cellphonetower
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Supreme Court ruling requires search warrant for phone location data
The Supreme Court has ruled (PDF) that to perform cellphone tower searches, police will now need a search warrant, as spotted by NPR. Meaning, that now for law enforcement to track where you've been, via historical cellphone location data, will require a judge's approval. Basically, the decision upholds that the Fourth Amendment will continue to protect you from unreasonable searches and seizures.
AT&T suspends 2G in Oakland after cell towers step on police frequencies
An $18 million dollar radio system purchased by the Oakland Police Department has been giving static instead of 10-30s in progress, and the interfering party has now been collared -- AT&T. Local officials and the FCC told the mobile network that its towers were blocking police communication, particularly when patrol cars were within a quarter-mile of one. However, some local pundits have said the problem is of the PD's own making, claiming it invested in an inferior system and didn't check carefully enough for interference before making the buy. As a result, AT&T has temporarily shut down 2G frequencies around the city -- giving the telecom giant an unplanned sneak preview of the upcoming phase-out.
Wireless snooping WASP drone knows you want extra jalapeños, no sliced tomato
This fearsome contraption is the handiwork of a couple of amateur DEFCON-types who reckoned that any self-respecting spy plane ought to be able to impersonate cellphone towers. And that's exactly what the Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform does -- it tricks AT&T and T-Mobile handsets into connecting to it, then re-routes the incoming calls via VOIP so they don't drop, while simultaneously recording all conversations to 32GB of onboard storage. It can also handle a bit of WiFi snooping on the side, thanks to a Linux-based hacking toolkit and a 340 million word dictionary for guessing passwords. What's more, the WASP apparently achieves all of this without breaking a single FCC regulation. So, er, that's fine then. Oh yeah, and we don't want any of that stuffed crust nonsense, you hear?
NTT DoCoMo to power cellphone towers with renewable energy, tenderness
When they're not busy carving handsets out of teak (or rockin' out with their pupils), the folks over at NTT DoCoMo apparently focus their efforts on saving the environment. Next year, the Japanese provider will begin outfitting its expansive cellphone tower network with ten "green transmission stations," to be powered by an artillery of biofuels, wind and solar energy. This kind of infrastructure would obviously bring a smile to the face of ol' Mama Nature, but it could also help mitigate the adverse effects of power outages and elfin insurgents. And for that, we should all be grateful.
Alcatel-Lucent's lightRadio shoves a base station in a box, minimalists cheer
They've been fashioned after palm trees, Christ on the cross, and what look to be Dyson Ball vacuum attachments. But now, Alcatel-Lucent is giving cellphone towers a makeover that might actually stick. The company's new broadband base station solution, known as lightRadio, eliminates the need for cumbersome huts at the base of cellphone towers and packs antennas into a series of 2.5-inch boxes, while simultaneously improving capacity and reducing cost. These so-called radio cubes combine 2G, 3G, and LTE antennas with an SoC for processing, making them small enough to prop up on a lamp post. They're firmware upgradable, and utilize beamforming to more efficiently connect to wireless devices; according to the company, groups of 'em can not only increase broadband capacity by 30 percent, but also cut operation costs and CO2 emissions in half. Clearly, lightRadio makes a compelling case for narrowing the digital divide, but it won't be available broadly until 2012, which means the creative cover ups will just keep on coming. Sorry, JC. [Thanks, Nathan]
Helix Wind launching wind-powered cellphone tower trials in US and Africa
Helix Wind, a company that produces some very distinctive-looking wind turbines, is getting ready to start new trials in the US and Africa. These trials will involve testing the vertical wind turbines as a source of power for cellphone towers in areas where they may be off the grid, and carry much higher operating costs. The turbines should produce enough energy to power the cellphone towers, and pay for themselves within about six months. The trials are set to start at the end of the month with local Nigerian provider Eltek NSG as a main participant. [Via Inhabitat]
PSA: working atop cellphone towers is inherently dangerous
Color us flabbergasted, but tower climbing is being deemed "the most dangerous job in America" by Edwin Foulke Jr., head of the Occupational, Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). A recent look at the industry found that five climbers perished during a 12-day span this spring, bringing the grand total to seven in 2008. Of course, there are already remarks that the recent rush to expand 3G networks could be somehow connected, with Craig Lekutis, president of WirelessEstimator and a former tower industry manager, stating that the "recent spate of accidents must be viewed as an industry-wide cause for concern, both on the carrier and climber levels." In order to help bring awareness to the intrinsic hazards, OSHA is pushing a "Tie or Die!" campaign -- which, honestly, sounds a bit brash on the surface -- but we're all for reminding folks to anchor down that somehow have the ability to forget.[Image courtesy of Verizon Wireless]
Russian spy plane to be re-purposed as cellphone tower
We've already seen balloons used to provide cellphone service, but it looks like the Russians could soon be putting that setup to shame, with one of its Myasishchev M-55 spy planes now reportedly set to be demoed as a makeshift cellphone tower early next year. That'll apparently happenin Malaysia over the course of February and March, but it seems like that could just be the beginning, with one " unnamed Western firm" said to be in discussions with the aircraft's manufacturer about the possibility of resuming production of the planes specifically for this purpose. Among other things, that would allow the plane to used to provide cellphone service in disaster areas, with its 17,000 meter altitude and 5,000 kilometer range allowing it to cover a wide range on the ground with relative ease.[Via textually.org]
Cell tower and GPS traces now standard fare in courtrooms
Although cellphone tower location registering has been used in courtrooms for some time, we just knew that the GPS capability and morewould be put forth for use in cases where even better location granularity is required. Well, what do ya know: it's here. For alleged murderer Darryl Littlejohn, he knows it all to well. While movement from tower to tower is not exactly a new strategy for attorneys to use when arguing cases, it's use as an alibi can go either way. Critics say that rush-hour wireless traffic can shunt signals to towers that cause accurate tracking to be obfuscated somewhat, while others say criminals can plant their handsets away from crime locations for later use as an alibi. Yeah, we love when lawyers begin grasping the technical ins and outs of wireless towers and advanced tracking methodologies.
Jesus appears atop cellphone tower in Uganda
Cingular, you may have the iPhone but South Africa's MTN has an exclusive with the Jesus. That's right, the Christian religion's iconic friend of burnt toast and water-stains is making a (second?) comeback at the top of an MTN cellphone tower in Gulu, Uganda. Yesterday, excited onlookers could be heard saying, "Come, come, come look over there, between those two bars, do you see him, do you see him...? He [Jesus] is standing between those two bars." Unfortunately, neither reporters nor the MTN marketing department could see the manifestation so they won't be able to use the Son-of-God on any marketing collateral. They did say "Uganda" and not Germany, right? For that is where pilgrims can find the one true blessed cellphone tower. In the almighty words of Harlo in the comments, "Can you heal me now?"[Via The Register]
Cellphone towers beat radar at detecting rain, say researchers
Proving once again that wireless technology isn't all bad, researchers from the University of Tel Aviv have determined that cellphone towers are as good as, if not better than, traditional meteorological techniques at measuring rainfall patterns. The team took data already documented by the carriers about each tower's signal strength over time and compared it to information that had been collected by radar and rain gauges, and found that not only did the towers accurately detect the electromagnetic disturbances inherent to storms, but that the degree of change in signal strength was directly proportional to actual rainfall. While widespread utilization of this data could probably have an immediate effect on forecasting if combined with current methodology, the researchers have an even more ambitious goal of detecting signal variations from the end-user -- that is, on consumers' handsets -- for aggregation into even more precise and localized reports once weather-related changes can be teased out from among the many other signal strength variants.[Via Slashdot]
