RURAL WINGS project
FP6-516161
Institute of Communications and Computer Systems
Microwave and Fiber Optics Lab, Athens, Greece
14/11/2004
14/11/2004
1
Project Overview
Strategic objectives addressed: End-to-end satellite
telecommunications systems for tele-education applications
Main aims of RURAL WINGS
Rural Wings proposes to develop an advanced learning platform through satellite
DVB-RCS access technologies, promoting a user-centred methodological
approach which constitutes its major innovation.
 to support the creation of a new culture in rural communities promoting digital
literacy and reducing resistance to the use of new technologies
 to offer stimulating and creative learning environments to support vibrant user
communities and to attempt an extended implementation in dozens of pilot sites in
18 countries worldwide.
 to catalyse the satellite broadband take up in Europe .
 the ultimate goal is the transfer of knowledge and the adjustment of these practices
in different knowledge spaces (at school, at work, at home) as a mean for
interaction between user needs and technological developments
14/11/2004
2
Project Objectives
 To perform an extended validation process and a usability evaluation of the
technology, scenario settings and services that will be offered to the users,
during the development and integration of the final system
 To determine how the DVB-RCS platform will need to evolve in order to fulfil
increasing user expectations and to compare this with current developments
that are under way at the equipment manufacturers
 To create a world-wide network of Learning Hubs in rural areas
 To introduce a new learning culture. To empower people in all the stages of
their life to invent their own solutions
 To provide a range of learning methods that will enable users to become
independent learners
 Provision of e-Learning tools that can be used by all members of the local
community who are in need of continuous training, education and support
 Enhancement of the communication between rural communities
14/11/2004
3
Project Focus
A multidisciplinary team has been established
 satellite communications’ providers / operators
 software experts
 telecommunications companies
 experts in distance and life long learning methods
 large users’ communities in Europe,Canada and S. Africa
The Rural Wings project is a SATCOM project that focuses on teleeducation applications.
The project performs an extended validation of the DVB-RCS technology
in order to demonstrate its suitability for bridging the digital divide.
• A global SATCOM wide band network based on upgraded DVB-RCS
technology will be developed to serve the Needs for education and training
of widely distributed user communities.
• Tele-education is a key element by providing suitable applications that
make the most of features of broadband (such as speed, always-on,
interactivity and personalisation)
14/11/2004
4
Project Innovation
Rural Wings will develop an advanced learning environment through
satellite DVB-RCS access technologies to provide major innovation in:


To promote a user-centred methodological approach
To support the creation of a new culture in rural communities promoting
digital literacy and reducing resistance to the use of new technologies

To form a Creative community involvement:


to create conditions for the development of people, new ideas, new civic
participation and new tools and applications
to move the community into positive participation in a more equitable digital future
 to perform Design-based research:

refinement of the underlying interest-driven learning framework

drive the development of both intervention and theory

practitioners and researchers work together to produce meaningful change in
contexts of practice

goals and design constraints are drawn from both the local context and
research
 Through the creative use of the new technologies to empower people through
this knowledge and to develop technologies that reflect local needs
14/11/2004
5
Project Participants
14/11/2004
6
Project Competencies
14/11/2004
7
Partnership structure
14/11/2004
8
Project Organization Structure
STEERING COMMITTEE
Project Coordinator
(Project Manager)
Project’s
Office
Dissemination –
Commercial Board
Scientific Board
Technology
Manager
Application
Manager
Technology
Representatives
Application
Representatives
Leaders of
WP2, WP7
14/11/2004
Leaders
of WP8
Leaders of
WP3, WP4,
WP5
Implementation
Managers
Commercial
Manager
Leaders
of WP6
Leaders of
WP9, WP10
Quality
Manager
Leader of
WP1
9
RURAL WINGS Main Results
An in-depth knowledge and modular development of the DVB-RCS
technology
how it needs to be configured to provide the standard of service
that customers demand, expect and are willing to pay for.
Greater awareness of the possibilities satellite systems provide amongst
the general public
promotion of the DVB-RCS technology and awareness of its
suitability for bridging the digital divide
An exciting and compelling range of educational tools
that make the full use of broadband characteristics (speed,
interactivity, personalization, always-on etc)
representing a significant value added service that could help drive
the uptake of satellite broadband.
14/11/2004
10
RURAL WINGS Main Product and target market
a broadband satellite service offering different levels of service for different
prices training packages and applications
The Rural Wings customers will be a mixture of individuals and organizations:
Home users and small business
need a variety of training tools, for personal or professional reasons, for example a
farmer that starts a small business
Training companies
that need to ensure that their traditional courses are not left behind by the move to
distance learning and need to offer online equivalents
Governments (and local authorities)
that wish to promote the use of the technology and needs to demonstrate the
capabilities of the system
ASP providers
who would simply like to reach more customers than is currently possible
Broadband service providers
who wish to enhance their portfolio of value added services.
14/11/2004
11
RURAL WINGS evolution
 The project’s pathway advances through a process of continuous interaction
between the User Need (horizontal axis) and the Technology Push (vertical axis)
 Three groups of advanced learning scenarios for different contexts (Learning at
School, at Work and at Home) are developed
 Enables the provision of value-added services to people in rural areas
14/11/2004
12
RURAL WINGS evolution up to 18th month




