A new system of portable relay stations could provide a rapid response option to stop large gatherings of people drowning the local cellphone mast with calls, and preventing all but a lucky few getting connected.
When local channels are full, your cellphone will search for one of the portable relay stations, called an Ad hoc Relay Station (ARS). The phone鈥檚 signal will hop from one ARS to another, until it reaches a free mast. That mast will then accept your signal and provide a channel for your call.
The rerouting 鈥渟houldn鈥檛 take more than a few tens of milliseconds,鈥� says Chunming Qiao from the University at Buffalo in New York. 鈥淚n fact, that is a very conservative estimate.鈥�
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The small devices could also be deployed to dispel 鈥渟hadows鈥�, where phone signals are blocked by land or buildings.
Backpack power
An ARS functions much like its big brother, the cellphone tower. But it is small, wireless and portable. They could be placed on top of a building, in a car or a backpack. At the end of a football match, vehicles could be positioned in the car park so everyone can call their friends.
鈥淚n theory, you could also use someone else鈥檚 mobile phone as a relaying device,鈥� says Qiao, but not until concerns about privacy, security and billing are sorted out.
Qiao and his colleagues say the system, called iCAR (integrated Cellular Ad hoc Relay), is a cost-effective means of increasing capacity and extending coverage, both outdoors and indoors.
Their numerical simulations estimate that just six relay stations will be equivalent to one cell tower, servicing a diameter of several kilometres.
鈥淭his system, conceived in late 1999, could go to deployment very soon,鈥� Qiao told 快猫短视频. They are also looking to extend the same relaying concepts, to apply them to other wireless networks, possibly including satellites.
The team presented their work on Monday at the 2001 IEEE International Conference on Communications in Helsinki, Finland.