New Streetlamps Will Keep Cell Service Running After an Earthquake
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Re: New Streetlamps Will Keep Cell Service Running After an Earthquake
#2I thought they were going to put microcells in solar powered street lights. No. This claim assumes the street lights retain both power and fiber optic connectivity.
Some areas in hurricane country are going to solar powered street lighting.[1] There are several manufacturers which make solar panel powered units tough enough for that. Giving them minimal cellular capability (voice and text only, RF relay to each other) might be worth it. There's a minor startup opportunity there, coming up with a low-cost, very rugged, very long life unit which can do that.
[1] http://www.sepco-solarlighting.com/projects/solar-street-lig...
Re: New Streetlamps Will Keep Cell Service Running After an Earthquake
#3http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-eric-garcetti-el...
this morning's news: LA got its 4 cell providers to agree "to share network capabilities in the aftermath of an emergency."
Re: New Streetlamps Will Keep Cell Service Running After an Earthquake
#4I thought they were going to put microcells in solar powered street lights. No. This claim assumes the street lights retain both power and fiber optic connectivity. Some areas in hurricane country are going to solar powered street lighting.[1] There are several manufacturers which make solar panel powered units tough enough for that. Giving them minimal cellular capability (voice and text only, RF relay to each other…
Seattle is undergoing a near total replacement of their old street lights to LED. At the same time, they have squandered an opportunity to install a wireless mesh work that is already wired for power and has great line of site. The hot nodes could be downlinked to fiber/dsl/etc.
Re: New Streetlamps Will Keep Cell Service Running After an Earthquake
#5There are a couple reasons you lose cell coverage in an earthquake.
1) Loss of electricity.
2) Congestion.
This doesn't fix either of them. Everyone is still going to pick up their phone, and the lines (power and network) will still be cut.
In fact, it makes it worse, since it is no longer possible to bring in a generator and provide power to the street lights.
Since routing, billing and interconnection are centralised, networks with longer wires are less reliable. The likelihood of a break increases with distance.
What it will do is provide quick and easy blanket coverage without the pesky nimby's knowing they are surrounded by cell towers.
Re: New Streetlamps Will Keep Cell Service Running After an Earthquake
#6I thought they were going to put microcells in solar powered street lights. No. This claim assumes the street lights retain both power and fiber optic connectivity. Some areas in hurricane country are going to solar powered street lighting.[1] There are several manufacturers which make solar panel powered units tough enough for that. Giving them minimal cellular capability (voice and text only, RF relay to each other…
Seattle is undergoing a near total replacement of their old street lights to LED. At the same time, they have squandered an opportunity to install a wireless mesh work that is already wired for power and has great line of site. The hot nodes could be downlinked to fiber/dsl/etc.
The same is true with Detroit which is replacing all their street lamps with LED's. This is doubly sad because Detroit is a leader in establishing urban mesh networks.
I've met with some of the volunteers building the mesh network and they're helping cities all over the world. An amazing group but sadly outside of the tech world their efforts are virtually unknown.
Re: New Streetlamps Will Keep Cell Service Running After an Earthquake
#7There are a couple reasons you lose cell coverage in an earthquake. 1) Loss of electricity. 2) Congestion. This doesn't fix either of them. Everyone is still going to pick up their phone, and the lines (power and network) will still be cut. In fact, it makes it worse, since it is no longer possible to bring in a generator and provide power to the street lights. Since routing, billing and interconnection are centralis…
Exactly. 1) is usually already catered for (for some hours, at least) with battery backups at the cell towers, and as for 2), only building capacity not needed 99.9% of the time will fix it.
During the Christchurch 2011 earthquake, the cellular services were taken down immediately by several hundred thousand people simultaenously trying to ring loved ones. Luckily the payphones were still operational to an extent - you couldn't call within Christchurch, but calling to locations outside of Christchurch worked.
It took about 8 or 9 hours for the backlog of SMS messages to be delivered on the day of the quake.
Re: New Streetlamps Will Keep Cell Service Running After an Earthquake
#8I thought they were going to put microcells in solar powered street lights. No. This claim assumes the street lights retain both power and fiber optic connectivity. Some areas in hurricane country are going to solar powered street lighting.[1] There are several manufacturers which make solar panel powered units tough enough for that. Giving them minimal cellular capability (voice and text only, RF relay to each other…
Seattle is undergoing a near total replacement of their old street lights to LED. At the same time, they have squandered an opportunity to install a wireless mesh work that is already wired for power and has great line of site. The hot nodes could be downlinked to fiber/dsl/etc.
I'm sure your local cable monopoly fought it as "unfair competition."
Re: New Streetlamps Will Keep Cell Service Running After an Earthquake
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seattle is undergoing a near total replacement of their old street lights to LED. At the same time, they have squandered an opportunity to install a wireless mesh work that is already wired for power and has great line of site. The hot nodes could be downlinked to fiber/dsl/etc.
I'm sure your local cable monopoly fought it as "unfair competition."
It isn't as simple as that. I'd put the problem squarely in the lap of the city counsel. An arcane and exclusionary last-to-touch rule for pole repairs and a council that can't actually make any decisions results in only mud.
Re: New Streetlamps Will Keep Cell Service Running After an Earthquake
#10Another excuse to further integrate full spectrum surveillance of the subjects.