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Cellular communications: Difference between revisions
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Added information on setting up a cell tower, referencing the Pink Cell Tower project.
(Added information on setting up a cell tower, referencing the Pink Cell Tower project.) |
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== Community operated cellular infrastructure == | == Community operated cellular infrastructure == | ||
[[File:Pink-cell-tower.jpg|thumb|Image of the Pink Cell Tower project, a cell site providing free voice and calls powered off a Rasberry Pi, BladeRF and the YateBTS GSM stack.]] | |||
Often it is victims of environmental and other disasters that are geographically closest to the damaged cellular communications infrastructure they depend upon, and yet even with sufficient knowledge at hand, civilians may not have the rights, credentials and rarefied tooling to attempt a repair that involves access to the base station component itself. | Often it is victims of environmental and other disasters that are geographically closest to the damaged cellular communications infrastructure they depend upon, and yet even with sufficient knowledge at hand, civilians may not have the rights, credentials and rarefied tooling to attempt a repair that involves access to the base station component itself. | ||
It is here that community owned and operated cellular infrastructure presents an interesting fallback. | It is here that community owned and operated cellular infrastructure presents an interesting fallback where technical ability allows. A cell tower capable of providing voice and messaging for a remote or at risk community can be implemented using a [[Radio#Software_Defined_Radio|Software Defined Radio (SDR)]], an open source software stack, a laptop or mini computer (like a Raspberry Pi) and flat panel directional antennae designed for a GSM band. | ||
* YateBTS | * YateBTS <ref>https://yatebts.com/</ref> | ||
* BladeRF | * BladeRF <ref>https://www.nuand.com/bladerf-1/</ref> | ||
* 2x GSM 900 | * 2x GSM 900 or GSM 1800 directional antennae | ||
* LNA | * LNA | ||
* Power amplifier | |||
* Coaxial cable and connectors | * Coaxial cable and connectors | ||
A pre-packaged example implementation of this is Pink Cell Tower by technologist and artist Julian Oliver and contributor to this wiki<ref>https://julianoliver.com/projects/pink-cell-tower/<ref>. An entire pre-configured 'ISO' disk image can be downloaded and flashed onto an SDcard, for use on a Raspberry Pi minicomputer that is connected to a BlareRF SDR, in turn connected to directional antennae on its transmit (TX) and receive (RX) ports. Optionally running from a truck batteries powered by solar panels, the project can also serve a simple website on the Raspberry Pi 4's built-in WiFi device, whereby important information can be served to those physically proximate to the tower itself. | |||
It is important to check your local jurisdiction before setting up a cell site, as doing so is often in breach of local radio frequency allocation and usage laws. In an emergency such strictures may matter very little. | |||
== Citations == | == Citations == | ||
<references /> | <references /> | ||