Solar Fidelity

The internet revolution has galvanised the world and is being billed as the great leveler between the developed and the developing nations. However, its reach continues to be limited to the urban and semi-urban sections in India due to issues of cost and availability of connectivity and electricity.

An nonprofit organization is to start a pilot project for cheap, solar-powered Wi-Fi network in three schools in Uttar Pradesh, where one of the schools has a cable connection.

Each node in this Wi-Fi network consists of a battery-powered router and a solar panel to charge the battery. The nodes are mounted on rooftops, and the network's Wi-Fi signals are transferred over a grid using a wireless network standard known as 802.11b/g.

The solution also has an elegant degradation system that would function under variable weather conditions depending on the charge level of the battery and the amount of incoming sunlight. The users are split into categories, with everyone initially able to connect. If the power level drops a bit, certain groups are cut off, leaving access only to specific school grades or teachers. When even less power is available, the system limits their bandwidth--users can send e-mails, for example, but not watch videos online. Finally, the hours of operation can be restricted to the opening hours of the school. All this is managed through a simple Web-based interface.

If successful, this standardized, relatively inexpensive and simple to deploy networking solution can revolutionise education by bringing internet access to schools and remote villages.

Details here