Deploying wireless access in the developing areas of our world is fraught with complications. You name it -- lack of infrastructure, spotty or non-existent power grids -- and you can bet that adventurous technologists will encounter it.

And it doesn't help that you have to lug around hefty solar panels to get remote villages and schools networked. That's why a start-up, Green WiFi, is thinking small in a clever way when it comes to harnessing the sun's rays.

Wi-Fi Planet's Amy Mayer explains:

The solution emerged from puzzling out the question of power management. How they did that, Baikie [Bruce Baikie, founder, Green WiFi] says, is by designing what they call an "intelligent charge controller." It conserves battery power for as long as possible, including reducing the load when demand is low and when the sun goes down. That means the APs can run on a solar panel that is about one foot square, he says, while standard panels are more like three-feet square. The charge controller, called the GW-ICCM, can talk back to the router via an Ethernet connection to relay how much power the battery has. Four different stages of power management allow for efficient consumption. The controller was about a year in the making, Baikie says.

Yay smart power management!

Green WiFi's first testbed gets installed this spring at Honolulu Community College. We're looking forward to seeing how it goes...