Where there is Wangchuk there is a way
According to a YouTube video by Sonam Wangchuk, before the lockdown, life at the SECMOL campus was peaceful without the internet. Located on the banks of the Indus River on one side and Mt. SECMOL on the other, this institution, away from the buzz of the city, is known for innovations and an alternative school of learning.
However, with the lockdown, the internet became essential for education. When internet providers were approached, they said that the 700-foot tall nearby mountain was an obstruction in Ladakh to internet transmission to the institute.
But as Sonam Wangchuk is known for his innovations, he had an “out-of-the-box” thinking. “In the plains, like in Rajasthan, tower companies use huge towers, 60–70 feet tall, to mount the satellites so as to get coverage in a larger area. So why consider the mountain as an obstruction? It is an opportunity. It is not a problem, but a solution,” he says. “Those are ‘toy towers’ compared to the natural, huge 600- to 700-foot tall mountains.”
Wangchuk calls this ‘inbox thinking’.
If the transmission tower was a 7-story building, the mountains were as tall as a 70-story building.
So, when he asked telecom companies, “Why don’t you treat mountains as towers?” They said they had never thought about that. They then said there were many obstructions to making the mountains into towers:
Challenges and Solutions
Taking heavy power systems on top of the mountains
They would have to take a heavy power system up the mountains for 7 to 10 kilowatts of power.
Solution: He asked them if it was necessary to carry the heavy power system. “Don’t they have a solar-powered battery system?” He researched online and found an Indian company that provides optical wireless technology. They used light-flickering diodes for transmission. And the batteries were around 100 to 200 watts, for which solar panels could be easily made.
Maintaining batteries at high altitudes at −40∘C
Then they said that it is not possible to maintain the batteries on the mountains when the temperature reaches −40∘C. The batteries will freeze or burst.
Solution: Sonam Wangchuk said, “If houses in Ladakh can be kept warm at 20∘C when the temperature outside is −20∘C, then maintaining the temperature of the battery at 10∘C or 15∘C is not a big issue.” He got the technology. So, at his institute, they designed a technology to maintain the temperature of the batteries at around 10∘C to 15∘C.
Implementation and Success
Then, the students climbed the mountains with the solar panels, the power batteries, and the light-based internet system. They successfully installed the Mountain-top Optical Wireless Technology.
Where hurdles became a solution in mountain of Ladakh internet transmission. Mountain-top optical wireless technology .
The wireless internet system receives signals from telecommunication towers far away through laser light. The signals are then transmitted to a receiver on top of a building, and from there, the transmission happens throughout the entire surrounding village. The internet speed was the fastest.
Overcoming Obstruction (‘Hurdling’ in Ladakh Internet Transmission)
In case there are a number of mountains as obstructions, then a transmitter can be placed on every mountain, which can receive and transmit signals to the villages. It is like hurdling in athletics. The laser signals are the hurdler, and the transmitters on top of the mountains are the hurdles. The hurdler runs in a straight line from start to finish and jumps over the hurdles to reach the finishing point.
Advantages of This Technology
- Cost-Effective: Digging mountains for laying underground fibre is highly expensive. The laser signal system is quite inexpensive comparatively.
- Environmentally Better: This technology, with respect to the environment, is better than the existing internet transmitters, because they cause a lot of pollution on Earth as well as in the atmosphere. The outer space is also being filled with space junk.
Wherever mountains are considered a hurdle for internet transmission, this Mountain-top Optical Wireless Technology will be a boon.
Conclusion
This Mountain-top Optical Wireless Technology is being used in Ladakh for the past 18 months and provides the fastest internet in the region/state. Where there is Wangchuk, there is a way.
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