BIOELECTROMAGNETICS, INC.
744 Winston Way, Hartland, WI 53029
Phone 262.367.5857, Fax 262.367.7013
To: Tom Jackson, Southwestern WI Regional Planning Commission
719 Pioneer Tower, Platteville, WI 53818
From: Ken Schlager, Ph.D., P.E., President, Bioelectromagnetics, Inc.
Date: December 2004
Subject: Hierarchical Mesh Network Opportunity for a Wireless Broadband
Communications System serving a rural WI county
This memo provides supporting information to interested candidate communities and counties related to a wireless network system and prospective grant funding for it through the WI Department of Commerce, Division of Community Development. Bioelectromagnetics received a Phase I SBIR $80,000 research grant to design a mesh network-based wireless communications system for Rusk County, WI. A supplemental grant of $30,000 discussed here would allow for an additional deployment of the system in a second county to demonstrate the versatility of the technology. A primary goal of the USDA SBIR project is to develop a system deployable in any rural county in America.
Work activity funded by the Wisconsin Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) would include:
1. Needs/Market Analysis Study of the participating county:
- Determine the economic needs for broadband telecommunications service in the county
- Emphasis on applications for the new hierarchical mesh network technology
- Special study of public sector applications in emergency medical services, home health care, public safety and education.
2. A Geographic Network Design for the participating county:
- Based on county topography and distribution of potential users
- Including the preliminary design of the network infrastructure that will minimize the number of new antenna tower sites by co-location on existing antenna sites
- A complete network layout design including links to points of presence (access points for Internet connection).
To be of economic value to the participating county, the proposed communications system must provide service capabilities not now available in the county. Beyond the current presence of broadband communications from telephone DSL, cable modems and point/multi-point wireless, the proposed hierarchical mesh network design offers the following advantages over current service offerings:
1. Full County Area Coverage:
- The proposed network will provide broadband coverage to all geographic areas of the county as a single integrated county-wide network
- As part of the commitment on the USDA/SBIR grant.
2. Symmetric Transmission at Higher Data Rates:
- All other broadband services in the county are asymmetric with significantly slower upstream data transmission.
- The proposed network system will be symmetric.
- At data rates starting at 20 Mb/sec and ranging up to 100 Mb/sec versus 1.5 Mb/sec for DSL and 3.0 Mb/sec for cable modems.
3. Mobile Broadband Communications
- The proposed network system will service mobile as well as fixed location subscribers.
- Other broadband services serve only fixed locations.
- Current cellular wireless services are not broadband in nature.
4. Low Investment Costs/High Return on Investment
- Because the system requires only low cost IEEE standard WiFi and WiMAX equipment, it can be deployed at a very low cost.
5. Redundancy and Reliability
- Mesh networks are inherently more robust and reliable than other wireless network topologies.
- Mesh (Ad Hoc) networks are used extensively by the military for this reason.
6. Flexibility
- Their low cost of deployment and ease of installation make wireless mesh networks easily up-gradable as technology advances.
7. Ideal for Public as well as Private Sector Applications
- The proposed network system is ideal for many public sector applications in education, emergency medicine, disaster management, home health care and police and fire.
- As well as for businesses requiring symmetric, high speed communications services.
Outline of Benefits to a Rural WI County from participating in this Wireless Broadband Communications System opportunity:
1. A Self-Contained, High Speed Voice, Data and Video Telecommunications System.
Supporting this state grant application could result in a county-wide comprehensive voice, data and video network at very low cost to the County that would greatly spur local economic development.
Unlike traditional Internet access networks where local call traffic may travel to Chicago or Minneapolis and back to transmit data from one part of the county to another, the proposed wireless network will keep local traffic local for better network performance particularly in more advanced applications such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and high definition video conferencing.
2. Highly-Leveraged Development Project
The participating county would be asked to contribute 25 percent of a $30,000 State CBDG grant for the Phase I network design. The bulk of Phase I for the development of the technology ($80,000) is fully funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant. In the Phase II follow-on program for system demonstration, USDA will fund $300,000. In Phase III for actual deployment of the system county-wide, USDA could also contribute a significant share through the USDA Rural Utilities Service (RUS) program
3. Broadband Communications and Capabilities
Having the USDA-sponsored mesh wireless network county-wide will allow for major public sector initiatives in public safety (sheriff, fire fighting and emergency medical services), education and home health care using combined video, data and voice communications. Its potential value to economic development is attested to by the great interest in broadband communications in many parts of rural America. More and more in a global economy, businesses require access to high speed voice, data and video communications. A county that achieves broadband technology assures itself a place on the high side of the digital divide that separates regions of economic vitality from those left behind.
Project Participants
Other organizations are currently involved or could be involved in the Wireless Broadband Communications Project called Broadband Telecommunications for Rural America:
1. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR). This federal agency funded the current $80,000 Phase I SBIR for the design of the wireless mesh network system for rural America. It will also be the funding agency for the $300,000 Phase II program for field test of the system.
2. State of Wisconsin Department of Commerce, Division of Community Development. This state agency is anticipated to fund 75% of the Phase I mesh wireless network design for the participating county under a $30,000 Community Block Development Grant.
3. A private sector firm to be determined. The project would involve a private-sector partner to operate the wireless project’s connection to the fiber optic network that will connect the participating county with the global Internet network.
In summary, the proposed Hierarchical Mesh Network Project offers the participating county a rare opportunity to advance its economic development, upgrade its public services and improve the quality of life for its citizens with significant financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the State of Wisconsin.