This topic is for sharing information on using bamboo for mast/tower construction for radio equipment and solar panels.
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Use of towers (masts) and high sites for the relay of wireless radio signals are a vital part of modern digital communications infrastructure. The high cost of network infrastructure is one of the primary causes for low penetration of connectivity in remote rural areas. Installing high masts in these areas to connect to the network in the nearest town can often be the most expensive part of a community network deployment, and there are added difficulties in transporting traditional metal masts to remote locations. In addition many smaller masts are often needed to interconnect households and other buildings in the community.
To enable connectivity to unconnected areas, cost-effective solutions are needed that can minimise the cost of towers and rely as much as possible on local resources. The use of bamboo as a material for mast construction offers the potential to significantly reduce costs and external dependencies, while using a more sustainable material. Bamboo in particular presents an important opportunity to address this problem, being a strong, fast-growing prominent feature of the rural landscape in large parts of the world. There are more than 70 genera of bamboo divided into about 10,000 species, which are found in diverse climates, from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. As a result of the physical and environmental properties of bamboo – i.e. high durability, local availability, ease of fabrication and multi-purpose usage – it is an attractive material for meeting a wide range of purposes.
Here is a blog summary of a webinar, "“We Bamboo: How to grow and construct your own bamboo masts for extending rural connectivity – sharing experiences” which took place on 22 October 2020:
After a timber telecommunications pole that was about 30 years old, had to be replaced in my neighborhood, I did some research on timber poles. I was surprised to learn that they can last over 50 years. Many studies quote lifetimes from 20 years and up, and some up to 75 years with maintenance. "data on 751,000 utility poles inspected across the U.S between 1988 and 1999. It determined a national predicted service life for poles without remedial treatment at 45 years, with ranges from 40 years in the most demanding conditions and 56 years in the low to moderate decay zones.However, application of a pole inspection and remediation program was determined to significantly add to the service life. Assuming no pole will last longer than 71 years, remediation can increase the service life of a pole by 33 percent, or 16 years. " (From: https://woodpoles.org/portals/2/documents/TB_ServiceLife.pdf)
Timber poles are quite cheap in Africa, starting at $20 for a new pole, and I have seen people construct 6m towers for under $400 in raw material costs. I would say that a deep enough concrete foundation is the most important, although I have seen the telecommunication operators plant them in quick succession without much preparation with a special truck. There are plenty of videos on Utility poles on Youtube.
I have not researched the longevity of aluminum and galvanized steel poles and lattice masts, and I’ve also noticed a lot of the new poles going up are actually concrete.
As for bamboo - not a lot of that where I live - but I can imagine that it would be suitable for access points or wide beam devices and I’m not sure what would be needed to make it stable enough for good links further than a few km, without requiring periodic re-tuning.
Looks great, I’ve a question about the protection of the lightning, I understand that when lightning strikes, a metal structure serves to dissipate the energy, in this case have they been damaged on occasion?
bamboo I wanted to share some study material that I have been raising during our project
Bamboo: How to grow and construct your own bamboo masts for extending rural connectivity – sharing experiences” which took place on 22 October 2020: