Solar-Powered Wi-Fi

My blog is mainly about the use of the Internet for education and development. Note that I did say "use" not "access". But often in my job I get someone saying, "Oh, but people can't use the Internet for education in village X because they don't have access to it or to electricity". Well today's blog is precisely about how we can get around these problems.

As solar power becomes more affordable, it is possible to bring Wi-Fi to previously inaccessible locations. Here is one success story - Green Wi-Fi.





The mission of Green Wi-Fi is "to help deliver the world's information to people in developing areas seeking knowledge, hope and opportunity in a digitally divided world." It seeks to bridge the last critical mile in Internet access using nothing more than a single broadband connection, rooftops and the sun. Green WiFi has developed a low cost, solar-powered, standardized WiFi access solution that runs out-of-the-box with no systems integration or power requirements.

Self healing network Green WiFi nodes can then be deployed on rooftops to form a self-healing network that hops the source signal over a virtual 802.11b/g grid. Because these nodes require no fixed installation or power tie-ins, they can form an unplanned, mobile grid that can grow or be relocated as needed. Working with other programs Green WiFi aims to complement and extend the power and promise of initiatives such as the UN/MIT One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, Intel's World Ahead Program and other NGO efforts dedicated to providing affordable computing capabilities to developing areas.



More about wi-fi.