The work is concentrated towards the “User Demand” Axis
The “Technology Push” will start delivering content to remote users via satellite.
4 WP’s main tasks will be finalized
The pilot sites will be equipped with infrastructure and the Test Run will start
14/11/2004
13
Project Outcomes
• In the first 18 months
 Feasibility report (WP.2)
 User Needs analysis (WP.3)
 User profiles and tasks (WP.3)
 RW scenarios (WP.4)
 RW learning environment (WP.5)
 End to end system adaptation (WP.5)
 Learning Hubs (WP.6)
 Supportive material (WP.6)
 Validation methodology (WP.7)
 Usability plan (WP.8)
 Market definition and Business Case Report (WP.9)
14/11/2004
14
RURAL WINGS positioning
The project will push the
current boundaries further
by providing a platform
that integrates contextual
information into learning
setting.
TECHNOLOGY PUSH
RURAL WINGS
BARRD
TWISTER
RIA
SCHOOLSAT
ZEUS
VERDI
RCST
MUSE
14/11/2004
The geographical breadth of
the project will help bring
together experiences from
different countries and
cultures, which is not
possible with the other
projects
USER DEMAND
15
Satellite Support System
• South Africa
– By Hellas Sat using its S1 steerable beam
• Northen Sweden and S. America
– by EutelSat using the W3 and the Atlantic Bird
2 satellites
• Alternatives:
– Hispasat 1A/1B, 1C or 1D (S. America)
– Sirius 2 or 3
– Thor II or III (Nordic region)
14/11/2004
16
Satellite Cover Regions
14/11/2004
17
System Architecture
Satellite network
DVB-RCS hub
Satellite terminal
PLATFORMS
Remote area LAN
LEARNING HUB
@
INTERNET
backbone
CONTENT
WIRED
AND/OR
WIRELESS
LAN
END USERS
terminals
TWO WAY EXCHANGE OF DATA
-FDW LINK DVB/MPEG2 DATAFORMAT (45Mb/s)
-RTN LINK USING MULTI-FREQ.TDMA (2Mb/s)
14/11/2004
18
System Architecture
Learning Hub and the Learning Community




The Learning Hub will provide a ‘lab’ where innovative ideas can be tried out
establishment of a wireless (Wi-Fi) communications infrastructure,
the new technology facilitates flexible interpersonal communication patterns
project evolves to “learning networks and communities”
14/11/2004
19
System Architecture Typical hybrid satellite-WiFi infrastructure
14/11/2004
20
System Architecture
DVB-RCS Platform Network Management System
 four functional manager blocks are utilized at the gateway configuration:
In order to achieve upgraded DVB-RCS ability to accommodate multiple
service providers on a single gateway platform
 Gateway manager
 Subscriber management system
 Connection manager
 SIT command system
Number of terminals and hubs to be deployed




1 satellite DVB-RCS hub will be deployed for HELLASSAT
Existing EUTELSAT DVB-RCS hubs will be used
Existing EMS DVB-RCS hub will be used
15x10 Satellite Terminals/Learning hubs will be deployed
14/11/2004
21
Objectives of Pilot Trials: e-Learning Tools
A combination of open source, proprietary and co-developed components /
customizations of existing open source and proprietary tools

A number of education-oriented simulations using a number of
proprietary components customized to the user needs

The final solutions will be developed in collaboration with the pilot
users and then distributed as opensource
basic
The distributed learning platforms supporting collaborative
and peer-to-peer learning are based on opensource kernel components

their customization and specific services developed on top of them

to commercial products
distributed through traditional commercial channels or to
opensource components
14/11/2004
22
Implementation
Country
# of pilot sites
Greece
30
Spain
10
Sweden
10
France
5
Romania
10
Cyprus
5
Estonia
7
Finland
10
Poland
10
UK
10
Israel
6
Canada
10
Chile
10
Colombia
10
Argentina
10
Peru
10
Turkey
5
S. Africa
10
14/11/2004TOTAL
168
• The selection criteria are:
•
variety of target users covering all the
potential customers categories
•
representativeness, in terms of
presence of a large number of similar
target communities in Europe
•
knowledge of the context and access
to key decision makers, in order to
guarantee a facilitated access for the
analysis of specific needs and a
rapid involvement in the pilot
projects.
23
Implementation (2)
• An extended validation of the DVB-RCS platform will be performed
in Europe and beyond
– extended use of the system in different settings and under different
conditions
• It is important to keep pilot sites in all targeted countries as it will
allow the project team to perform ethnographical studies
– acceptance of the system in different cultures
– to create demonstrators (Learning Hubs) and core nodes of the Rural
Wings in more countries
• System performances and Quality of Services (QoS)
– Default system performances: 2Mbps for downlink/ 512kbps for uplink
– QoS will manage in and out satellite traffic.
• This will be implemented using specific equipments. As the DVB-RCS
network is concerned, QoS provisions are included in the terminal and the
gateway
14/11/2004
24
Final remarks
The target is



to lay the groundwork with a technical infrastructure supported by continuing
efforts to introduce new ideas
support the development of technological fluency, methodologies to help
harness creativity
support to develop a pathway for the effective use of satellite applications for
distance learning in rural areas
The project will follow the targets of the European Space Policy (Green and
White Paper 2003) by:




Contributing to the emerging knowledge society and the ompetitiveness of
European industry
Supporting sustainable development
Develop solutions responding to the various needs of European citizens
Provision of a wider institutional market (EU25 and Beyond)
14/11/2004
25
Contact
Prof. Nikolaos K. Uzunoglu
nuzu@cc.ece.ntua.gr
Microwaves and Fiber Optics Lab
Institute of Communications and Computer Systems
14/11/2004
26