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Vodafone Foundation Launches Cell Site In a Backpack

Posted by timothy on from the secret's-in-the-backhaul dept.

Bismillah writes "The Vodafone Foundation's Mini Instant Network cellular access site is deployable in ten minutes and can be carried on as hand luggage on commercial airliners. It's only 2G, but hey ..." This reminds me a bit of the Gargoyles in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, and useful for more than just emergencies.

37 comments

  1. Obvious use by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Great for spying on people's phone communications.

    1. Re:Obvious use by BlueStrat · · Score: 3, Interesting

      [Obvious use]...Great for spying on people's phone communications

      Or, alternately, enabling people to set up their own local networks (throw in a dash of encryption, maybe?) when a government shuts down the carriers to aid in suppressing mass political/popular opposition, protests, marches, demonstrations, etc.

      It could ultimately be tracked down by the government, but even with no attempts to transmission-wise obscure the source/location (well, lets be real...it would necessarily be on a low-power transmitter, so there's that) it's damned hard, particularly in a dense urban area, to locate a signal from the ground.

      There's also the practical matter of logistics for the authorities. There aren't a whole lot of radio tracking & location vans around. The FCC has typically only had one or two in most of the States in the US, with exceptions for the larger States like California where the vast area of the State demands a larger fleet, but still relatively very few for covering a huge area. Michigan for instance had two (one was almost always parked and served as a backup vehicle against mechanical failures/repair) the last I'd heard.

      Helicopters would be faster, but there aren't that many so equipped either, even in the military. The military signal tracking capabilities are more focused on weapons systems and target tracking, not domestic small-transmitter rabbit-hunting that doesn't involve something akin to a HARM missile taking out a half-block area. That might go largely unnoticed and be considered by many to be an improvement in large sections of Detroit, but elsewhere it would definitely cause mass anti-government public demonstrations, protests, uprisings, death, and violence.

      And, I think we can *all* agree, here...

      "Ain't nobody got time for that!"

      Strat

      --
      Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
  2. Power Source? by rossdee · · Score: 0

    Does this come with batteries or do you just plug it into an AC outlet?

    I tend to think of backpacks as being used away from power sources.

    Of course if it did include batteries the TSA wouldn't allow it as carry on.

    No I didn't RTFA - this is /.

    1. Re:Power Source? by Neil_Brown · · Score: 4, Informative

      The backpack cell site can run on 110/220 volt mains power or a 12 volt battery; it also has an enclosed battery with four hours run time, and can also run off a 62 watt solar panel if needed. It can also charge up to three phones.

    2. Re:Power Source? by NixieBunny · · Score: 1

      There is some room left in the suitcase. They could have fit more battery packs in there - especially if they are Li-ion so as to not weigh a ton. Also, they could have provided some folding solar panels (it's not clear form the article if they are included or not).

      --
      The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
  3. a few specs by jecowa · · Score: 2

    It has a 100-meter (330-foot) range and can handle up to 5 simultaneous phone calls and thousands of SMS messages. People will have to take turns, but it's better than nothing.

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    my opportunity to freely express myself with the potential persecution and hangings and such
    1. Re:a few specs by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      It's kind of perfect for setting up a command and control center and relaying assessments while larger quantities and supplies are being prepared and sent. I think this thing is meant to grab and go in order to establish communications while others are preparing more complete systems for shipping.

    2. Re:a few specs by myles2go · · Score: 2

      Our company provides something similar, up to 1.5KMs of coverage so maybe more practical. Battery power is important in the post disaster scenario. Often even the first reponders won't have proper communications set up yet and as a team need to be able to relay information to each other effectively. As someone noted, it requires some connectivity to a central location (presumeably in emergencies via satellite). Our solution works standalone actually, so has that benefit too.

      An Italian company also has this EmergenyNET product, not sure if they are similar. Looks somewhat similar to what they announced.

      You can find info on ours here - http://www.starsolutions.com/p...

  4. Gargoyyles by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    Glassholes are what remind me of the gargoyles in Snow Crash. Gathering' it up!

    1. Re:Gargoyyles by drinkypoo · · Score: 0

      Indeed, there is absolutely nothing about this reminiscent of Snow Crash or, in fact, any other Stephenson book. None of them have featured a portable microcell, only portable computers. Pathetic bid for hits.

      Fuck, this comment ain't going to get any better no matter how many minutes have passed since the last one I left. Slashdot, you're fucking lame.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  5. Snow Crash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gargoyles in Snow Crash are more like people with an Oculus Rift/Google Glass hybrid and a lot of remote sensing gear.

