About Entuura

From Entuura

Introduction

The primary purpose our system is to move arbitrary (preferably small) data files (e.g. excel sheets, EpiInfo files, etc) in a batched / asynchronous manner from/to peripheral locations via either GPRS or dial-up over GSM telephones. Our approach is to make this action as simple and unencumbered as possible for the end user by making the software self-configuring and remotely serviceable.

Due to careful choices of hardware and software, even in its prototype stage, the system could offer many other use cases in areas such as distance learning and enhanced communications across a Health Information System (HIS). For example, we have included a community-wide asynchronous bulletin board for delivering reports and ad-hoc correspondence. The system can also serve extensive libraries of information locally to users. Imagine a local version of Wikipedia, or the WHO Blue Trunk library, accessible from multiple computers in an office, and to any visiting laptops with wireless connections. These resources can either be viewed as websites, or act like virtual CD-ROMs.

Currently, the party receiving files also needs one of these devices, but any device in the network can be connected via broadband Internet in lieu of the GSM handset.

The system acts like a typical WiFi access point for users, just like you might have at home, or find in an airport lounge. But files can be copied to the device using Windows file sharing or by carrying a standard USB memory stick to the computer with the data file. A user simply needs to push one button on the device (or wait until a scheduled job starts) and the device will send the files to the other devices that are associated with the device’s community (e.g. district level, national level, CDC, WHO, etc). This file transfer system is symmetric, so that the same system that allows data collection from the field also can distribute feedback to field sites.

The system consists of the following hardware components:

• commercial off-the-shelf WIFI access (currently only the Asus WL-500G is supported)
• GSM device, currently either a standard Nokia or SonyEricsson phone, or Samba-75 GPRS/Edge Modem (support for other telephones is easy to add, if necessary)
• Standard USB memory stick (512 Mb or larger)
• A USB data and charging cable compatible with Nokia or SonyEricsson phone

Software includes:

• OpenWRT, a popular operating system designed for embedded devices
• Customizations to OpenWRT designed by the Entuura team
• A centrally hosted site on the internet for moving the data files asynchronously around the network
• Off-the-shelf cryptography software to ensure that the data files may only be read at the source and destination, and to provide proof of where a file originated

The merits of our approach lie in the simplicity of the required user interaction needed to move information. Plus, due to our hardware choices we are confident the entire system will run on solar power with the addition of off the shelf components already in wide use by the development community. We’ve also taken measures to ensure nodes may be remotely updated and controlled to ease systems administration. Because the system relies on a preexisting commercial transport mechanism, (the Global System for Mobiles, GSM), it is in the financial interest of the for-profit GSM service provider to ensure ongoing, reliable and economic communications for their other customers. Finally, our approach isn’t tied to any particular HIS tools. A single node could facilitate data transfer for tools associated with multiple vertical programs; where data transfers may even go to one or more alternative destinations.

Currently our testbed is built on a collection of commercial products. However, we feel that ultimately we’d like to upgrade it to a more tailored solution built into an outdoor enclosure for security and ruggedness. In either case, the hardware for such a system is readily available worldwide today, and already in use to build community networks from Latin America to the Himalaya.

Recurrent communications charges for GPRS or dialup are dependent on file size and service provider pricing. These would need to be carefully analyzed to derive a costing model for broad deployment. In some contexts, we might find that the commercial service provider becomes a partner in the project, contributing the bandwidth, while we contribute the technology. In some contexts, service providers have a "social responsibility" imposed on them by the regulators. Involvement in an Entuura deployment could meet some of the requirements for social responsibility.