Vodafone Foundation Launches Cell Site In a Backpack

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.

Comments

Obvious use

[Anonymous Coward]

Great for spying on people's phone communications.

Re:Obvious use

[BlueStrat]

[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

Re:Power Source?

[Neil_Brown]

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.

a few specs

[jecowa]

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.

Re:a few specs

[sumdumass]

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.

Re:a few specs

[myles2go]

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...

Gargoyyles

[Bing Tsher E]

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

Good luck with getting that through security

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

Re:Good luck with getting that through security

[Ungrounded Lightning]

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.

Re:How does it connect?

[aix tom]

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.

It's Vodafone

[Vollernurd]

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?

Re:It's Vodafone

[Buck Feta]

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

The audience demands editing now?

Re:It's Vodafone

[myles2go]

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!

Re:It's Vodafone

[Nemyst]

Maybe the spellchecker is in beta?

Re:It's Vodafone

[Soulskill]

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

"Carried as luggage..."

[jafiwam]

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.

Re:"Carried as luggage..."

[the_fat_kid]

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?

Now

[justthinkit]

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

Re:Power Source?

[NixieBunny]

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).

Re:How does it connect?

[wolrahnaes]

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

Re:I got beta forced on me automatically today

[jones_supa]

Does "?nobeta=1" work?