Category: Covid

Training on Online Learning Tools

Over the last few years, @iLabAfrica, a research and incubation center at Strathmore University, has developed capacity in delivering teaching and learning online using web conferencing tools for its students and staff.

This was necessitated by the need to save time for students who are enrolled in @iLabAfrica’s Masters programmes and who wish to utilize a considerable amount of time on their commute between their places of work and Strathmore University to study on the go.

Against this, Strathmore University began making preparations for a possible shut down of educational institutions owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centre, through its Digital learning department, spearheaded the training of all lecturers on campus on the use of web conferencing tools in preparation to move the physical classes online and in good time.

The training included in-depth tutorials on how to use Skype for Business for teaching. Beyond the training, @iLabAfrica provided resources on Microsoft Teams as an alternative teaching and collaboration tool. Through this effort more than 300 Strathmore university lecturers were trained and are now delivering classes online despite the partial lock down implemented in Kenya.

Mobile Data Support for Students

Similarly, as the University prepared to move classes online, it became imperative that students would require support in accessing online learning resources. @iLabAfrica leveraged an existing working relationship with a leading Mobile Network Operator to develop a mobile data bundle that would give students access to eLearning resources.

These discussions led to an agreement to develop a monthly data bundle of 10GB charged at KES 500/$5 whose purchase Strathmore University would sponsor on behalf of students.

The data bundle works on selected whitelisted sites such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, strathmore.edu and elearning.strathmore.edu. This way the university ensures that students are able to access all their online classes, as well as resources on the University’s eLearning platform.

Find out more on the project at  www.ilabafrica.ac.ke

“Put your head on my shoulders”, Paul Anka sang to us these words in hopes of spreading love and joy among everyone alike. Nobody is born the same. The women and disabled in this society are often characterized under the same category, ignored for their appearance and norm. Yet, little did people know their potential with the right guidance.

We at Elegant IT Limited provide various digital services and also create opportunities for such disadvantaged people of the society. The cruelty and the demeaning attitude they face are simply unbearable for any human being, and we have taken it upon ourselves to battle this stereotype, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic at hand.

It is the women of our society who we do not look at. They are the building blocks of our livelihood. Men, being the dominant creature in our society, usually ignore a woman’s capabilities even when they are commendable. Over 43% of these skilled women are leaving their jobs for reasons ranging from pregnancy to general insecurity.

The situation is no different for the disabled. In a recent incidence, there was a case of an Australian youth being bullied for the way he looks. These events have led to many calamities and even attempted suicide. In a global perspective, 15% of the world population live a challenged lifestyle.

In Bangladesh, many are also facing the same issues. Due to this lockdown, handicapped people whose only source of income was a small shop, or the maid or garments worker who supported her entire family, may now die out of poverty before the virus. Many make a living even by begging. Today they are jobless due to the nationwide shutdown. They have spent their last saved penny and are now living in abject poverty.

Our organization, Elegant IT Limited, has taken all of this into consideration and decided that it is our time to contribute to the world in the battle against COVID-19 situation. We launched a project focusing on women and the handicapped and have been working on it for the past 3 years, developing the program and increasing workforce. We reach out to people, presenting them with work from home and freelancing opportunities so they can support their families financially. With the current coronavirus situation, this project has boosted its capabilities and is now our major focus. Our organization now provides free online ICT training courses. We are also teaching on the use of the internet, mobile data & mobile technology and its wonders and resources, to such individuals over the COVID-19 period, enabling them to freelance in the real world and put their talents to work.

Stephen Hawking, a genius unlike any, who discovered various secrets of the universe, was a physically challenged person. Taking him as an example, we have pushed through the stereotypes and provided opportunities to these people. Many of these disadvantaged people are now working under the banner of Elegant IT Limited as well.

All of the above initiatives have been taken to reduce the curve and keep people safe from coronavirus. We are proud to say that we have brought smiles to many faces, which is all we are looking for. People can now hire these individuals with the click of a button through our “online job” platform.

When we look around us, we may see a harsh world at first glance, but if we look closely, there is a flower that needs a little sunlight to blossom. We at Elegant IT aim to provide that light so they flourish despite their gender, race or appearance. National and global leaders need to come forward to support small initiatives like ours and to retune their policies and prioritize their goals to ensure human existence.

