TwiddleNet: Smartphones as Personal Servers
Gurminder Singh
Naval
Department of Computer Science
gsingh@nps.edu; 831.656.3041
TwiddleNet uses smartphones as personal servers to
enable instant content capture and dissemination for first-responders. It
supports the information sharing needs of first responders in the early
stages of an emergency response operation. In TwiddleNet, content, once captured,
is automatically tagged and disseminated using one of the several networking
channels available in smartphones. TwiddleNet pays special attention to
minimizing the equipment, network set-up time, and content capture and
dissemination effort. It can support small operations of emergency
responders in the first 48-72 hours of an emergency response by using
handheld devices based infrastructure and scale up to handle hundred
of users with more robust backend infrastructure.
TwiddleNet
harnesses the power of pervasive edge devices, primarily smartphones, to enable
1) instant content capture and publish, 2) full owner control of content, and
3) search, view and download of content which was previously inaccessible. It
exploits the multiple communication modalities available in modern smartphones
(GSM/CDMA, GPRS/EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth � all in a single device) to provide a
fail-safe and rapidly-deployable infrastructure which is so critical to first
responders.
TwiddleNet
is useful for a number of applications including first-responder networking and
information sharing, social networking and applications that require immediate
content capture and dissemination such as disaster reporting. By using existing
lightweight, small and battery-powered devices, TwiddleNet enables
decision-makers real-time access to information from the front lines.
TwiddleNet
portal can be scaled up or down depending on the need of the operation. It can
be run entirely on handheld devices to support small first-responder teams and on
large computers to link together millions of devices sharing images, videos and
messages.
In
summary, TwiddleNet is a:
�
Mechanism
to harness the power of pervasive edge devices � smartphones
�
Gateway
to millions of mobile personal servers
�
System
to support instant content capture and publish
�
System to allow access to content which is
otherwise inaccessible.
Contact:
Gurminder Singh, Ph.D.
Professor, NPS/CS
gsingh@nps.edu