Satellite Communication (SATCOM) Division, NESAC

The centre has got the State-of-the art satellite communications facilitates for various developmental programs for North Eastern States. The facilities available are:

1. State-of-the art studio facility for content generation and broadcasting of developmental programs

2. Village Resource Centre(VRC) expert node for conducting various training program, providing agromat advisory and data dissemination

3. Satellite Interactive Terminal (SIT) under EDUSAT program for educational activities

4. Receive Only Terminal (ROT) under national program on Edusat

5. ISRONET system for video conferencing and data transfer activities among the centre of DOS/ISRO

6. Various Equipments under Ka-band propagation experiment

7. Various Equipments under GAP-4 experiment

8. IRNSS project at NESAC

9. Transportable WLL-VSAT system for providing audio-video link and data transfer activities for communication support in Disaster management and various training and awareness program

The detail status is as follows:1. EDUSAT-1 Utilization project in North Eastern States

The EDUSAT program is strengthening the education by providing curriculum-based teacher training, open & distance education, information communication & management, access to remote regions, community participation etc. NESAC is coordinating EDUSAT-1 Utilization project in various states in north east. Progress till January 2012:

State No. of Satellite HUB cum Teaching node commissioned ant its location No. of Satellite Interactive Terminals (SITs) commissioned across the state

Arunachal Pradesh 1 at Rajib Gandhi University, Rono Hills, Itanagar 50

Assam 1 at State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) extension campus, Kahikuchi, Guwahati 34

Mizoram 1 at SCERT, Aizawl 46

Meghalaya 1 at DERT, Shillong 51

Nagaland 1 at Kohima Science College, Kohima 44

Tripura 1 at SCERT, Aizawl 50

Sikkim1 at DIET, Gangtok 35

Total 7 310

Additional requests: SIRD, Meghalaya has requested for 9 additional SITs under Meghalaya EDUSAT network and deposited Rs. 26 lakhs with NESAC. The formalities of signing MOU between DERT (the primary host of the stare hub), SIRD and ISRO are due.

Summary: 1. Total nos. of HUB cum teaching nodes in NER: 6 (Arunachal Pradesh,

Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura)

2. Total nos. of SITs in NER under EDUSAT project: 275

Funding: ISRO for equipments, bandwidth etc.Logistic: State Government

Duration: This project is continuing since 2004

2. Telemedicine project in North Eastern States

Telemedicine is a convergence of communication technology, information technology, biomedical engineering and medical science. ISRO-NEC Joint Telemedicine Project has been formulated in July 2004 to commission 72 telemedicine nodes in all the districts of all the north eastern states including Sikkim using satellite communication through Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT). The state wise breakup of the nos. of telemedicine centre is : Arunachal Pradesh-8, Assam-23, Manipur-9, Mizoram-7, Meghalaya-9, Nagaland-8, Sikkim-4 and Tripura-4. The major objectives of the project is to connect the district level hospitals to the specialty/super specialty hospitals of the region as well as outside the region for better healthcare at minimum cost using modern technology. The major stakeholders of the project are ISRO, North Eastern Council (NEC) and state governments of the region. NESAC is coordinating the project from ISRO side in installation & commissioning of the system, training, monitoring, trouble-shooting etc. Progress till January 2012:

Total no. of centre Commissioned: 25, Location: In all the district headquarters (Arunachal Pradesh: 4, Assam: 7, Manipur-1, Meghalaya-4, Mizoram: 4, Nagaland: 1, Sikkim: 1, Tripura: 3,)

Technicians have been deployed at all telemedicine centres of NER under ISRO-NEC project by selected agencies under the NEC finance. NESAC has done all the procedural formalities.So far, NEC has released Rs. 227 lakhs to NESAC. Utilization of this amount is being continued towards manpower cost.