The world is on the verge of fighting this pandemic and we are focusing on improving lives and livelihoods across different sectors and people in different walks of life. We are all striving to find a solution for a better future.

In education, the pandemic has taught us the lesson that the internet is a BASIC need for all humans on the planet – we are now focused on conferencing for meetings and visual class and internet /web teaching for all students. Online classes will be the future, as movement is limited.

In health, the pandemic has opened the eyes of the developed and developing countries to the fact that health is key to our wellbeing, and we need to introduce online research, online medical personnel to help people in distant areas, and use the internet to deliver vital information.

During the pandemic, technology has been used for local and international financial transactions. In Uganda, for example, we use mobile money transfers for payments between one individual and the other, to buy internet data and air time, to pay utility bills such as water and power, and to buy food, garage and transport services, medical services, fuel and rent. We pay from our living rooms – the future is paperless, and secure transactions are made with phones and credit cards.

The global economy has been overcome by the unexpected pandemic. Technology for on line transactions and merchandising is the future, but ordering on line calls for transparency, honesty and security for people to trust its use. Infrastructure development is needed in developing countries to increase the use of railway lines, reduce the number of trucks entering and exiting the country and thus reduce the spread of the virus.

We urge the internet service providers, telecom companies and the ITU to make it easy for remote societies to have access to the internet and new technology to enable them ease their way of living and connect to the rest of the world. The internet is the future.

We will overcome this pandemic as long as we observe the doctors’ directives and science. KEEP SAFE, STAY HOME – GOD BLESS AND PROTECT PLANET EARTH.

Background

Nepal Research and Education Network’s (NREN) along with other technology, medical, and development domain partners developed the COVID-19 Surveillance System to respond to the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic. The team is cognizant that the global mobile app market has been flooded by a plethora of mobile/web apps and digital tools, which provide health advisories based on varying assessment parameters. However, Nepal’s requirements and ground realities behoove that a full stack response system be implemented to effectively counter a fast moving and potential epidemiological disaster.

Motivation

Since SARS-CoV-2 infections are gradually increasing in Nepal, this system will help flatten the infection curve, allow for social distancing, and provide patient information to medical professionals while avoiding institutional visits. The last factor can potentially mitigate the further spread of infections at hospitals during triage and give sufficient lead time for hospitals to prepare intake of a CoV-2 suspect patient.

Core Services

The C19SS delivers the following services:

• Self-triage of Covid-19 symptoms
• 24/7 monitoring of registered patients
• Geo-location tracking of patients
• Ambulance service/testing for necessary cases
• Assist developing GIS based containment zones

The NC19SS is based on “Emergency Healthcare COVID-19 Triage Scale” based on the data available through “25 International Expert WHO Team Finding of Covid-19 Symptoms in China”.

The NC19SS Self-Triage is designed for users to evaluate their COVID-19 related symptoms and it suggests further action to prevent deterioration of patient health and community transmission. The patient responses are fed into the system’s algorithm which generates a COVID-19 scale, which is further demarcated into “Least Likely, Less Likely, Likely if Travel and Contact history present, Highly likely” color coded divisions.

User responses are filtered and sorted based on severity, travel history, geo-location, and other health/history/behavioral indictors. Additionally, recent travel history patients are given special attention by the system. The Covid-19 suspect individual is provided with online/voice consultation and “High Probability” cases are referred to Nepal’s nationally mandated Covid-19 Hub Hospitals.

Only those users whose collective symptoms cross the threshold are allowed to register themselves. The initial user registration triggers an actual phone call by the 24/7 on-duty physician to further verify the potential suspect patient’s medical history, symptoms, etc. The physician suggests self-quarantine at home depending on patient condition. However, if their health condition seems worse than initially entered or if they have used the ‘Emergency Note’ option, then further necessary remedial medical intervention is initiated. This may include residential Swab Collection, Ambulance Service, in-depth case history review with other physicians, coordination with Covid-19 Hub Hospitals, etc.

Hence, the system consists of Self-Assessment Triage, it is standing on a full scale medical healthcare delivery platform that is customized to respond to SARS-CoV-2 virus testing, and treatment.

This app will also allow municipalities to track infection hot-spots and allow them to take containment decisions with precision and alacrity. The Covid-19 Surveillance System is more than just another health assessment mobile app and is part of the fight against Covid19 in resource limited settings and essential in prevention of a pandemic.