    Not mobile base stations :)

  6. How does it connect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How does this connect to the rest of the network?
    Don't most cell sites sit on towers for line of sight?
    I'm wondering if you could use this thing when doing preliminary prospecting in the jungle.

    1. Re:How does it connect? by aix+tom · · Score: 1

      Well, we know this is Slashdot and nobody really reads the articles, but if people did they would find out that it used a satellite uplink.

      Backhaul to Vodafone is through the Cobham Explorer 500 Broadband Global Area Network, with communications being encrypted through IPsec.

    2. Re:How does it connect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I saw that, but that doesn't tell me if I need to climb up a tree to get it to work or not, and how far away it will work.
      Or do I need to drag a cable that connects to the Cobham Explorer 500 Broadband Global Area Network?

    3. Re:How does it connect? by wolrahnaes · · Score: 2

      BGAN is a high speed satellite internet network run by Inmarsat. If you have line-of-sight to geostationary orbit it'll work.

      --
      I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
  7. Good luck with getting that through security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    can be carried on as hand luggage on commercial airliners.

    Good luck with that. But if you succeed, you will have nice cell phone coverage on the entire flight. Is this cell site actually intended to be connected back to the grid, or is it only for communication between phones connected to this one site?

    1. Re:Good luck with getting that through security by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 4, Informative

      Is this cell site actually intended to be connected back to the grid, or is it only for communication between phones connected to this one site?

      Back to the grid. According to TFA:

      Backhaul to Vodafone is through the Cobham Explorer 500 Broadband Global Area Network, with communications being encrypted through IPsec.

      That's a satellite modem that sells for about three grand. A bit over 0.4 mbps of encrypted data plus voice.

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  8. It's Vodafone by Vollernurd · · Score: 1

    It's a neat product, I guess. I'd be interested in seeing how it works in real environments with lots of sources of interference and reflection. Please, the article spells the company name correctly. Why doesn't the summary?

    --
    Smokey, this is not 'Nam, this is bowling. There are rules.
    1. Re:It's Vodafone by Buck+Feta · · Score: 2

      Please, the article spells the company name correctly. Why doesn't the summary?

      The audience demands editing now?

      --
      I am Audience.
    2. Re:It's Vodafone by myles2go · · Score: 1

      when there's a disaster, i don't think there's any interference if the rest of the network has been impaired or disabled at the affected area!

    3. Re:It's Vodafone by Nemyst · · Score: 1

      Maybe the spellchecker is in beta?

    4. Re:It's Vodafone by Soulskill · · Score: 1

      Thanks for pointing that out -- I've fixed it.

  9. Re: FUCK BETA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Good riddance.

  10. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In other news, spine tumour rates are up 6000% in the Vodafone back-pack-mule division.

  11. "Carried as luggage..." by jafiwam · · Score: 2

    Yeah. Right. Like the fucking TSA is going to let you aboard an airplane with THAT.

    They'll have a new toy in the back room.

    1. Re:"Carried as luggage..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do understand that the TSA is afraid of Papa Bear and Papa Bear runs both TSA and FEMA right?

      Papa Bear would play a nasty game with the TSA agents that tried to stop a corporate based, technical specialty, volunteer disaster response group from taking required equipment to a disaster site.

      Oh and just cause you might have forgot to RTFA that equipment is currently based fairly far from US flight space requirements, so little to no need to worry about the TSA.

    2. Re:"Carried as luggage..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      more importantly, in a backpack walking around how does it tie into the PSTN network and what is the radiation exposure to the person wearing the backpack?

    3. Re:"Carried as luggage..." by the_fat_kid · · Score: 1

      that was my first question. Is the Operator supposed to wear this while it works?
      Or does one put it in the attic of the house next door and just leave it on?

      --
      -- Sig under construction...
    4. Re:"Carried as luggage..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They have the backpack to carry it all .... just like it said "Carried as Luggage" not operated while still in luggage. They set it up after you take it out of the backpack.

  12. Vodaphone / Vodafone by rkww · · Score: 0

    More lazy editing

  13. Now by justthinkit · · Score: 1

    Now if we can just get politicians to carry these...

    --
    I come here for the love
  14. This is actually an interesting idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    rangenetworks.com is making somewhat similar (but different) things http://rangenetworks.com/ (larger cells more, open source, different usecases etc.).

    In any case, cellular networks are not what they used to be :-)

  15. Re:FUCK BETA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cool story bro.

  16. Re:I got beta forced on me automatically today by jones_supa · · Score: 1

    Does "?nobeta=1" work?

  17. Re:I got beta forced on me automatically today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    beta sucks .. and I don't even use or need javascript .. down with beta .. go to facebook betamongers ..


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