A group of University of California San Diego (UCSD) researchers have developed a network of solar-powered stations that enable broadband microwave antennas to reach remote rural locations. Known as High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN), the project is already powering several Native American learning centers.
"There are thousands of small communities that could access the wireless
Internet using the unlicensed microwave spectrum, as does HPWREN," [said] UCSD
researcher Kimberly Mann Bruch…"The use of solar panels to
power wireless broadband equipment — radios, antennas and the like — is
especially feasible and cost-effective in areas where traditional
electricity is not available."
UPDATE:
The HPWREN web site with photos, topography map, and other project background is here.
