A WiLD Idea: Wireless Long-Distance Internet for Rural Poor (1/2)

Eric Brewer is a busy man. He is a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also director of the Intel Research Berkeley Lab. There, he leads a team of students and Intel company researchers on projects with new technologies.

One of their creations is a WiFi-based long distance network, or WiLDNet. Wi-Fi is short for wireless fidelity. Wi-Fi connections, or hot spots, can be found in airports, hotels, coffee shops and many other places.

But Wi-Fi is designed for short distances. Eric Brewer predicts that most WiLDNets will only need to cover several kilometers of territory. Yet, in Venezuela, a network using WiLDNet technology and special software reaches over three hundred eighty kilometers. Each endpoint in a WiLDNet uses a router that takes only about seven watts of power. It can be powered by car batteries, energy from the sun or electricity from a local provider.

The routers cost about four hundred dollars. But Eric Brewer tells us the price should be less once the technology is finalized for mass production.

参考译文：

Eric Brewer是一个大忙人。在加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校，他是一位计算机科学教授。他也是伯克利实验室英特尔研究的主管。在那里，他带领着一科研小组的学生和英特尔公司的研究人员对新技术项目进行研究。

他们的发明之一是以无线上网为基础的长途网，或者叫远程网络无线保真技术。Wi-Fi是无限保真的缩写形式。无线网络连接，或者叫做热点，在机场，旅馆，咖啡店和其他许多地方可以找到。

但无线网络是专为短距离设计的。Eric Brewer 预测，这种远程网络无线保真技术将只需要覆盖几公里的范围。然而，在委内瑞拉，一个使用远程网络无线保真技术的网络和特殊的软件覆盖的距离竟然超过380公里。WiLDNet中的每个端点使用一个路由器，该路由器仅需要7瓦的动力。它可以通过汽车电池，来自太阳能或从本地电力供应商获得。

这种电路的成本约400美元。但Eric Brewer 告诉大家，一旦这项技术的产品大规模生产，价格会有所下降。