
A Wireless Communications System That Works When Cell Phones, Internet Are Down - jamesbritt
http://www.fastcompany.com/1774515/lifenet-a-simple-communications-system-that-works-when-cell-phones-internet-are-down
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noinput
>There's just one catch: Users have to be within range of each other.
Outdoors, this could mean up to a kilometer. Indoors, users may have to be as
close as a few hundred yards.

I got my first Amateur Radio (HAM) license when I was 16, along with my (late)
father who helped me study and pass the incredibly challenging test, which im
proud to say I got through. The year was ~1996. Few people had cell phones,
and those that did were just about as happy with the service as we are today
with AT&T.

I remember I was on a scouting hike in the Los Angeles mountains when we saw a
wildfire break out up ahead. One of my leaders told us "hey, I just got this
new cell phone, let me call it in." After a few minutes of looking for a
signal, and finally getting one but it not going through, I tuned my 2 Meter
handheld to the Catalina Isle. (off the coast of California) repeater and
called for a CQ emergency <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQ_(call)> and within
10 seconds got someone who returned my call, took the details, and we were
done. Within 20 minutes we saw a helicopter fly overhead and started to hear
sirens.

We don't have to complicate our lives as we hack up new technology to
convenience others or create new standards with limits like this. With 5w of
power, my 90's handheld rig connected 150miles away over the Pacific and got
the job done. Not only is being a HAM radio operator a fun hobby, it's free,
and it works.

~~~
praptak
Yeah, direct radio communication beats an ad-hoc WiFi network anyday but a
solution that you have got beats one that you don't have. And WiFi-enabled
stuff (laptops, smartphones and who knows what else) is much more ubiquitous
than amateur radio gear. The solution in the article is not meant to replace
radio but to work when you don't have one.

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wccrawford
It sounds neat, but makes a lot of assumptions...

1) Power. You have to have it.

2) Other people. Someone has to be in range of yourself to communicate with
others. And a chain of people is needed to communicate long distances. And
they need power.

3) Equipment. You don't just need a computer. You need a computer with WiFi.
And decent range. Despite what they say about indoor range, my wireless in my
apartment barely goes from 1 end of my 1-bedroom apartment to the other. It's
sad.

4) Security. How is this protected against assholes? Seems to me that man-in-
the-middle attacks are really easy with this. 1 random person could doom an
entire area.

~~~
marquis
I've been involved in providing comms during disaster recovery and this would
be extremely useful during first-response / search&rescue.

1\. You generally have access to power by generators.

2\. You have an entire community and international USAR (urban search and
rescue) teams fly in within a matter of hours.

3\. Android/iPhone/Netbooks. There is not really a shortage of these and they
are easily flown in with USAR. Mobile companies have been great at donating
during these times.

4\. There really are bigger problems to worry about in these situations. And
believe me, if someone is caught doing 'asshole' activities during a disaster,
the community never lets them forget it.

~~~
wccrawford
You have a generator every few hundred yards, all the way to where you need to
communicate with, and you don't simply have a cable running that distance as
well?

I'm not trying to knock them. I'm glad they're trying to solve a real problem.
I'm just not convinced that it's as bright and shiny as it first appears.
There's a lot of other real-world problems that are going to negate the
majority of its usefulness.

~~~
marquis
In a disaster area cellular technology is often spotty due to massive power
outages and people clogging the networks. Running ethernet cable to a series
of hotspots would be great also, or using RF to propagate signals, but these
things take time. If USAR teams have mesh networks built right into their
phones I feel this would be extremely useful, especially in push-to-talk
situations, receiving emergency notifications (fire/quake/volcano alerts, USAR
needs to get out ASAP), comms back to hq etc. For me, this is an exciting and
important area that can save lives and property.

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golgo13
Amateur Radio? <http://www.arrl.org>

~~~
noinput
73 for the link, KE6QFN

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praptak
A network without ISPs who can block users? I could name a few groups who
would not like it.

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JoeAltmaier
I'd be curious about resilience in the face of nodes going up/down, whether
there are delivery notifications (did the text make it? how do I know?),
late/duplicate delivery when a node storing a packet comes up again. Lots of
hard problems, didn't see any discussion of any solutions.

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rmc
The software is claimed to only require WiFi hardware, so should be available
to loads of people.

The code is here apparently <https://github.com/hrushim/LifeNet>

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absconditus
I am fairly certain that paramedics and fire fighters already have private
radio frequencies that they use.

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skorgu
They mention android but I can't find an apk, nor is it in the appstore. Is it
just not released yet?