Telemedicine program in NER under Army

Total no. of centre commissioned: 6

Location: Base Hospital, Guwahati, & Military Hospital, Shillong, Agartala, Dimapur, Liemakong , SilcharTelemedicine program in NER under different network realized by ISRO Dr. B Barooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati

SriSankardeva Nethrayalaya, Guwahati

Tripura Sundari District Hospital, Udayapur, Tripura

Govt. Cancer Hospital, Agartala

Naga Hospital, Kohima etc. MAKUNDA HOSPITAL, Bazzerechara (CMC Network) Manipal Hospital, Gangtok

Summary: 1. Nos. of Telemedicine nodes in NER (ISRO-NEC) : 25

2. Nos. of Telemedicine nodes in NER (Indian Army) : 6

3. Nos. of Telemedicine nodes in NER (Other network): 7Grand total nos.: 38 Funding: ISRO for equipments, bandwidth etc.Manpower & Infrastructure development: NEC

Logistic: State Government

Duration: This project is continuing since 20043. Village Resource Centre project in North Eastern States

The ISRO Village Resource program (VRC) Program is meant for reaching the benefits of the space technology directly to the communities at the grass root level. VRC aims to promote a single window delivery of need-based services in the areas of education, health, nutrition, weather, environment, agriculture and alternate livelihoods to the rural population. The space enabled applications such as telemedicine, tele-education and the natural resource database with resource management advisories are also made available in each VRC. NESAC is coordinating the project from ISRO side in installation & commissioning of the system, training, monitoring, trouble-shooting etc. Progress till January 2012:

VRC expert centre has been re-commissioned and made operational at NESAC permanent campus. An Agromet Advisory service has been started from this centre.Assam:: No. of VRC nodes: 12In Assam, a partnership between ISRO and Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association (ABITA) has been formed to commission VRC network in the rural areas of Assam to uplift the life and livelihood of the people. ABITA Gramin Krishi Unnayan Prakalpa (ABITA-GKUP) is working as the associating agency which has taken the overall responsibility of operating 10 VRCs in 10 selected village clusters of Assam covering 109 villages and a population of 1, 20, 501. The locations are Lohowal, Moran, Binduguri, Doomdooma, Paneri, Borgang, Lakhimpur, Margherita, Sonari & Mariani.This network has 3 expert VRCs located at ABITA-GKUP office, Guwahati; NESAC, Shillong and Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat. This VRC network was inaugurated by Sri Tarun Gogoi, Honorable Chief Minister of Assam in the month of November, 2008.

Following work has been done under this VRC network:

CONTENT GENERATION AND INFORMATION DESSIMINATION UNDER VRC

Content of VRC is mainly comprised of three major information modules. Module wise information contents are as follows:

Natural Resource (NR) module: LULC, SOIL, WATERSHED, DRAINAGE, GROUND WATER, GEOMORPHOLOGY, UTILITY, ROAD etc.

NR information module has been prepared at 1: 10,000 scale latest IRS-PAN + L-III multispectral images for the 10 VRCs areas of Assam (each VRC coving an average of 11 village and total no. of village covered 109 villages). APS and AMA modules are prepared in collaboration with the ABITA-GKUP, Guwahati. All these information modules are posted together on a web portal developed by NESAC. This web portal is kept in a Domain Name Server (DNS) at NESAC in order to disseminate regular agro-advisory & natural resources information to all the respective VRCs of Assam in an offline mode (by any web browser) through VRC Network. This allows farmers to view and download the necessary information at any time from any one of the VRC of Assam.

Agro-met advisory (AMA) module: Apart from natural resources information following advisory information are also disseminated through the VRC web portal on regular basis:

Daily weather bulletin: Contains Rainfall received during last 24 hours, rainfall forecast for next 24 hours, warning against weather related calamities for next 24 hours, weather outlook for next 48 hours and flood forecast issued by Central Water Commission for the VRC districts of Assam.

Weekly agro-met advisory bulletin (in English language) prepared jointly by India Meteorological Department and Assam Agricultural University for the VRC districts of Assam.

Weekly agro-met advisory bulletin (in Assamese language) prepared jointly by India Meteorological Department and Assam Agricultural University for the state of Assam.

Farmers were able to view and download all these information at any time from any one of the VRC of Assam.

As VRC were down due to bandwidth problem, these services were rendered through e-mail to the concerned person of each VRC. He use to circulate these information among the farmers of respective villages

A document on Package of Practices of Kharif Crops of Assam published by AAU is also kept in the VRC portal for the benefit of farmers. At present this service is operationalised for the state of Assam, similar service will be extended to the other state of North Eastern region.

