by Nayantara Bhat | Photo credits: Outernet | 11 March 2015
Readers of our previous article on Outernet will understand the basic technology behind its service — streaming web pages in much the same way as television, via satellite. The principle seems easy enough, but the hardware can be a challenge. In order to circumvent the hardware challenges and promote efficiency and accessibility, Outernet is working on making their technology smaller and easier to use.
Lantern takes the form of a rectangular, pocket-sized block that has all the capability of Outernet’s earlier models of receivers. The global data broadcast startups’ priority is for Lantern to work as a modem independently, and without getting tied up with any one satellite or mobile service provider. Lantern will be working on short-wave frequency – notoriously hard to disrupt and therefore relatively unaffected by bad weather. This will help with disaster warnings and relief, which is one of the areas in which Outernet hopes its services will make a difference.
Outernet’s Indiegogo campaign for Lantern, when first launched, raised $200,000 in five days. Now, more than 5000 Lanterns have been pre-ordered, with total funds amounting to US$543,594, as of the time when this piece is published. At the moment, Lanterns are being manufactured in Michigan, although Outernet hopes to outsource the hardware at some point. Outernet wants to be in charge of the content rather than the hardware – producing hardware at the moment is simply a way to facilitate the spread of the service.
Pre-ordered Lanterns are scheduled for delivery this July or August. At current funding levels, Outernet can provide 10MB of data — they hope to provide more with increases in funding, with an eventual target of 10 GB a day at 1 Mbps. At present, Outernet is attempting to provide the highest possible information content, meaning that there are limited photographs, no videos — even the hyperlinks have been taken out of Wikipedia articles to trim them down.
Users will need a Lantern and a device with a browser. Lantern will work like a Wi-Fi hotspot, and will have a certain amount of memory for each user’s personal ‘library’. The material in the library can be changed according to personal preference: filtering makes it easy to keep only the content users want to see, and content works on a timeline with older content being pushed out of Lantern storage to make room for newer content.
Again, Lantern service will be uni-directional. This is the core difference between Internet and Outernet, and the lack of bi-directional transmission is what makes it possible for Outernet to market their products globally. However, founder and CEO Syed Karim said during his talk at HKU that there are long-term plans of installing transmitters in the receivers for basic forms of communication like Twitter and email. Can this be achieved without getting into tricky transmission laws? Karim is hopeful about the idea, and suggested that mesh networking (seen in apps like FireChat) could be the answer.
Other projects
With a size even smaller than Lantern, Dream-catcher is a flat hexagonal model of the receiver, the smallest model Outernet hopes to produce. Smaller than the palm of a hand but with the same capability for streaming information, this product was designed in India. It’s still more of a concept (Lantern is the priority), but it’s one that could take satellite broadcasting to the next level.
Outernet is also working on a range of nano-satellites. Currently, the satellites their system works on are shared by multiple other users, for example, mobile service providers. Nano-satellites would be a bid for independence without any possible conflicts of interest from satellite providers. These satellites would work on a UHF frequency – ideal for small receivers and mobiles.
To sum up, Outernet certainly has some exciting projects we can look forward to. However, it’s important to note that out of the 5000 pre-ordered Lanterns, most of them are from developed countries. Without awareness of the product’s existence, users in rural areas of developing countries may never be able to benefit from the service – which would defeat the whole purpose of the project. Perhaps with enough funding, Outernet can take the campaign to a level where those who need it most can access it, and access the right content (language barriers, anyone?). But until then, we’ll be watching its progress. Lantern is just the beginning of something that could become amazing.
Nayantara Bhat
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