Now Get Weather Alerts Even When Your Mobile Networks Are Down, Thanks To IBM's Mesh Networking (cnet.com) 75
Communicating news of severe weather events or natural disasters is something mobile phones are well suited to, but if there's limited or disrupted network coverage the message may fail to get through. But not anymore. From a CNET report: A new Weather Channel app, though, can get the message through even during earthquakes, tornadoes, and terrorist attacks when mobile networks can be overwhelmed and may not work. The Android app, geared specifically for developing countries, uses IBM-developed technology called mesh networking that sends messages directly from one phone to another. The result is that information can propagate even when centralized networks fail. Using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks, the app can send data from phone to phone across distances between 200 to 500 feet, IBM Research staff member Nirmit Desai said. It doesn't add any more battery burden than an ordinary app, and the mesh network can be used without having to reconfigure the phone's network settings.
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The result is that information can propagate even when centralized networks fail.
That is the weapon. Would be censors won't like this at all
Spam before malware (Score:2)
Just as with email... viagra, stock pump and dumps, and "you have won" phishing.
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What about data and txt costs?
How much do you pay for bluetooth and WiFi on your phone?
This is fascinating, intended for third world use. Do we imagine that the density of cell phones in the third world is really sufficient to meet the 200' range? Maybe in the city, on the streets. Anywhere else, huh?
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Do we imagine that the density of cell phones in the third world is really sufficient to meet the 200' range? Maybe in the city, on the streets. Anywhere else, huh?
Yes most people in third world have cell phones, they don't have to cost $1000
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Yes most people in third world have cell phones,
100% of the people in Nebraska could have cell phones and you wouldn't have enough cell phone density in most of the state to make a mesh at 200' range.
Re: What about data and txt costs? and can they re (Score:4, Insightful)
You could repurpose a spud gun and fire cell phones off in random directions until you achieve desired coverage.
Re: What about data and txt costs? and can they r (Score:1)
In 3rd world it's hard to get more than 150 metres from a phone.
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In 3rd world it's hard to get more than 150 metres from a phone.
No. The third world includes a lot of places like Africa where there aren't many people at all in very large areas. Maybe you're thinking of second world?
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actually it's 200 - 500 ft, and your really missing the point... if you overload a cell tower cos it's a centralised network and sucks in an emergency, then you have your high density mesh right there around that tower, it doesn't have to cover an area the size of Nebraska... even in no-network scenarios populations are not spread out uniformly.
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if you overload a cell tower cos it's a centralised network and sucks in an emergency, then you have your high density mesh right there around that tower,
The point was that this functions when the network is down, not just overloaded at one tower. And relying on having a high density of users right around the non-working towers is a dangerous assumption, outside the cities that already have other notification systems. From TFS:
And, of course, that the concern over data costs was ridiculous.
it doesn't have to cover an area the size of Nebraska.
I didn't say it did. I said it wouldn't be able to cover much of Nebraska at all, outsid
store and forward? (Score:3)
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What about data and txt costs?
How much do you pay for bluetooth and WiFi on your phone?
This is fascinating, intended for third world use. Do we imagine that the density of cell phones in the third world is really sufficient to meet the 200' range? Maybe in the city, on the streets. Anywhere else, huh?
Hello from the developing world. Yes, most people, even in remote areas, tend to live in clusters. These clusters increase in concentration during natural disasters. This kind of tech would allow news to propagate within population clusters, leaving disaster response people to focus more on hopping between concentrations of people. All in all, probably a useful addition to the disaster-response toolkit.
BUT... Android-based mesh network tech that uses a mobile's wifi has been around for years. I test drove o
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What about data and txt costs?
How much do you pay for bluetooth and WiFi on your phone?
This is fascinating, intended for third world use. Do we imagine that the density of cell phones in the third world is really sufficient to meet the 200' range? Maybe in the city, on the streets. Anywhere else, huh?
