Goal of The Project
DTN would require mobile devices to search the airspace around them for other DTN devices, but current mobile technology, or perhaps current battery technology, inhibits this functionality when the phone is sleeping or, in the case of an iPhone, when the appropriate application isn't running. In all likelihood, this situation severely reduces the chances that two phones will both be on at the same time, running a compatible app (when background apps are not possible), and looking for other nearby devices. This project will hopefully demonstrate that, if DTN services were incorporated at the operating system level, the brief periods of time during which a person is using their phone, when the phone is fully awake, would provide sufficient opportunity to trade data with other devices in the area.
Project Background
Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) is an emerging networking technology that empowers a mobile device to physically carry data closer to its destination. Imagine a WiFi hotspot that has no Internet connection where your phone is only capable of transferring data to and from other devices connected to that hotspot. If you attempt to send an email or text message to a friend, DTN allows you to leave the message on some device in that hotspot while you shut off your phone, and your friend can come download the message some time later. Or some phone might be able to carry the message to another hotspot where your friend is more likely to show up. Moreover, Bluetooth and WiFi ad hoc networking would allow your phone to communicate directly with other mobile devices without the need for someone to set up a WiFi hot spot, meaning the network could exploit any encounter between two phones anywhere to get data to its destination.
Why do this when a cell phone is always connected to a cell tower and the Internet? ...There are a few reasons. The first is that dead zones still exist; and so, we can't assume your phone is always connected to the Internet, in which case this technology would act as a kind of last resort. Second, cellular data plans are expensive. A large group of cooperating phones could potentially avoid them altogether. Third, being that cellular tower infrastructure is also expensive to construct and maintain, DTN can help deploy mobile communication technology to rural areas and developing countries. And the last reason is pure academic curiosity.
Who's Developing the Project
The Mobile Usage Project is a research project of the Network Research Lab in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh.