(ANSAmed) - DOHA, FEBRUARY 6 - The record-breaking
telecommunication project Qatar is setting up on the Comoros,
the most southern Arab League member, was conceived by an
Italian. Daniele Trinchero, director of iXem Labs of the Turin
Polytechnic, is building a low-cost wireless transmission
project in the Comoros islands in cooperation with the Qatar
University. The project will give the population access to the
internet, a sources of knowledge, and will connect hospitals,
schools and Ministries, improving the quality of life of the
local people.
As is true for nearly all brilliant ideas, the project is
the result of necessity: ''We wanted to connect my town, Verrua
Savoia in Italy, to the internet,'' said Trinchero. In 2007 he
managed to set up a record wireless connection between Mount
Rosa and a mountain in the Apennines near Modena. Now his idea
has been turned into a 200,000 dollar project of the Qatar
University. "Education Minister Francesco Profumo is also very
proud that this project was founded by the Polytechnic when he
was rector of the institute,'' said Trinchero.
Trinchero and Mazen O. Hasna, head of the Engineering Faculty of the Qatar University, have just returned from their second visit to the Comoros, where they have verified the logistical part of the project. ''Our first visit was in 2011, when we held talks with the local authorities, and now we went back. It was not easy to pick a location for the antennas, because we had to climb the mountains, the roads are muddy and you can't go everywhere by car. Also, people talk French and the local language, only 30% talk Arabic so it wasn't easy to communicate either,'' said Hasna. The third journey to the Comoros will leave in about six months, when the actual project will be carried out, in cooperation with a student and a professor of the Polytechnic, students of the Qatar University and representatives of the local population.
''It is important to teach the local population how to use these instruments, so that they can manage and maintain them by themselves without extra costs. Also, it is crucial for the citizens to be aware of the fact that they own the equipment,'' Trinchero added. ''Involving students allows us to transfer technical know-how faster, and the students learn three times as much because setting up a project not only requires full engineering knowledge, but also the capability to resolve the logistical side and practical problems that present themselves during construction." (ANSAmed).
Trinchero and Mazen O. Hasna, head of the Engineering Faculty of the Qatar University, have just returned from their second visit to the Comoros, where they have verified the logistical part of the project. ''Our first visit was in 2011, when we held talks with the local authorities, and now we went back. It was not easy to pick a location for the antennas, because we had to climb the mountains, the roads are muddy and you can't go everywhere by car. Also, people talk French and the local language, only 30% talk Arabic so it wasn't easy to communicate either,'' said Hasna. The third journey to the Comoros will leave in about six months, when the actual project will be carried out, in cooperation with a student and a professor of the Polytechnic, students of the Qatar University and representatives of the local population.
''It is important to teach the local population how to use these instruments, so that they can manage and maintain them by themselves without extra costs. Also, it is crucial for the citizens to be aware of the fact that they own the equipment,'' Trinchero added. ''Involving students allows us to transfer technical know-how faster, and the students learn three times as much because setting up a project not only requires full engineering knowledge, but also the capability to resolve the logistical side and practical problems that present themselves during construction." (ANSAmed).