AUDIO-VISUAL CONTENT GENERATION USING SATCOM STUDIO OF NESAC

Work is in process to make an audio-visual content on Package of practices for the farmers of the villages under VRCs. Necessary data, photo, video has been collected and soon a content will be made in SATCOM studio of NESAC with the help of expert in this field.

Training through Video conferencingA number of training program has been conducted from the expert centre on various topic related to weather, environment, agriculture and alternate livelihoods to the rural population.

Nagaland:: No. of VRC nodes: 8In Nagaland a VRC network has been commissioned in associations with Nagaland Science & Technology Council (NASTEC). A total of 8 (Eight) VRCs has been commissioned at different villages of Nagaland. The locations are NASTEC, Kohima; NRCM, Medzephima; Village-Porba, Tseminya, Zhadima, Chesezu, Chizami & Civil Hospital, Pfutsero. Sikkim:: No. of VRC nodes: 19In Sikkim a VRC network of 19 nodes (16 Student node, 3 Expert nodes) has been commissioned in associations with Rural Management and Development Department, (RMDD) Govt. of Sikkim, Gangtok. The locations of expert nodes are SIRD, Jorthang; Science Centre, Ranipool; RMDD, Gangtok and locations of student nodes are Block Administrative Office Kabitingda, Passingdong, Ranka, Khamdong, Rakdongtintek, Rhenock, Rhegu, Duga, Temi, Melli, Wok, Yangang, Daramdin, Dentam, Kaluk and Yuksom. This VRC network is providing good services to the people of Sikkim in the areas of education, health, nutrition, weather, environment, agriculture livelihoods etc.

In Nagaland 8 VRCs have been commissioned in association with Nagaland Science & Technology Council (NASTEC), Kohima and in Sikkim 19 VRCs have been commissioned in association with Rural Management and Development Department, Govt. of Sikkim, Gangtok.Meghalaya: Total VRC nodes: 1 (at NESAC) under ISRO-ABITA VRC network.

Summary: Total nos. of VRC nodes in NER: 40 (Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland &

Sikkim)

Funding: ISRO for equipments, bandwidth, recurring expenditure etc, Infrastructure & Logistic: NGO, State Government

Duration: This project is continuing since 2006Proposed VRC network:

Manipur: The Dept. of science & Technology, Govt. of Manipur in association with Diocesan Social Service Society (DSSS), Imphal has requested for setting up of 7 VRC one each at Chandel, Sugnu, Hundung, Kason Kullen, Senapati, Noney and Imphal (expert csentre). They propose to cover 387 Self Help Groups and 300 farmers groups. They have submitted a detailed proposal along with socio-economic data, need assessment and photographs of the proposed sites of DSSS centres. Preparation of project execution document (PED) is in progress at NESAC.

Meghalaya:

Meghalaya Rural Development Society (MRDS), Shillong has requested NESAC for setting up 12 VRCs. They desired to have 2 expert nodes (one each in Shillong and Williamnagar) and 2 VRCs in each of the five districts of Meghalaya. They proposed to cover about 18 villages under each of the VRC. NESAC is guiding the MRDS officers to carry out the required socio economic survey and need assessments in the proposed clusters of Villages. Preparation of project execution document (PED) is in progress at NESAC.

Tripura: The Tripura State Council for Science & Technology (TSCST) has requested NESAC to set up VRCs at 12 Nagar Panchayats and 2 expert centres one each at Dept. of Agricultures research cum demonstration centre and TSCST office complex, Agartala. They have submitted a detailed proposal along with socio-economic data, need assessment and photographs of the proposed sites of Nagar Panchayats. PED is ready for submission to VRC program office.

3. Studio facility at NESAC: Progress till January 2012:

A state of the art studio has been commissioned very recently at NESAC with the help of Development and Educational Communication Unit (DECU)/ISRO, Ahmedabad. It was inaugurated by Chairman, ISRO in July, 2011.

The purpose of the studio is content generation on various subject matter and broad casting of programs focusing on societal development in NER using space technology. A number of content has already been generated using this studio on disaster education in collaboration with NRDF, Guwahati. It has been planned to generate more number of content on agricultural practices, education etc. in collaboration with different agencies.

