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Cellphones

Mobile Phone Technology and Developing Nations 54

Posted by samzenpus from the can-you-help-me-now dept.
angry tapir writes "Mobile Operator Tata Teleservices is testing technology that allows farmers to use their mobile phones to remotely monitor and switch on irrigation pump sets in far-flung locations. The technology, called Nano Ganesh, is being tested in two villages in the Indian state of Gujarat. In India, where the electricity supply is erratic, farmers often walk several kilometers to where their irrigation pumps are located, only to find that there is no electricity available. By dialing a code number from a mobile phone to a wireless device attached to the pump, farmers can now remotely monitor the electricity supply, and also switch the pump on and off. It's just the latest example of how mobile phone technology is being employed in novel ways to solve problems in developing nations. For example in Kenya, GSM technology has been used to help tame marauding elephants."
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Mobile Phone Technology and Developing Nations More

Mobile Phone Technology and Developing Nations

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  • GSM tech tames marauding elephants? (Score:4, Funny)

    by tygerstripes ( 832644 ) on Thursday July 23, 2009 @07:52AM (#28794103)
    Anyone else put in mind of EM emissions deterring bats [slashdot.org]? Wonder how much you'd have to heat an elephant's skull to deter it...

  • Irrigation manufacturers have been doing this kind of thing for years. It may be new in India due to economics, I suppose.

  • In most of the Developing economies mobile phones are the first and mostly the only computing devices people have. How much can they realize the potential of such devices is upto the developers and innovators. Having a computing device gives people a lot of leverage. The challenge to us as developers is, can we use it solve real world problems ? Can we make people's lives better with technology ? Or do we continue to waste time in iFarting and Pulling the Fingers ? Or in having a flame-war about OSes and Vi over Emacs ?

    Kudos to Tata Teleservices.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      Can we make people's lives better with technology ?

      By "people", you must mean the execs and stockholders of Apple and AT&T. We (the USA) have not yet reached the status of 'developing nation'. We're still under the thumb of corrupt officials who bend the laws around to maximize their take from the economy. The only difference is that, in Africa, its someone who has installed himself as president for life. In this country, its private business getting legislation (like DMCA) written to keep technologies safely locked inside their walled gardens.

    • All said good, but hope they fix the 'erratic' power grid first. In India much of the power is stolen by bribing guys working in power companies. So bad that, there areas near Bombay (the place is called Bhiwandi) where stealing power is almost a norm.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by jawahar ( 541989 )
      People will always use any new technology to REINFORCE their illegal or immoral advantage.

    • A pilot SMS service run by Reuters, called Reuters Market Light, was launched two years ago in the Indian state of Maharashtra. RML has been sending market rates for agricultural produce to farmers based on their location or based on markets they've selected. And local weather narrowed down to 50 km radius. And localized agricultural news. And crop advisory, preventive measures and pest attack warnings, based on whatever crops farmers have selected. The service has now spread to many other states in India a

    • Well said... i am an African and this hits straight home! Thanks

  • Dial in to check...? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SharpFang ( 651121 ) on Thursday July 23, 2009 @08:02AM (#28794191) Homepage Journal

    My company currently produces what we call "potato stations" though they can be used in farming of other stuff.
    They monitor humidity of soil and some other factors like temperature, and send SMS when these exceed preset thresholds and require attention.
    The SMS can be either received on personal phone so the farmer just goes to start the sprinklers or whatever, or can be read by automated system that does it without human attention.

  • Coverage (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Andr T. ( 1006215 ) <andretaff@@@gmail...com> on Thursday July 23, 2009 @08:04AM (#28794217)

    Now the problem is covering all these poor countries areas with cell antennas.

    At least here in Brazil, that's a big problem in rural areas, much worse than electricity.

    • Re:Coverage (Score:4, Interesting)

      by SharpFang ( 651121 ) on Thursday July 23, 2009 @08:16AM (#28794321) Homepage Journal

      It isn't as bad as you think with this kind of devices. Due to lacking size restrictions like normal cellphones, they can afford decently-sized antennas in place of the puny things put in the phones, and since you don't keep them to your head, they can emit stronger signal too.. That means the coverage is vastly better than in case of normal phones.

      The downside is the battery life - the battery should optimally last at least one farming season. Thus it is much better if the devices don't listen in to outside communications, but simply report their status periodically, waking up for a minute once a hour or so, collect overdue SMS config/request messages, collect data, then send out what is to be sent (if any). No interactive communication.

      • Ummm... solar power? After all, what's good enough for your food should be good enough for your cell.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by SharpFang ( 651121 )

          Solar power is an expensive, luxury option.
          The default is a non-rechargeable battery of several Ah, replaced at beginning of the season.

          • Hmm... true. Or replaced every other week, it's not like workforce there costs more than long lasting batteries.

    • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

      by Darkness404 ( 1287218 )
      I think the problem is the same in every large country. Here in the US there are large patches where my cell phone doesn't work and some areas that other cell company's cell phones don't work.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nxtw ( 866177 )

        With low-powered handsets, it's not economically feasible to cover sparsely populated areas. With high powered devices and well-placed antennas, a large area can be covered with less infrastructure than a network that otherwise serves typical handsets.

        Plus, regular GSM is limited in distance - it won't work more than 20 miles away from the base station. CDMA and WCDMA do not have this limitation.