You only need to be a true shareholder in IBM stock to get the inside company information on how this will work with 100% certainty. *choke*
Re: Not Wi-Fi mesh I guess (Score:2, Interesting)
What about using the scanning mode of the network adapter to transfer small messages? You could theoretically place a small 32 bytes message in th SSID then initiate scanning of nearby ad-hoc stations. That way you don't have to fully associate with a network.
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If we could somehow convince Apple to support Wi-Fi Direct instead of only supporting their own, incompatible peer-to-peer scheme, this would be a solved problem. Unfortunately, the fact that Android and iOS use two fundamentally different peer-to-pee
Re:Not possible, 'mah feels' (Score:1)
Step 1: https://play.google.com/store/... [google.com]
Step 2: https://play.google.com/store/... [google.com]
But I don`t have anyone nearby.. (Score:1)
you insensitive clod!
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Well, then you could always still mesh with yourself . . .
. . . but that's none of my business, what you do in private . . .
Now? (Score:4, Insightful)
Reinventing the walkie-talkie? (Score:2)
The Nextel is back!
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Recategorized as force of nature...
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Recategorized as force of nature...
And such re-categotisation would be very true, indeed.
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So is politics in general. Everybody talks about it while complaining they can't do anything about it, just like the weather.
I look forward to the inevitable security problems (Score:2)
A moot point. (Score:1)
If your communications networks have just been taken out by weather then the situation is already past the point where information about the weather is even relevant because it's already too late to do anything except hunker down in the basement (and maybe kiss your ass goodbye).
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If your communications networks have just been taken out by weather then the situation is already past the point where information about the weather is even relevant because it's already too late to do anything except hunker down in the basement (and maybe kiss your ass goodbye).
I dunno. It could be handy if the cell towers were gone near you, but signals could be propagated from working towers at the edge of the incident through the mesh to those people in the path. I was once in the direct path of a tornado (only an EF2) that I knew was out there, but thanks to using satellite TV, the local weather station went "waiting for signal" just as things got interesting. It petered out about a mile away, but I had no way of knowing that and didn't know when it was safe to come out of my
Reinventing LTE Direct (Score:3)
Ad hoc (IBSS) != Wifi-Direct (technical details) (Score:3)
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It is very difficult to control (censor) what passes over ad hoc networks. So it's best for Google to just disable it altogether.
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(If you run git blame on serval mesh's source code, you'll find my name on about 80% of the code)
Serval mesh uses Wifi and Bluetooth to share files and communicate securely. But it can't bypass google's removal of IBSS from Android. We've kept the code that turns on IBSS on some Android handsets version 2.3.3 or lower. If you really want a mesh network between phones, you can still get your hand on some old ones...
Android's bluetooth & Wifi-Direct stack are a buggy mess. It's far too easy to stumble o
Start the pool... (Score:2)
Let's start the pool on how long until someone figures out a way to spread a virus via this new mesh...
IBM-developed?? (Score:2)
Mesh Networking was pioneered by Amateur Radio Operators (Also known as Hams), and the real, high-level engineering is being done by hams who have already set up Mesh networks to link mobile radios and the internet.
Or, you know, radio (Score:2)
I have a weather radio that NOAA can trigger for warnings, and if I want real-time tracking information (like while I'm hiding in an interior room due to a tornado warning), local radio broadcasters simulcast the local TV station's audio feeds. Much more reliable, and doesn't require apps.
Weather Band Radio Instead. (Score:2)
almost 16 years ago (Score:3)
On October 4th, 2001, I read this post https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org] on slashdot. The article it refers to, http://archive.oreilly.com/pub... [oreilly.com] describes "SMS Relay -- An Idea for Fault-Tolerant Communications", wherein the author proposes building a mesh-like network capability into the SMS programming of cellphones. It's still a good idea.
And that article got me thinking about what I could do to make a difference. I shortly got my first ham radio license, volunteered with ARES, then the Red Cross, and now work there.
Prior Art (Score:2)
Have a look at the Serval Project. http://www.servalproject.org
Requires rooted Android Phone