Yet people are desperate to let their loved ones know they're safe and to find out what's going on."The first questions people always ask when they arrive at a refugee camp are 'Where can I charge my phone?' and 'Is there wi-fi?'," says John Warnes, innovation specialist at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"These often seem to be more important to people than food and water."Administering food, shelter and medical aid is made even harder for aid agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) without proper communications.So some technology companies have been innovating to find ways of meeting these challenges.
Instant hotspot
For example, Croatian firm MeshPoint has designed a highly-portable rugged, all-weather wi-fi and 4G mobile device that can connect up to 150 people to the internet at the same time. It contains a built-in battery to enable quick set-up in the most inhospitable conditions.The unit can be used on its own to create a local internet hotspot, or linked to others to form a network for use over a wider area.
No comments:
Post a Comment