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By the power of the sun
THE internet has provided us information and knowledge and its accessibility is not just limited to developed countries — in fact, many developing countries jumped on the internet bandwagon so to speak. However, in spite of the advantages of the internet, there are some limitations attached to it too.
One of its many limitations includes its dependency on electricity. But this is not so much of a problem anymore because a revolutionary way of being online all the time has been pioneered — the solar wi-fi power system.
How it works
Like many other forms of technological innovation, the internet is also dependent on the availability of cables and electricity for it to work. For this reason, its usage is limited in the developing countries where power failures are rampant, especially the rural areas. The solar powered wi-fi system has been designed to facilitate the use of the internet in such areas.
The solar powered wi-fi system is termed to be a solution for the conventional limitations and dependencies of the internet on cables and electricity. Its usage is based on a wireless system through its installed hot spot stations. Traditionally, the energy for activating the centralised hot spot station is usually provided by some electrical source. However, to overcome this dependency, the power to run the hot spot station comes from solar energy. The solar wi-fi system has been designed, keeping in mind the more distant areas where there is little or no electricity and an absence of cables required for using the internet. The solar energy comes in the form of light waves and the solar panels are used for storing these light waves from the sun. The light wave, AP-1000, solar powered access point comes in two types of models, single and dual. The dual system is deployed on a chosen roof top and has two hinged solar panels. The single model light wave has only one panel. Each access point has a potential range of up to 30 miles. The light waves unit opens up and gathers energy from the sun, thus charging the batteries.
With these charged batteries the network’s wi-fi signals are transferred over a grid using a wireless network standard known as 802.11b/g. It almost takes five hours of direct sunlight or an increasing amount of light over a longer period of time to charge one battery completely. One completely charged battery can energise one hot spot for 72 hours. Storing few batteries together can keep the system running for a few days quite easily. This has been a challenge in deploying the solar power wi-fi system to counter the constantly changing weather conditions. A commercial, solar-based system has been found to work for as long as a week without incoming light, but during the monsoon season (which usually lasts a month) in a country like, say, Bangladesh, its use is dependent on the amount of stored energy.
Advantages
The solar powered wi-fi system is more reliable because the source of energy is unlimited and it is cost-effective in the long run. Studies show that a 100 per cent solar power-based network can continue to work when there is no power, for example, on rainy days, storms and in disaster-hit areas or even deserts. The use of solar energy as a power source decreases the cost of installing wi-fi power stations based on the use of rechargeable batteries which are too expensive to be used as a source of energy. Rechargeable batteries also need to be changed every now and then, whereas solar energy panels are much more reliable, as they have providing energy for the past 20-30 years in developed countries. Besides this, another advantage of solar-powered wi-fi systems is that they are portable and can be moved to areas which have lost power and require all information to be transferred to another area along with resource management.
By providing developing regions with a solar-powered wi-fi system, people from remote areas can finally go online and be a part of the global village. The solar-powered wi-fi system is broadening the realm of global communication as it is expected to empower people for meeting the challenges presented by technology.
At present many non-profit organisations from the US and England are planning to improve the wi-fi system and make more useful by bringing it to schools in countries like India through economical, solar-powered wi-fi networks.
While many countries are using solar-based wi-fi systems for accessing the internet, in Pakistan its use is just limited to a few educational institutes where hot spot stations have been installed. Considering the advantages of the wi-fi system, we should try to make use of it so that we can keep up with the ever-changing world of information technology.
The writer’s a qualified dentist and a freelance contributor
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