7 minute read
Shrinking the Digital Divide
(from left) Austin Ratcliffe and Conor Ferguson
Photo courtesy of Conor Ferguson
Shrinking the Digital Divide
By Kirsten Shaw
-- Federal Communications Commission Notice of Proposed Rulemaking FCC 19-77
A student receives an assignment but can’t do the research on his home computer. A young woman looking for a job has to visit the local library to check her e-mail or submit online applications. A company seeking a location for its new plant passes up on a region in need of jobs because it lacks high-speed Internet coverage.
Issues like these are faced by millions in rural areas that are not served by high-speed Internet access. The “digital divide” between those with and without high-speed access is shrinking, but the United States still has a long way to go in developing the infrastructure needed in low-population areas.
Mississippi State alumni Conor Ferguson and Austin Ratcliffe have developed a way to hasten the process along.
The electrical engineers have designed a unique drone technology and software, offered through their company, WISPr Systems. WISPr Systems was cultivated in the Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach (E-Center) and the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering. Ferguson’s experience, however, began much earlier.
“My dad was the first to provide dialup service in north Mississippi, so I’ve known about the Internet and computers since I was six,” Ferguson recalls. “Later, I worked for him in the summers.”
In 2011, recognizing that wireless connections would be the most efficient way to bring high-speed access to rural areas, Ferguson and his father started a company to do so. About 2,500 such companies, known as wireless Internet service providers (WISPs), exist across the country today; 80 percent have fewer than 5,000 subscribers.
WISPs have low customer turnover rates and offer reliable connections. Installation of equipment is no more time consuming than fiber, satellite, DSL or cable. There is a key issue, however: the inconsistency of the site surveys required to locate the best positions for WISPs’ customer premises equipment (CPE).
“Some installations take 30 minutes and some take a couple of hours, and due to limitations of the current site surveying process, feedback for an installation can only be provided on 60 percent of potential subscribers,” observes Ferguson. “These inconsistencies prevent WISP installations from being a ‘cookie cutter’ process, in turn preventing big companies from consolidating WISPs and preventing WISPs from growing from 5,000 to 10,000 subscribers in one year.”
In the summer of 2016, Ferguson landed on a promising solution: drones. He and close friend Ratcliffe became excited by the prospects, and WISPr Systems was born.
“With our drones we’ve created an easy way to complete surveys in under 15 minutes’ time,” says Ferguson, President and CEO. “We’ve produced the ‘cookie cutter’ process that makes site surveys simple and will allow WISPs to grow at a faster rate and also allow for larger companies to have a uniform process that can be used throughout the entire company.”
“We were searching for a cost-effective way to determine height requirements for customer tower locations when we discovered WISPr Systems’ survey drone,” relates client Danny Weems, CEO of Texas-based SolidNet. “Since we have been using the drone, we have been able to add customers that we would have had to turn down in the past. Having the drone has also drastically cut the time it takes to perform a site survey. Instead of [being] a two-man job, it can now be completed with one.”
The drones are built at WISPr Systems’ Batesville, MS, headquarters. Each is equipped to carry and power a CPE antenna, enabling communication while in flight. LIDAR, a laser sensing technology, is built in to judge height and ranges, and GPS is onboard for navigation. Depending on the model, the drones carry payloads of 10 to 55 pounds and handle winds of 20 to 35 miles per hour. The flight function is directed via artificial intelligence, and with each flight, a drone gathers information aimed at increasing its own stability and longevity.
WISPr Systems' drones are helping bring high-speed Internet to rural areas.
Photo courtesy of Conor Ferguson
“It fine tunes itself every time it flies,” remarks Ratcliffe, Vice President and Chief Manufacturing Officer.
WISPr Systems offers two models. The pricier Scout is able to handle higher winds and a heavier payload. The Pogo was introduced as a more affordable product for those with more modest requirements. Its lower cost has enabled WISPs to buy a higher number of drones, further increasing the pace at which site surveys can be completed.
“Companies that were buying one Scout are now buying three or four Pogos,” says Ratcliffe.
Key to the drones’ effectiveness is the proprietary operating software, WISPr OS, and its accompanying WISPr Cloud Services. Besides quickly locating optimum CPE positioning, it allows clients to retain flight logs and other data such as tower locations and signal strengths. Patents are pending on the drones and software.
Ferguson credits engineering professors Dr. Bryan Jones, Dr. Mehmet Kurum and Dr. Bob Reese with help in planning and design – from access to equipment and guidance in problem solving and improvements to creating an initial business plan and connecting with professionals in the field.
He and Ratcliffe were less quick to seek input on the business side – at first.
“Austin and I are both kind of stubborn,” Ferguson laughs. “Initially we thought, ‘We can do this ourselves.’”
However, he enrolled in a seminar at the E-Center to see if there were any factors they hadn’t considered. The first day, Director Eric Hill shared how the E-Center operates and what it offers. Ferguson made an appointment with him that very week.
“The most exciting entrepreneurs to meet are the ones you can tell are going to find a way to make their ideas happen whether you can help or not – that was Conor Ferguson,” states Hill. “He impressed me because he had big, lofty visions of connecting the world to the Internet, but they were grounded in an elegant solution for a real pain-point costing businesses hundreds of thousands annually.”
Hill helped refine their business plan and financials and recommended they present to the E-Center’s Peer Review Entrepreneurship Panel, which resulted in a $500 grant. It was the first of several presentations that would bring in increasing funding from the E-Center, the Bulldog Angel Network and Innovate Mississippi’s Mississippi Seed Fund.
“If you go to the E-Center with a good idea, they’ll get you connected with the right people who can give you the help you need to develop it,” Ferguson remarks. “Eric Hill has done a ton for us, from fine tuning the beginning of our business plan to suggesting we charge a monthly fee for the software to provide recurring revenue.”
Ferguson also met Wade Patterson, a 1983 electrical engineering alumnus, co-founder of several tech companies, E-Center Advisory Board member and President of the Bulldog Angel Network. Patterson shared his experience and advice and eventually encouraged Ferguson and Ratcliffe to present to the Bulldog Angel Network, a consortium of alumni and friends who invest in early stage companies owned by MSU students, faculty or alumni. They did, seeking $300,000 for staff and equipment.
“We got a call that night from Wade,” Ferguson shares. “We were oversubscribed, with investments of up to $680,000! We accepted $450,000.”
He adds, “We have a lot to be thankful for in Wade. When you’re young and starting your own business, you can make a lot happen if you shut your mouth and listen to people with experience.”
The entrepreneurs are excited about another voice of experience, who has joined WISPr Systems to lead business development, sales and marketing efforts: Bruce Deer. The MSU alumnus’ resumé includes having served as President and CEO of SkyTel and as Chairman of the Mississippi Seed Fund.
WISPr Systems today has clients across the country. Short term goals include ramping up drone production and improving the software with mapping – potentially providing a tower coverage service useful to other businesses such as mobile phone companies.
The timing couldn’t be better. In August, the FCC announced a Rural Opportunities Development Fund that will award at least $20.4 billion to WISPs over the next decade to accelerate broadband buildout to areas lacking high-speed access. This is sure to increase demand for WISPr Systems’ products. The company is poised to make a major impact.
“‘Industry disruption’ is defined as ‘a process whereby a smaller company with fewer resources is able to successfully challenge established incumbent businesses,’” says Ferguson. “I believe our drones will be this industry’s disruptors.”