Prior to this latest studio, NESAC had a small studio with broadcasting facility named as TDCC-NER (Training and Developmental Communication Channel-North Eastern Region) along with reception facilities commissioned in all the State capital of NE states and in the district headquarters of Meghalaya state. A number of Interactive Training Programme has been conducted using this facility in collaboration with State Council for Science Technology and Environment (SCSTE), Meghalaya; State Institute for rural Development, Meghalaya; Ministry of Woman & Child Development, New Delhi etc. in various subject matter.

Funding: DECU/ISRO for studio equipmentsInfrastructure & Logistic: NESAC

Duration: This project is continuing since 20024. Communication Support in Disaster Management (DM)Progress till January 2012:

Keeping in mind the communication requirement among the rescue, relief workers in the disaster affected area and also between the disasters affected area and the central co-coordinator, an integrated transportable WLL-VSAT (Wireless in Local Loop - Very Small Aperture Terminal) was designed by ISRO. One such system is available in NESAC to provide emergency communication services in case of a disaster hitting NE region. The WLL-VSAT, in case of any disaster, can be linked to the DMS node at NESAC, NEOC (National Emergency Operation Centre), SEOC (State Emergency Operation Centre) or any of the expert terminals under VPN (Virtual Private Network) of Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India.

Besides providing communication support in DM, the transportable WLL-VSAT is utilized for the following purpose also:

Interactive Training Program for societal development

Science popularization program etc.Beside WLL-VSAT system we have recently installed DMS node under MHA-VPN network. We are equipped with MSS type-D terminal also for emergency communication.Funding: ISRO for equipments, bandwidth

Infrastructure & Logistic: NESAC

Duration: This project is continuing since 2002

5. Ka-band propagation experimentKa-band propagation experiment is a national level study administered by Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad and NESAC is one of its participatory agencies. ISRO is planning to utilize Ka- band radio frequency for communication purpose in India. But Ka- band radio frequency is more susceptible to high signal attenuation during rain and cloudy weather, which will seriously degrade the services. To study the effects of these meteorological parameters on Ka Band radio propagation this experiment has been planned by SAC, Ahmedabad.

Progress till January 2012:

Micro Rain Radar (MRR), Disdrometer and Rain Gauge etc, has been commissioned already. The house for beacon receiver, radiometer etc is also being constructed. Meteorological data collection using Micro Rain Radar (MRR), Disdrometer and Rain Gauge etc are going on. New equipments like Beacon Receiver, radiometer etc. will be commissioned soon.

Funding: SAC/ISRO for equipments,Infrastructure & Logistic: NESAC

Duration: This project is continuing since 2004

6. GSAT-4 Application (GAP-4) ProjectThe GSAT4 Application Project (GAP4) is being developed at SAC, Ahmedabad and NESAC, Shillong is one of the identified sites for this Project. The following applications are planned under GAP-4 program: DMSAR Application

NRDB Application

Portable GIS application

Chandrayaan Application

MOSDAC application

Rural Telephony Application

Interconnectivity Among the Remote Sensing Centers

Installations of equipments are in progress at NESAC. After launching the GSAT-4 satellite, program will start immediately.

Funding: ISRO for equipments, bandwidthInfrastructure & Logistic: NESAC

Duration: This project is continuing since 20107. IRNSS Project at NESACThe Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) program of ISRO is the first Indian initiative toward an independent, indigenously built Regional Satellite Navigation (SATNAV) Project. The IRNSS is based on a constellation of seven satellites, three in GEO (Geostationary orbits) and four in GSO (Geosynchronous orbits).

NESAC has been identified as one of the four sites for commissioning one set of IRNSS Ground segment element. NESAC shall have one IRNSS CDMA Ranging Station (IRCDR), one IRNSS Range and Integrity Monitoring Station (IRIMS), and IRNSS Data Communication Network (IRDCN) system. All the equipment has been received at NESAC from the identified vendors. Noise survey, Civil & Electrical survey, Coordinate survey has been already carried out at the site. Civil construction is in the verge of completion. One 11m antenna under IRCRD and two 2.4 m VSAT under IRDCN has already been installed. Installation and commissioning of all other equipments will be done as per the project guideline.

Funding: ISRO for equipments, bandwidthInfrastructure & Logistic: NESAC

Duration: This project is continuing since 2009

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