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University of Waikato CRCnet Project Team
- Position:
- CRCnet Project Team
- Field:
- ICT
- Organisation:
- University of Waikato
The University of Waikato CRCnet Project Team is the inaugural recipient of the Kudo for Information and Computer Technology (ICT) Science, sponsored by Rural Link.
Team leader Murray Pearson (Senior Lecturer, Department of Computer Science) and team members Jamie Curtis and Mathew Brown make up the University of Waikato CRCnet Project Team, which has developed a platform that enables broadband internet to be delivered into remote rural areas and under-served rural communities. The platform is made up of three main components – the hardware and software systems and the operational models.
The hardware platform utilises off-the-shelf radio hardware that operates in the general use ISM radio frequency bands. The software component is comprised of a series of tools that have been developed to reduce the levels of expertise required to design, deploy and manage these wireless networks. The operational model engages the rural communities in the design, construction and operation of these networks.
The first test bed for the innovative network connected eight rural Waikato schools and approximately 50 homes around Te Pahu. Another of the networks connects four of the most remote schools in New Zealand in the Te Urewera National Park area.
In addition, networks based on the platform have been constructed in rural Transkei in South Africa and Samoa.
In 2008, the CRCnet Project Team undertake its largest project yet – connecting 2,000 homes in the Tuhoe tribal lands in the Bay of Plenty, with the network reaching from Lake Waikaremoana in the south through to Opotiki in the North.
Follow this link to the Kudos website to see the 2007 Award winners: www.thekudos.org.nz/2007winners.html
This article is based on information current in 2008.