Background

The standard of internet services in rural communities is typically much worse than that in more populated areas. This is largely because of the unwillingness of the community to focus on the real causes of the problem. The BushLAN project seeks the best solution to provide long range cost effective broadband to regional and remote areas.

The BushLAN project was started at the ANU in 2001  as an exercise in undergraduate education. The scope of the project was to cover all aspects of the Bush Internet problem including an evaluation of the physical constraints that impede long range communications,  market surveys that quantify the need for such a service, a mandate to make the public aware of the problem and its solution and finally the development of a new wireless technology to address the problem. To date over 40 honours, masters and PhD students have worked on various aspects of the BushLAN project.