Field measurement of an implemented solar powered BS-based wireless mesh network

Developing effective communications infrastructure, that is, a BS-based communication system, in “off-grid” locations without electricity (rural areas without power grid, areas affected by disasters, etc.) is a challenging research area in the information and communication technology sector. Since users in such areas usually exhibit demands for stable communication (e.g., mail service with constant delivery delay, voice call service with consistent quality), the BSs need to operate utilizing available resources under an energy-constricted environment. With the absence of power grid in rural regions and the occurrence of power outage in disaster-stricken areas, ambient energy sources such as solar and wind energy have become viable alternatives to power BSs. These energy harvesting BSs, however, have to confront the variable behavior of the ambient energy sources, which lead to variable amounts and rates of energy available over time. In this article, we present our considered wireless mesh network exploiting solar energy harvesting BSs, and conduct a study based on field experiments to estimate the factors that influence their energy harvesting capability. Particularly, the results of our conducted experiments demonstrate that the ON/OFF states of the radio links have a direct impact on the power consumption of the BSs. Also, the manner in which the amount of solar radiation during different weather conditions over different days affects the array voltage in an energy harvesting BS is investigated.