    • Whilst this is true, its also alot smaller problem than trying to lay cables to every individual house/street/village etc, for a wired service.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by ianalis ( 833346 )

      No problem with the coverage here in the Philippines. Up to just recently, my research is on remote control of scientific and biomedical devices over IP networks including GSM, 2.5G and 3G networks. We were able to do telemicroscopy using a phone. We're now in the second year of a grant to design and deploy telehealth devices to underserved areas. If everything works as expected, it would surely help a lot of people and personally give me a lot of satisfaction.

  • nice. i have similar technology (Score:4, Interesting)

    by siddesu ( 698447 ) on Thursday July 23, 2009 @08:09AM (#28794245)

    i can receive images, switch lights on and off, open and close blinds and switch water heater on/off in my village home in a less developed part of the world via gsm ... from basically anywhere.

    all you need is a basic stamp module (or similar card), a second-hand phone, a serial cable, some simple electronic parts and a little patience.

    and I am sure someone here can do it with less and make it better than I have.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ls671 ( 1122017 ) *

      Asterisk is nice as a voice interface to your switches and sensors.

      Dial into Asterisk:

      IVR answer: Hello press 1 for temperature, 2 for lights, 3 for water heater.

      etc...

      X10 standard is nice also:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_(industry_standard) [wikipedia.org]

      • Re:nice. i have similar technology (Score:4, Insightful)

        by siddesu ( 698447 ) on Thursday July 23, 2009 @09:10AM (#28794881)

        True, asterisk is powerful and convenient, but you need a whole computer to run it, and a computer in that area is a real magnet for thieves, unless you put it in a wall and cover it with bricks and mortar.

        A phone, on the other hand, can be powered by a solar cell and a charger, and takes time to find, especially if hidden well in a big place.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ls671 ( 1122017 ) *

          I understand, note that nothing stops you from installing the server in a safe location.

          IVR:

          -press 1 for water heater in village home.

          -please wait while Astersik connects to water heater.

          Asterisk dials water heater...

          I guess you do not need Asterisk if you manage to remember all your codes or that you carry them with you ;-))

          With Asterisk, one would only have to remember one password to access the IVR and manage quite a complex setup. Of course a web interface with a central Asterisk server to dial into th

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by siddesu ( 698447 )

            Yeah, if you put it that way, I haven't thought about doing it that way.

            Maybe I'll give it a try next time I'm there. Sometimes one is just too fixed on their own setup :)

  • Solar powered pumps (Score:3, Informative)

    by whoda ( 569082 ) on Thursday July 23, 2009 @08:34AM (#28794493) Homepage
    Since the switch would need a battery and charger of some sort to operate it and the radio link, just get a pump that runs on solar.
    They make anything from .25GPM up to like 50,000GPD.

    solar pumps [solar-electric.com]

    • Unfortunately, not. No solar-powered pump does 50,000 gallons per dollar. And if it's a farmer in a developing country, cost is everything.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Zerth ( 26112 )

        Why would you think that GPD stands for gallons per dollar, when the left part of the statement was in gallons per minute? /I know, WOOOSH, probably.

    • solar pumps

      It would be more helpful if I knew about how much this was going to cost without having to e-mail for a quote.

  • Weather Alerts (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CambodiaSam ( 1153015 ) on Thursday July 23, 2009 @08:39AM (#28794543)
    I was in Cambodia last week, when I saw a weather alert sent to locals via a free SMS. It was warning people that a storm was spotted with dangerous lightning, so people should go indoors.

    In a place without the weather channel, I thought this was a rather inspired way to easily inform people of approaching danger.

    • Makes sense, but I'd still bet that there are more radios than there are mobile phones in Cambodia. But both systems are useful, in tandem.

      • I actually don't see many radios there, and it seems like almost everyone has a cell phone. Since most can double as a music player, people gravitate to that instead. Also, the preferred transportation is motorbike, which doesn't have one at all.

        Along with weather bulletins, I saw during the elections last year that political parties would also send broadcast messages to cell phones. Now THAT would be annoying, but it also is quite telling on how that device is viewed as a primary method of getting informa

    • SMS warnings like this are fairly common in many parts of the world (not only developing countries, either). Where I live in Australia does this too, when there is a city-wide threat (storm, fire etc ... these are rare, but they do send out test messages once in a while too).

      Nice thing about it is you don't need a list of phone numbers or anything. You just say "broadcast this message to every single device on these towers". Which in a developed country reaches 100% of the population. Not many people carry

  • OLD STORY --- Details (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Website for this Project : http://www.nanoganesh.com/html/Index.html
    Date of Project Launch : 23rd September 2008
    Place : Pune
    Mobiles Used : Nokia 1100, 1200,
    Cost : Rs.560 and Rs.1700 [USD- 12$ to 34$]
    Units Installed in Pune : 3400

  • Can they also use GSM to tame marauding leprechauns in Ireland?

  • I am originally from a rural place in India. I see pretty much everyone uses electric powered irrigation motors and too have an employee sleeps near the motor so that he could start the motor as soon as the electricity comes on. I wondered why they couldn't use a solar powered motor. I found out that there is no incentive for the farmers to move to solar powered motors as they are expensive to buy and more importantly the electricity is free for agricultural usage (in the state of Tamil Nadu...not only that

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