RESEARCH & EDUCATION NETWORKS -A CASE STUDY IN GHANA

RESEARCH & EDUCATION NETWORKS -A CASE STUDY IN GHANA SCHOOL ON RADIO USE FOR INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY 3rd - 21st February 2003 , Trieste (Italy) Kwaku F. Awuye-Kpobi E-mail: Kpobi@libr.ug.edu.gh Balme Library, University of Ghana

MAP OF GHANA AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

OBJECTIVES • To bring all the research and educational institutions under one technological umbrella. • To link all libraries in Educational & Research for them to take advantage of e-journals. AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

To harness the potential of resource-sharing among the universities and research centers AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

Locations covered Within Accra • Ghana Atomic Energy Commission • Center for Scientific & Industrial research • University of Ghana Medical School AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

Outside Accra • Winneba (70Km from Accra) • Kumasi (270KM from Accra) • Cape-Coast (180Km from Accra) • Tamale (800Km from Accra) AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

IMPLEMENTATION • Acquisition of a VSAT (stationed Univ.. of Ghana) • Extension of this link to the University Library • Extension by Radio to some departments AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

Made use of an existing Cylink Radio transmitting at 128kbps to link the Central Administration Blocks • A mast was built at the Central Administration being the highest point on campus. • 2 Principal Base stations were setup at the Central Administration AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

One belonged to a private company which transmits data to & from the REN to their base station in Accra for onward transmission to Kumasi and Cape-Coast • So all the private company is supposed to be doing is tunneling data from University of Ghana to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology and University of Cape-Coast at 64kbps AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

The other base station which is managed by the university ICT staff is being use to serve the other institutions within Accra. • Winneba is which about 70Km from Accra uses a special radio which makes use of the University of Ghana PABX system to dial-in • A VSAT was procured for UDS at Tamale AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

Making use of an existing Cylink Radio transmitting at 128kbps to link the Central Administration Blocks • A mast was built at the Central Administration being the highest point on campus to host both the VHF and an Omni-directional antenna AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

PROBLEMS • Power • Expertise • Mistrust between the private company and the University • Funds • Flat rate for participating institutions AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

Threats of pulling out & pulling out • Accusations of University of Ghana hijacking the project to the detriment of the other institutions • Confusion about payments and services. AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

SOLUTIONS • The 128kbps Cylink was changed to an 11Mb/s Radio but due to LOS, it has not performed as expected • Linux boxes were installed in KNUST & UCC. These boxes which masqueraded IPS also have firewalls configured on them to make sure we have packets only from our designated networks AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

A Stand-by power generating set was acquired for the VSAT but the intermediary nodes were left out and so the problem was not fully solved. • GNCIC made connectivity to the other institutions possible AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

THE WAY FORWARD • The radio link connecting the Central Administration is being replaced with fibre optic cable to improve connectivity to the other institutions. • Trying to maximize the full capabilities of Open Source computing. E.g. Exploring Bandwidth management capabilities of Linux to manage the bandwidth allocation to individual institutions. AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

It is also possible for individual institutions to acquire separate but smaller VSAT than what the project currently have and sharing the current bandwidth among them directly from source. AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION AWUYE-KPOBI, 2003

RESEARCH & EDUCATION NETWORKS -A CASE STUDY IN GHANA