Space Applications

INSAT Applications Tele-Education Programme The objectives of the tele-education programme are to supplement the curriculum-based teaching, imparting effective teachers training, providing access to quality resource persons and new technologies, thus finally resulting in taking education to every nook and corner of India. ‘Edusat’, the India’s first thematic satellite dedicated exclusively for educational services, was used extensively to cater to a wide range of interactive educational delivery modes like one-way TV broadcast, video interactive, multimedia based instructions, etc. Edusat provided connectivity to schools, colleges, universities and other institutions of higher education and also supported non-formal education including development communication. Tele-education Programme has been implemented in three phases, pilot, semi-operational and operational phases. Pilot projects were conducted during 2004 in Karnataka, Maharashtra and MP with 300 terminals. The experiences of pilot projects were adopted in semi-operational and operational phases. During semi-operational phase, 23 states, 3 UTs and major national agencies are covered under Edusat programme. The networks are being expanded under operational phase with the partnership of state governments and other user agencies. The networks implemented under Tele-education programme comprise of two types of terminals, namely, Satellite Interactive Terminals (SITs) and Receive Only Terminals (ROTs). So far, a total of 74 networks have been implemented connecting to about 55,000 schools and colleges (4050 + SITs and 51,000 ROTs) covering 23 States and 3 Union Territories of the country. About 15 million students are getting benefited through the tele-education programme every year. ISRO has also set up networks for users with special requirements like: a. Blind People’s Association (BPA) – for Visually challenged b. Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), Father Felix Institute, C-DAC– for Mentally challenged c. National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) – for Network of museums d. IIT-Bombay Network – for Higher Technical Education Technical Support and Training Centre (TSTC) are established to provide technical support on continuous basis to all the Remote Sites, Hubs and Teaching-Ends of the state networks in the North East Region. Edusat, which was an exclusive satellite for Tele-education through applications of space technology, has successfully fulfilled its mission objectives. Further, tele-education services are being continued on other INSAT/GSAT satellites. Elements of an Edusat interactive class teaching end On-going Educational TV Services INSAT is being used to provide Educational TV (ETV) service for primary school children in Tamil, Marathi, Oriya, Telugu and Hindi. A general enrichment programme on higher education (college sector) is telecast on the national network. These programmes, provided by the University Grants Commission (UGC), are a part of its countrywide classroom programme. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) broadcasts half an hour curriculum based lectures daily through national network for the students. Training and Development Communication Channel (TDCC) A total of 8 Ext. C-band channels are operational for Training and Development Communication Channel (TDCC), a service that has been operational since 1995. It provides 1-way video and 2-way audio system of interactive education. The teaching-end includes a studio and an uplink facility for transmitting live or pre-recorded lectures. The participants at the classrooms located nationwide receive lectures through simple dish antennas (DRS) and have facility to interact with lecturers using telephone lines. Several state governments and universities are using the TDCC system extensively for Distance Education, Rural Development, Women and Child Development, Panchayat Raj, Health, Agriculture, Forestry, etc. The teaching-ends are now available at Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka and Goa. The DRS network consists of more than 5000 classrooms spread over the country. Under TDCC project, during 2009-10, a total of 883 Interactive Training Programmes (ITPs) were conducted with an average utilisation of about 23-26 days a month. Similarly, From April to October 2010, a total of 470 ITPs have been conducted. On an average, around 70-75 ITPs per month were conducted by around 39 departments of the various States. Telemedicine Telemedicine is one of the unique applications of Space Technology for societal benefit. Telemedicine programme, which started in 2001, has been connecting remote/rural/medical college hospitals and Mobile Units through INSAT satellites to major speciality hospitals in cities and towns. Telemedicine network covers various regions including Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshdweep Islands, North Eastern States, mainland states including tribal districts of mainland states like Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Rajasthan. Presently, the telemedicine network of ISRO has covered about 382 hospitals with 60 specialty hospitals connecting to 306 remote/rural/district/medical college hospitals and 16 Mobile Telemedicine units. The Mobile Telemedicine units cover diverse areas of medicine like Ophthalmology, Cardiology, Radiology, Diabetology, Mammography, general medicine, women and child health. A patient being treated through a Mobile Telemedicine Facility While DOS/ISRO provides Telemedicine systems software, hardware and communication equipment as well as satellite bandwidth, the state governments and the speciality hospitals have to allocate funds for their part of infrastructure, manpower and facility support. In this regard, technology development, standards and cost effective systems have been evolved in association with various state governments, NGOs, specialty hospitals and industry. DOS/ISRO interacts with state governments and specialty hospitals for bringing an understanding between the parties through MOU. Under ISRO Village Resource Centre Programme, limited Telemedicine services are provided at the village level at several VRCs during the year. These VRCs will cater to providing various aspects of health promotion and disease prevention. During the year, ISRO has upgraded the network technology with the state-of-the-art systems to create a single platform for providing greater flexibility in terms of connectivity. Actions are also initiated to understand the performances at various levels of operations under Telemedicine Programme. Television INSAT has been a major catalyst for the expansion of television coverage in India. Satellite television now covers 100% area and 100% population. Terrestrial coverage is over 65 percent of the Indian landmass and over 90 percent of the population. At present 40 Doordarshan TV channels, including news uplinks are operating through C-band transponders onboard INSAT as well as leased ones. All of the Satellite TV channels are digitalised. The following satellite television services are being operated by Doordarshan: DD National (networking service) (DD-1), DD News (DD-2), DD-Sports, DD-Urdu, DD-India and DD-Bharati Regional services in States of Kerala, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, UP, Assam, Maharashtra, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tripura, Odysha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Mizoram, Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh As on date, 1416 transmitters of Doordarshan are working in INSAT system out of which 1134 transmitters [131 High Power Transmitters (HPT), 725 Low Power Transmitters (LPT), 260 Very Low Power Transmitters (VLPT) and 18 Transposers] are working in the DD-1 network and 169 TV Transmitters (73 HPTs, 79 LPTs and 17 VLPTs) are working in the DD-News network. 108 Regional service transmitters (6 HPTs, 8 LPTS and 94 VLPTs), 4 HPTs with digital transmissions are also operational in the Doordarshan Network. Out of these, four transmitters, one located at Delhi is carrying 16 mobile TV services for experimental purpose. 56 DD and Private TV channels are operational through DTH service (“DD Direct+”). INSAT provides bandwidth for DTH broadcasting service over Indian region. INSAT-4 series have high power Ku-band transponders to support DTH service with 60/90 cm dish of TVRO at receive side, all over India. TATA-SKY operates DTH service through INSAT-4A at 83 deg East with a total number of 150 video channels. Bharti Air Tel is operating on INSAT-4CR.Doordarshan (DD-DIRECT) operates DTH service through INSAT-4B at 93.5 deg East with a total number of 48 channels which are free to air. Other private DTH service providers are also using INSAT/GSAT platforms. In all, around 30 million of TVROs are distributed and operational all over India by various service providers including DD DIRECT. DD Direct TVRO’s number is in excess of 10 million.