Wire: A New Rural Connectivity Paradigm

Many rural areas in developing regions remain largely disconnected from the rest of the world due to low purchasing power and the exorbitant cost of existing connectivity solutions. Wireless Rural Extensions (WiRE) is a low-power rural wireless network architecture that provides inexpensive, self-sustainable, and high-bandwidth connectivity. WiRE relies on a high-bandwidth directional wireless backbone with local distribution networks to provide focused IP coverage. WiRE also provides cellular connectivity using OpenBTS-based GSM microcells. It supports a naming and addressing framework that inter-operates with traditional telecom networks and enables a wide range of mobile services on a common IP framework. The entire WiRE network can be built by integrating a range of off-the-shelf components and existing open source tools.