Indeed, Bell Labs was behind many of the innovations that have come to define modern life, including the transistor (the building block of all digital products), the laser, the silicon solar cell and the computer operating system called Unix (which would serve as the basis for a host of other computer languages). Bell Labs developed the first communications satellites, the first cellular telephone systems and the first fiber-optic cable systems.

VillageNet, the Bangalore initiative, is a low cost IEEE 802.11 WiFi based mesh network designed for connecting villages in rural India, providing low-cost broadband Internet access for wide regions. It targets the rural market around the world, where large populations live but paying capacities are low. VillageNet offers a low-cost, high performance alternative to traditional wireline and cellular technologies that have prohibitively expensive deployment costs. VillageNet connects villages in a mesh using long-distance wireless links. The cost of building the network is kept low by using off-the-shelf IEEE 802.11 equipment and optimizing the network topology to minimize cost.

Jaiswal spoke about the unique interference models for such point-to-point mesh networks, and then introduced challenges around channel allocation and scheduling of links in the network (which are independent of the underlying wireless technology – WiFi or WiMAX).

He also discussed network planning problems unique to such point-point mesh networks, and not surprisingly many of them were similar to the ones encountered in implementing the Mesh network at Mahavilachchiya.