Building a solar-powered, decentralised social network

Table of Contents

  1. In summary
  2. Researching the social impacts of technology
  3. Building a hardware testing platform
  4. Creating a suitable brand
  5. Evaluating in the real world

In summary

For the final project of my Interaction Design degree, I explored the role that wireless, solar-powered micro-controllers could play in communication within communities.

Researching the social impacts of technology

Following a brief of using solar-powered technology for good, I researched ways in which people are using technology in subversive manners. I found the role of encrypted messaging apps to be crucial, yet deeply vulnerable.

My largest discovery was how centralised our national internet infrastructure is, 2.3 exabytes of annual traffic passing through just 3 datacenters. Many countries, like Iran for example, use this centralisation to restrict and block access to the internet. I realised there was a need for digital communication tools that could resist forms of surveillance and suppression in ways that the internet is susceptible to.

A graph showing internet activity in Iran on the 8th of January 2026. At roughly 4pm, all activity ceases as the internet is blocked
Internet traffic in Iran after a complete block.

Building a hardware testing platform

Looking to create a realistic platform to design from, I researched many different micro-controllers and parts to use. For example, the ESP32-S3 was chosen for it's wifi capabilities and low power consumption. Similarly, a Lithium Phosphate battery was chosen over the more common Lithium Ion or Polymer batteries as it was non-toxic and better suited for longer, outdoors deployment.

With the parts, I designed a number of rudimentary enclosures for different use-cases. Each was designed to be easily manufactured with access to tools, and provide a variety of ways to deploy a module like sticking in a window or hanging on railing. All part files are open-source, so easily modified by end users.

The initial prototype, components are crammed into an off-the-shelf box, the antenna in taped on and the frame shows various attempts at placements. The final prototype, it sits shining in a window. The compenents are seen orderly within a 3D printed enclosure, parts are found in defined places with a sense of order overall.
The first hardware prototype and it's final iteration.

Designing and iterating on a solution

The remaining time in the project was spent building small web applications and testing various parts of the project with users. I researched numerous software libraries and approaches to building a live social network. I tested a number of different approaches like PUSH requests and WebRTC before landing on websockets for the final implementation

I wrote a static webserver in C++ for the ESP32 that supported websockets and writing to an SD card. This allowed me to build a lightweight chat application for the browser with Javascript that could save and reload the chat history on demand.

The first successful communication over solar space. A phone shows the same messages that appear on a laptop behind it. The final app application running on a person's phone. The app is clean and vibrant, we can see a community discussing a local happening.
The first websocket messages sent vs the final chat app.

Creating a suitable brand

The visual communication of Solar Space and it's ideas was an important focus for me from the beginning, much time was put into iterating and developing a strong visual brand in which the project could follow. This involved the creation of a dynamic wordmark that could represent the project's themes of open spaces and solar power, as well as a reliable font system and colour scheme.

The project's brand guidelines. The top features the logo, with a space inbetween 'Solar' and 'Space' that can contain images or video to represent solar energy. There is also a list of different fonts used and a set of colours.
Brand guidelines doc

Evaluating in the real world

The solutions went trough real world deployment in order to evaluate it's success at every stage. I found valuable insights about the role of anonymity in communications, people's feelings on public and private group chats, as well as the limitations of solar-powered computing. These all contributed to the shape of Solar Space as a concept.

A person checks a solar space group chat to see what their friends wrote.

I also presented the idea to several experts in topics like solar powered computing and communal server infrastructure. This helped me get valuable critical insight into the project and infer a direction for the project's future to come.

Solar Space git repository A number of different designs of Solar Space modules are laid out on a bench.