Ayush Pandey

MAML: Towards a Faster Web in Developing Regions

Ayush Pandey, Matteo Varvello, Syed I. Ahmed, Shurui Zhou, Laxmi Subramanian, Yasir Zaki

The web experience in developing regions remains subpar, primarily due to the growing complexity of modern webpages and insufficient optimization by content providers. Users in these regions typically rely on low-end devices and limited bandwidth, which results in a poor user experience as they download and parse webpages bloated with excessive third-party CSS and JavaScript (JS). To address these challenges, we introduce the Mobile Application Markup Language (MAML), a flat layout-based web specification language that reduces computational and data transmission demands, while replacing the excessive bloat from JS with a new scripting language centered on essential (and popular) web functionalities. Last but not least, MAML is backward compatible as it can be transpiled to minimal HTML/JavaScript/CSS and thus work with legacy browsers. We benchmark MAML in terms of page load times and sizes, using a translator which can automatically port any webpage to MAML. When compared to the popular Google AMP, across 100 testing webpages, MAML offers webpage speedups by tens of seconds under challenging network conditions thanks to its significant size reductions. Next, we run a competition involving 25 university students porting 50 of the above webpages to MAML using a web-based editor we developed. This experiment verifies that, with little developer effort, MAML is quite effective in maintaining the visual and functional correctness of the originating webpages.

SONIC: Connect the Unconnected via FM Radio & SMS

Ayush Pandey, Rohail Asim, Khalid Mengal, Matteo Varvello, Yasir Zaki

As of 2022, about 2.78 billion people in developing countries do not have access to the Internet. Lack of Internet access hinders economic growth, educational opportunities, and access to information and services. Recent initiatives to "connect the unconnected" have either failed (project Loon and Aquila) or are characterized by exorbitant costs (Starlink and similar), which are unsustainable for users in developing regions. This paper proposes SONIC, a novel connectivity solution that repurposes a widespread communication infrastructure (AM/FM radio) to deliver access to pre-rendered webpages. Our rationale is threefold: 1) the radio network is widely accessible -- currently reaching 70% of the world -- even in developing countries, 2) unused frequencies are highly available, 3) while data over sound can be slow, when combined with the radio network, it takes advantage of its broadcast nature, efficiently reaching a large number of users. We have designed and built a proof-of-concept for SONIC, which shows encouraging initial results.