Cheap open source platform for the Antarctic to use mobile phones

Rangenetworks has introduced the world's most widely used GSM service into the southern rim of Macquarie Island. This communication network is more popular than the walkie-talkie and http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/6154.html ">wifi network because it has a wider coverage but less power consumption." Although local communications with other parts of the world are already available via satellite telephones, the model is used primarily in the area of security and scientific research, which is not used in local communications.

Range NX CEO Aide Cauzell (Edkozel) says GSM networks like Macquarie Island typically cost 1 million of billions of dollars in construction costs. But using an open-source platform called Openbts, the company will need only thousands of dollars to deploy the technology in Antarctica. To operate a GSM network with OPENBTS, you need only a set of radio software and a ready-made Linux server. "Traditional infrastructure is the cause of the high cost of most carriers, but we are not constrained by any historical baggage." Cauzell explained.

Thanks to this quasi-system (Barebone) model, the technology can be deployed in a variety of remote areas, from Antarctica to rural areas in Indonesia. Because it is unprofitable, large telecoms companies are unlikely to build traditional networks in such areas. But the economic benefits of the open source model have brought about a turnaround.

From Indonesia to Iceland

Openbts was developed by Rangenetworks co-founder David Burgiss (Davidburgess) in 2008 with others who realised that software could replace many of the traditional infrastructure in the cellular network. "The first time I encountered a mobile network was in the field of defense contracting. "said Burgess. He later left Rangenetworks and set up a new company called Legba. "I soon fell in love with this technology, but the way GSM is deployed is extremely inefficient. It was the 80 's, it was expensive and the electricity was very high, so it was acceptable at the time, but now it doesn't make sense. ”

Although Openbts is often used in sparsely populated remote areas, it is also used by others in unexpected areas. In Iceland, for example, a search and rescue team used the software to turn a helicopter into a mobile phone base station, using triangulation to determine the location of missing persons.

Indeed, this software can be used by hackers, and thus hijack the user's mobile phone information. Cauzell admits: "This is not the company's intention, but because the software is open source, so it can indeed achieve this." "However, the benefits of this wireless technology are far better than the risks that it entails, so the compromise is still worthwhile."

Next plan

Although Rangenetworks will still build new networks in remote areas, Burgess has turned his attention to another problem. Many network operators, he says, plan to switch to the already widely used LTE standard and deactivate the GSM network to save money and free up more wireless spectrum for the LTE network. But he explained that many companies were not allowed to replace the GSM network in rural areas with the standby LTE infrastructure, causing users in those areas to be unable to access the Internet.

After leaving Rangenetworks last year, Burgess is now concentrating on developing a new open source platform called YateBTS. This platform integrates OPENBTS code with another open source project called Yate. Burgess said Yate was developed by the Romanian Nullteam Company and could act as a translator between different telecommunication protocols. This allows YateBTS to be integrated with other network standards.

Burgess founded Legba to promote YateBTS's business, and he hopes the company will provide a way for network operators to share the same infrastructure and even share the spectrum with the LTE network. But Burgess's ambitions are not limited to a second, and he wants to spark a revolution in infrastructure, just as Android does for mobile computing. "Android has spawned a new set of companies and technologies in the mobile phone market, as well as brand-new products, and has sparked fresh competition in the smartphone market," he said. "What Android does in the mobile market is what we're going to achieve in cyberspace." ”