Q&A with the Winners: Tecnología de Raíz
In this Q&A, the TDR Team talks about their team’s solution — “Antenna MiMo 5Ghz” — which won Honorable Mention Technology Applications Proof of Concept in the 2022 Connecting the Unconnected Challenge.
- Please summarize your winning solution
Our project is motivated by the desire of spreading a community internet network over our territory, born from the need for access to communication, which had been very limited due to the costliness and non-viability of the services from local providers. During this construction process within the community, we have been discovering the network technology and realizing the need to create an easily replicable antenna to make the connection more accessible; in other words, that people without pre-existing technical knowledge can install it effortlessly. That is how continuing with the work that AlterMundi has been developing, we created a collective workspace where we built a MiMo 5Ghz directional waveguide antenna, convertible into sectorial with a parabolic dish created for this purpose. Our initiative is aimed toward fostering the values of technological autonomy with the highly-replicable, simply maintainable open hardware. This project promotes the improvement of the regional economy through the purchase of local manufacturing instead of importation. We also encourage this experience to be reproduced, thus we make building instructional material available to the users with a creative commons license, as depicted on our website.
2. What is the most unique/innovative aspect about your approach?
This project stands out for proposing an accessible solution to connectivity for communities that have fewer resources or are located in rural areas, generating through the local manufacture of antennas a source of employment for people in our territory.
3. What did you enjoy most about the CTU Competition and Summit Program?
The challenge of sharing our project with the jury and the exchange with them has been a very enriching experience for our group.
4. What are your projects plans for the next 12-18 months?
During the next months we plan to develop and update our antenna model. We plan to certify our antenna with INTI, this procedure favors the market entry of our antennas.
5. What is your estimate of the number of people impacted by your program?
Approximately 15 communities in our territory are/will be using our antennas. This represents between 300 and 500 people.
6. Anything else you would like to share
We are currently sharing our experience at https://tdr.libre.org.ar where you can find designs and instructions to replicate our antennas.