Endorsement

This C19SS is being reviewed by Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), while Kathmandu Metropolitan City and Kathmandu Valley Mayors Forum are also in the process of formal endorsement of the surveillance system.

Implemented Region

Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) along with all the Kathmandu Valley Municipalities, Mandandeupur Municipality, and Dullu Municipality (Karnali Province) have spearheaded the Covid19 Response by adopting and implementing the C19SS in their respective administrative boundaries. The primary reason for these local governments to encourage large scale usage by their residents of C19SS is to ensure prevention and mitigation of Covid19 at the community level.

Current Scope

The C19SS mobile app is accessible through Play Store/AppGallery – “Nepal COVID-19 Surveillance”. While the Self-Triage is available globally to any user, the subsequent User Registration Section can only be accessed by Kathmandu Valley residents, which avails them of the full stack of medical services.

Partners

• Nepal Research and Education Network (NREN)
• Innovative Solution Pvt. Ltd.
• i Click. Pvt. Ltd.
• Public Health Concern Trust-Nepal (PHECT-Nepal)
• Nepal Disaster and Emergency Medicine Center (NADEM)
• Innovative Data Solution Pvt. Ltd. (IDS)
• Center for Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D)

Introduction

Communication technology has come to be considered as an essential service, with mobile communication playing a pivotal role in the advancement of technology and the human race.

This has resulted in researchers, governments and private operators investing in research for the continuous advancement of the mobile communications technology. Mobile communications generations commenced with voice-only systems and migrated to a generation with data as an add-on. This technology advanced to generations where data and voice competed for dominance – and now data transmission (Internet Protocol) is the current driver for the 5G mobile communications technology.

The advancement of the mobile communications standard is driven by a complex mix of new applications, technologies and user demand. In this era of artificial intelligence coupled with data science and very high but low-cost cloud applications and embedded sensors, there is a need for a communications standard that can harmonize all these applications and enable the users to extract the benefits associated with the new technologies.

5G technology is sadly a victim of both global politics and an opportunistic conspiracy as its deployment coincided with the spread of the Covid-19 global pandemic, thus making it easy for the conspiracy theorist to associate 5G with the spread of corona virus. The success of this conspiracy is such that even countries without any 5G deployment have seen cases of attacks on existing communication infrastructure, with several public figures and opinion leaders contributing to the spread of the conspiracy by relying on sentiments and untruths to support their theories. While this has caused a lot of damage to the infrastructure of the operators, it has also showed that there is a need for a robust change management system before new technologies with mass public applications are deployed.

This article is an attempt to debunk some of these conspiracy theories by showcasing the technical specifications of the technology and decoupling the 5G communications technology from the corona virus spread.

Frequency spectrum for mobile communication

One of the most significant considerations for wireless transmissions is the amount of attenuation the transmission will be exposed to as the signal travels through the atmosphere. Figure 1 shows the attenuation of several portions of the spectrum as the signal is transmitted through the atmosphere. Attenuation due to water and oxygen are lowest at sub 10GHz while between 60- 100GHz, the oxygen attenuation rises significantly. This means that while the higher frequencies have more bandwidths, they are exposed to very high amounts of attenuation. This is why these frequencies have not been used for mobile communication. However, the increasing rise in data intensive applications has led to the consideration of frequencies beyond 10GHz with selected pockets around 24GHz – 29GHz and 37GHz -43GHz and higher bands for 5G deployments.

Figure 1. Atmospheric Absorption of signals

Electromagnetic Spectrum

The electromagnetic spectrum shown in figure 2 comprises of signals of different characteristics. These characteristics determine their range of applications. While some can be harmful to humans, others are safe for use around humans. The safety of human life is the most significant criterion for application of these frequencies and there are several agencies and tests required to ensure that technologies are within the safe operational region with all the associated margins adhered to. The EMF spectrum comprise a range of spectrum with frequencies capable of generating ionizing radiation (ionizing radiations are radiations with enough energy such that during an interaction with an atom, it can remove tightly bound electrons from the orbit of an atom, causing the atom to become charged or ionized). The portions of the spectrum with ionizing radiations are not allocated for communication service due to the harmful effects of signals at this frequency.

