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Peer-to-Peer Cell Phones?

Posted by michael on from the telephone-tag dept.

Mike writes "This Wired article mentions that research firm SRI International has come up with a nifty way to lessen the need for the ugly cell towers that you see popping up everywhere (I love the ones here in Atlanta that are oh-so-cleverly dressed up to look like pine trees). Their PacketHop software would create a sort of peer-to-peer network, utilizing the unused power in phones in the vicinity as miniature relays, with your voice/data hopping from one phone to the next until it reaches a relay tower and its final destination."

5 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Pictures of cell towers disguised as trees by Serk · · Score: 3, Informative

    And if anyone wants pictures/more info on the new trend of disguising cell towers as trees:

    http://www.signaltower.com/cellular_tower_tree.h tm

    --
    Never ask a geek why, just nod your head and slowly back away. -Rob Malda
  2. What "unused power" in phones? by Tim+Ward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Anyone who's done any cellphone programming will know that there aren't an awful lot of spare CPU cycles going begging when the phone is idle, and there are hardly any at all when you're in a call.

    Unless your phone has more CPU power than you need for normal use, and why on earth would the phone manufacturer do that?? - it'll just eat battery and make the phone uncompetitive.

    Sorry, but you can't get this sort of system for free. It will cost, in more expensive handsets and/or reduced battery life. Not to mention a re-run of all the safety research as the things will be transmitting on a higher duty cycle even when you aren't deliberately making a call.

    [Disclaimer: The above is all true for GSM systems as used in 199 countries of the world. I gather things may be a bit different in the USA.]

  3. Re:Aw come on by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 4, Informative

    Heh.

    Yes, it sends packets every once in a while.

    Thing is, your battery has a standby time of 48 hours, but a talk time of what? 1 hour? 90 minutes? Most of that power isn't going to sound circuitry, it's going to the radio, and if your phone is busy relaying a call that radio will be pulling just as much power.

  4. Here's what's under the hood by nbcjones · · Score: 3, Informative
    This technology is based on something called TBRPF, which is currently an Internet Draft of a routing protocol for mobile, ad-hoc, wireless networks.

    Cool stuff, really.

  5. P2P packet radio is an old idea by MountainLogic · · Score: 4, Informative

    P2P packet radio is an old idea. Check out the old Aloha and AX25 protocols. One of the best sites for amature packet radio is Tucson Amateur Packet Radio or Packet Primer.