Now, visually impaired people in India can have access to the latest information and can refer to it any time. A unique network configuration developed by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) will help transmit live audio for blind students and even enable the transfer and printing of audio data files with the help of a Braille printer.

Under the ISRO’s EDUSAT project, the network functions in two distinct modes: data broadcast and audio broadcast. In data mode, the sender's (teacher) instructions are automatically stored in a file at each and every receiving unit (classroom) through the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) mode. While in audio mode, live audio instructions are transmitted to the students.

Earlier, visually impaired students had to depend on Braille books and audio cassettes, which are often out of date but now, classroom lectures and talks by experts can be directly transmitted to students or recorded in data files and played later.

''Students will be able to listen to the science lectures prepared by experts. This was not possible earlier”, said Ranchhod Soni, faculty at Blind Peoples Association (BPA).

The project took three months to evolve and implement. ISRO has set up one transmitting end at the BPA, Ahmedabad, Gujarat and 10 receiving ends across similar institutes in Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Sayla and other places in Gujarat. Many more such institutes in the state will be connected in near future.