Figure 2. Electromagnetic spectrum

Communication Spectrum of the EMF

The portion of the EMF utilized for communication is the radio and microwave bands which range from 3Hz to 300GHz. This spectrum shown in Figure 3 is well outside the range of the ionizing frequency spectrum which ranges from 3PHz to 300EHz.

Figure 3. EMF spectrum showing key applications and the ionizing band

5G Deployments

Current 5G deployments are either at sub 2GHz, sub 6GHz or above 6GHz frequency bands. This wide array of spectrum and the associated differences in the levels of attenuation places a demand for a multi-application scenario for the deployment of 5G. The most promising approach and the easiest approach has been to deploy voice services at sub 2GHz, which is why so much work has been undertaken to refarm some TV spectrum and older telecom spectrum. This approach will enable operators to utilize existing cell sites with minimal infrastructure changes, while the design of the mobile phones will not require significant modifications as existing chipsets can still be used in equipment design since the frequencies are within the range of current multiband phones.

For deployments at higher frequencies (above 6GHz), the operators will first of all have to pay for the spectrum and will be exposed to much higher infrastructure costs, as the higher frequencies mean smaller coverage areas, thus many more cell sites would be required to provide the necessary coverage. Users would also have to change phones as our current phones are designed for specific sub 6GHz frequency bands and modulation schemes. None of these have happened yet as very few countries have deployed 5G at these higher frequencies.

5G use cases

The applications or use cases for 5G will be determined by the frequency around which the 5G is deployed in each given area. The availability of frequency for 5G both in the sub 2GHz, sub 6GHz band and the above 6GHz band creates a deployment with very different characteristics. This is determined by the fact that while the bandwidth at the sub 2GHz band is much lower than the bandwidth at the above 6GHz band by the order of several GHz, the attenuation faced by the above 6GHz band is several magnitudes higher than the attenuation faced by the sub 6GHz band and especially the sub 2GHz band. The different uses cases can be grouped as shown in figure 4.

Figure 4. Typical 5G use cases determined by coverage range

This multi-application capability of the 5G spectrum shows that for the deployment of the service at all the proposed frequencies, the mobile phones must be able to handle a wide range of frequencies. This will place a lot of strain on the communication infrastructure design.

To ease mobile phone device applications, the approach for the deployment of 5G for voice is primarily restricted to the sub 2GHz band with the use of refarmed frequencies from TV white spaces and older telecom standards at 700MHz band. This approach allows the operators to utilize existing cell sites and infrastructure with minimal modification. The deployments above 6GHz are reserved for applications such as the IoT and other data driven application like virtual reality, self-driving cars and a host of other artificial intelligence-driven applications with 5G deployment providing the communication infrastructure.

The 5G use cases are also classified under the following categories:

1. Fixed Wireless Access. This is to provide high speed internet access to homes using wireless networks such as the millimetre waves.
2. Enhanced Mobile Broadband. This is a service that promises faster cloud connected services. It promises to provide cloud computing with higher date rates and lower latency and lower cost per bit. This also promises an all ways- on, always connected, high speed internet access with real time responsiveness in high mobility scenarios. This will support augmented and virtual reality applications.
3. Machine to Machine type communications. This use case is one of the most anticipated applications of 5G. This is fuelled by the increasing numbers of embedded sensors and the IoT platform coupled with data analytics and artificial intelligence tools. It is estimated that potential IoT sensors will exceed 20 billion by the end of the year.
4. Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications. This use case focuses on the increased reliability pf industrial automation systems by providing ultra reliable low latency links. Typical applications include self-driving cars, smart grid control and industrial automation, robotics and drone control and coordination
5. 6G applications. The 6G standard will focus on the development of applications which will ride on the 5G communications network infrastructure. These applications will leverage on IoT, artificial intelligence, data analytics and virtual reality technologies to develop novel solutions both for personal and industrial applications

5G Radiation and COVID-19 spread

The claims of 5G radiation being responsible for COVID has been disputed on the grounds that the spectrum does not generate any ionizing radiation. It has also been disproved on the grounds that the energy per photon of the frequency is much lower than that of the ionization radiation band. In terms of transmit power, if the transmit power of the BTS is increased tremendously to overcome the path  loss and increase the coverage area of the cells, there will also be a corresponding need for the increase in the transmit power of the mobile phones to ensure a bidirectional scheme is achieved. This will require a return to the era of bulky and heavy phones as the transmit power relies heavily on battery power. All the recently released 5G phones are designed to comply with the specified electromagnetic compatibility and radiation settings, as such the radiation is within the safe limits. This limitation on the transmit power of the new phones coupled with the use of existing sub 2GHz for the recently deployed 5G networks provides sufficient proof that 5G has no connection with the spread of coronavirus in any way.

