and independent
telecom policies that can make this complicated.

For those that remember when the iPhone was a US-only phenomenon and how
the Kindle remains effectively US-only, it must be noted that equipment
must be technically certified for use in mass deployments.
Certification by just the FCC does not cut it as first generation
iPhones were seized by customs officers in Europe as they were not
cleared by the relevant authority there.  While amateur radio
transceivers look like a simple solution, their certificates are tied to
only being used on the ham bands.  Homebrew equipment built by teams
going places might potentially circumvent this but would face similar
problems to Colonial American rifles that were similarly custom built
prior to the introduction of mass parts production.  If a homebrew box
broke, would every single team member be able to fix it?

I've got some ideas on a way to work through this one but they're not
fully fleshed out yet.  Mixing public key encryption with a transmitter
point or two would at least allow one-way data transfer to a target
region with minimal headaches.  I am still thinking about how existing
paradigms in the radio communications world could be adapted to make for
a two-way link.  Probably using mesh networking in-country with a single
store-and-forward transmitter link internationally might work well in
conjunction with something like Wizzy Digital Courier.

"Offline wikipedia?"

While it still feels compelling to have an equivalent to the
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the problem is keeping it up to date.
 This problem afflicts print publications too.  This is why libraries
have to count encyclopedia purchases as fixed costs annually.

This area of thought has three parts to it.  The first is having a
format to store this data in that is somewhat standardized.  The second
is distribution methodology for updates.  The third is logistics of
updating it after it goes into the wild.

What use cases do we have in terms of needs of NGOs?  Have inquiries
been made with NGO umbrella groups like VOAD relative to this?  While
the initial description on the wiki page hinted at an education facet,
would there be any projects out there that this already duplicates?  OLE
Nepal comes to mind as a possibility that was discussed on FLOSS Weekly
#66 (see: http://twit.tv/floss66 ).

"customised Live CDs"

What makes this any different from any other Ubuntu derivative out there?

"offline mirror"

An off-line mirror initially sounds like a good idea but faces a chicken
and the egg question.  Who is creating the mirror?  Who is shipping the
mirror?  How is the mirror being kept up to date?  While there are some
vendors presently offering a snapshot of the Ubuntu repositories on a
set of DVDs, is this something that there should be constantly rebuilt
snapshots of?  Encouraging the use of LTS releases in the field and
making offline mirrors of just security updates would reduce the
logistical overhead on this mightily.

"Ubuntu Add-on CD from already downloaded packages (Say from
/var/cache/apt/archives)"

How would this be kept up to date?  What about security updates?  Just
because there is no routine connectivity does not mean virii and other
nastiness are also out of the equation.  Old foes have new life in such
settings.  Having no specific release of an add-on CD but rather having
it rolling like ffmpeg snapshots would be best, I suppose.

"Include packages that can provide non-internet connectivity, such as
FrontlineSMS, see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/395886";

Remember that even in the United States there are populated areas where
SMS traffic cannot go.

-- 
Stephen Michael Kellat, MSLS
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