Paul, Rabin, and I got back from Aravind last week. Our time there was good but also pretty tiring. In general, I think the trip was mostly successful. Having 3 people around was very useful - we were able to split up reasonably effectively everyday and get many things done simultaneously. Rabin, Paul: thanks for all the hard work!

Here’s a summary of what we got done:

    Arranged for tower construction at the upcoming vision centers at the Chinnamunoor and Cumbum sites and also at SPS Colony, the relay point for these sites. SPS Colony will have a 42m ground-based tower, Chinnamunoor will have a 24m roof-based tower, and Cumbum a 27m roof-based tower.
    Established a link between Theni Hospital and Bodi vision center using the chimney at Renuga Mills as a relay. We get roughly about 3Mbps one-way TCP and about 4Mbps one-way UDP, end-to-end. Theni to Chimney is 4kms, Chimney to Bodi is 11kms. So now Bodi, like Ambasamudram, is connected to Theni 2 ways: through N-Logue and through our links.
    Installed Marratech at Theni Hospital and at the Bodi and Ambasamudram vision centers. We familiarized the staff with basic operation of the software. The staff now use Marratech for video-conferencing between Bodi, Ambasamudram, and Theni. They continue to use N-logue’s OOPS iSee app for video-conferencing between Theni and Aundipatti as that route is solely an N-logue link.
    We trained 2 engineers from Tulip IT to assemble, configure our boxes and ultimately to install our links. Therefore, we’re now partnering with Tulip so that they will maintain all the links in Theni and also install a couple of links in the future. For network installation and maintenance, we have left behind quite a bit of spare equipment. They will provide all the local customer support.
    Accomplished other miscellaneous things: 1) Fixed the Theni to Ambasamudram link 2) Upgraded the soekris board to a routerboard at Vijayrani’s house 3) Conducted a successful signal test from Vijayrani’s house to Aundipatti Vision center (so this link can be established in the future by Tulip)

Now, the things we did not accomplish:

    We weren’t able to set up the links between Theni to Cumbum and Chinnamunoor as the tower construction, which could start only after we’d finalized sites for the vision centers and relay point, did not finish before we left. In fact, construction, once started, got further delayed for various reasons such as lack of good quality cement, pongal holidays, last minute changes in vision center locations, etc. However, the towers will finally be up at all 3 sites a few days from now. And once the towers are erected, Tulip will set up these links based on the training we’ve given them. Hopefully this will be successful!