Given the current deployment characteristic of 5G and all the frequencies for all the possible use cases both for the near future and the far future into the 6^th Generation era, the fact that the frequencies are in the non-ionizing band coupled with all the stringent regulations makes it very unlikely that a mobile communication technology either at 5G or 6G will place either the immediate users or communities at a health risk.

As the impact of COVID-19 is felt globally, and no single nation is spared, an opportunity emerges for the global telecom outsourcing industry to learn from the current experience and plan future strategies. Many countries announced different degrees of lockdown, and the mobility of people to go to work has become difficult. The outsourcing industry in India responded quickly by implementing business continuity plan (BCP) frameworks, enabling remote working facilities with the right security measures, and providing appropriate tools to employees to allow them to work from home. The learnings from these experiences will change the future outsourcing scenario.

Service delivery through geographically distributed delivery centres in different countries will become a preferred choice for many large companies. This approach would provide a better BCP, although it would increase the governance costs. Outsourcing service providers (OSP) with multiple offshore delivery centres (ODC) in different cities and countries will become preferred suppliers. OSPs would prefer Hot Disaster Recovery, which provides no down-time (zero RTO- Recovery Time Objective) and updated data everywhere (zero RPO- Recovery Point Objective). The approach also would be to split the delivery programs at each critical process level between different geo locations, a situation of hot-hot stand-by with load sharing, providing a minimum percentage of level of business continuity (LBC) for all critical processes. Though many of the OSPs can provide a level of business continuity, they will be rated based on their ability to offer a high LBC with minimum recovery time (RTO).

Earlier, OSPs delivered services through offshore delivery centres (ODC) equipped with air-gap rooms, connected through secure networks. For last so many years, very few services outsourcing companies (SOC) were allowing OSPs to operate their staff from outside ODC, work from home (WFH), etc. During COVID19, many of the OSPs and SOCs started allowing OSP staff to work from home, for the first time in most of the cases with strict security measures and corporate/individual undertakings. This new way of operations may open a new scenario of allowing non-critical processes to run outside ODCs, bringing down the costs for both OSPs and SOCs. Of course, it will lead to a new set of governance systems and approaches at an operational level. Robust remote working technologies will be implemented at both OSPs and SOCs,

The change in mind-set of SOCs to accept remote working with the right security controls will offer a new lever to OSPs to tap resources without location constraints. This change will drastically reduce the cost of operations and exponentially increase the flexibility in the catchment areas of resources.

SOCs will have a re-look at the classification of services which can be outsourced or offshored. The secure process which can’t be offshored will be reduced based on these new metrics for evaluation. Nearshoring will gain popularity to address the points of secure data and alternate delivery locations for BCP.

Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) certifications like ISO 22301 will be in greater demand. It will become the norm for all OSPs to have BCMS certifications. The certification bodies will also add more processes to address such global pandemic crisis in their standards to evaluate critically readiness of OSPs & SOCs to react in such situations. OSPs with certifications and demonstrated experience will be given priority. Both SOCs and OSPs will start focusing more on BCMS standards.

Some of the SCOs that are not very keen on outsourcing but want to address the BCP issue will explore opening captives in other locations. The low-cost delivery locations with good resource availability in the nearshore would become their first choice.

There would be more thrust on automation like AI, ML, and RPA, wherever possible to reduce operational risks. OSPs with both domain and automation skills will be a preferred partner for SCOs as they can help to implement and manage the automation processes more effectively and quickly than independent automation consultants.

The “anti-incumbency” effect will drive some of the SOCs who have outsourced heavily into a certain geography to evaluate in-sourcing and nearshoring, though it’s not a logical solution. This approach will be more reaction-based and will not help if such a situation arises in the future.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Tata Communications Transformation Services (TCTS) ensured that the disruption to services for their customers is minimum by providing operations from multiple geo-locations, enabling large percentage of employees to work from home with right security measures. The implementation of ISO 22301 for many years has helped to implement BCP practices immediately.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.