Rain Drops Signal Cell Phones

An anonymous reader writes "Signals from mobile phone masts have been used to measure rainfall patterns in Israel, scientists report. From the BBC article: 'The University of Tel-Aviv analyzed information routinely collected by mobile networks and say their technique is more accurate than current methods used by meteorological services. The data is a by-product of mobile network operators' need to monitor signal strength. If bad weather causes a signal to drop, an automatic system analyzing the data boosts the signal to make sure that people can still use their mobile phones. The amount of reduction in signal strength gave the researchers an indication of how much rain had fallen.'"

Comments

Nice cover for military radar - Celldar

[AHuxley]

Meteorological services or cover for a fun new military radar set?
Google for cell phone radar ppl eg. Celldar
Cheap, always on, very hard to kill, nice world wide exports.
If it is targeted, you have the best PR ever?

http://www.roke.co.uk/sensors/stealth/celldar.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_radar
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EKF/is _33_48/ai_90445280