By David Talbot, Technology Review
Efficient transmitter: This 50-watt unit is the lowest-power outdoor cell-phone base station in the world, according to an analysis by its maker. Worldwide, at least a billion people don’t have access to cellular communications because they lack electricity to run traditional transmitters and receivers. A new low-power cellular base station being rolled out in Zambia could bring connectivity to some of those people. Weighing just five kilograms and consuming just 50 watts, the gadget provides connectivity to 1,000 people and is “the lowest-power consumption outdoor base station in the world,” says Vanu Bose, CEO of Vanu, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company that built it. One destination for the pint-size base station is Chaimiaka, a village 115 kilometers from the Zambian capital, Lusaka. The units require a second piece of equipment, known as the backhaul, to handle the connection to the main network. In Chaimiaka, this is done with a microwave transmitter that consumes 25 watts; it links village communications with a traditional base station 17 kilometers away.
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