About The CWRC

The general objective of the CWRC is to provide or enhance sustainable Internet connectivity infrastructure, particularly in rural or under served areas in Uganda, by means of wireless technology.

Specific Objectives


  • Implement and support the maintenance of community wireless networks, initially targeting the IDRC-funded telecentres by establishing the CWRC in the Department of Electrical Engineering
  • Build capacity, among students at the Electrical Engineering department and technical staff at the telecentres, in the design, installation and maintenance of community wireless networks including bandwidth management and efficient traffic provisioning
  • Undertake research to assess the technical feasibility and economic business/partnership models of community wireless networks
  • Document and share the results widely

Current Research Areas

The CWRC is currently pursuing research under two broad objectives:

    - To develop adaptive bandwidth management techniques to enable efficient use of bandwidth at each of the sites
    - To investigate the potential of cognitive radio technology to obtain the best available spectrum to meet user communication requirements

Main Research Questions


  1. How can traffic shaping be implemented in a “static” - as opposed to an adaptive wireless environment so as to ensure latency and congestion management as well as fairness within the network?
  2. In the case of adaptive bandwidth schemes, what key factors should be actively monitored in order to determine and quantify the 'extra' bandwidth utilised by a user?
  3. What is the impact of the propagation environment on the viability of adaptive bandwidth management?
  4. What impact does cognitive radio technology have on the number of users that can be hosted on a single cooperative network employing an adaptive bandwidth strategy?
  5. What policy recommendations can be provided to improve the capacity of wireless technologies in the provision of diversified services and value addition – even in the presence of licensed users?

Research – Capacity Building

The CWRC research activities involve supervision, mentoring and training of students from the Department of Electrical Engineering. As an emerging program, the CWRC seeks to build on the quality of expertise available by linkages with established programs. For example, the CWRC is seeking opportunities to host its students for internships and sandwich degrees with established institutions and companies in the field of wireless communications.