20 May 2005
4 test villages
The communications-enabled village imagined by CNES is about to come true. Designed to help bridge the digital divide, this concept will be deployed in 4 French municipalities.
CNES President Yannick d'Escatha and Frédéric de Saint Sernin, Junior Minister for Land Planning, announced 16 May the names of the 4 villages selected to test the concept.
Aulus les Bains, Cucugnan, Saint Pierre de Côle and Saint Léon—all in Southwest France—were chosen on the strength of their motivation and on the basis of evaluations by Datar, the government agency responsible for regional development.
Each village will be equipped with a single satellite antenna providing a broadband Internet connection. Tradesmen, schools, professionals and private citizens in the village will then be able to connect to the Internet easily via a Wi-Fi antenna receiving the radio signal broadcast over the village.
Space technologies serving society
Designed to service remote areas, the communications-enabled village combines satellite telecommunications with terrestrial technologies like Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) and Power Line Carrier (PLC).
The concept developed by CNES offers communication services accessible to all, everywhere, at an affordable price.
Yannick d’Escatha said: “Through the communications-enabled village, CNES is striving to close the digital divide by bringing effective and economically viable solutions” to land planning issues.
Yannick d’Escatha said: “Through the communications-enabled village, CNES is striving to close the digital divide by bringing effective and economically viable solutions” to land planning issues.
The communications-enabled village is thus an integral part of the agency’s mission to find ways for space to serve society.
Looking further into the future, the aim underlying this pilot phase is of course to promote similar solutions in France, Europe and worldwide.
