Our goal is to enable cheap and high-throughput wireless connectivity to moving vehicles in urban areas.
The available options for such connectivity today fall short in significant ways. Cellular networks are
expensive and have low throughput. Same is likely to be true of WiMax networks if they were to become a
reality. While some exisiting WiFi basestations can provide opportunistic connectivity to passing vehicles,
they are unable to support longer periods of connectivity. However, WiFi deployment is becoming denser
and in many cases, entire cities are being covered. But given the short range of WiFi and the presence
of many interferring sources, can such deployments enable continuous, cheap, high-throughput connectivity,
by themselves or in conjunction with cellular and WiMax networks?
To investigate this, we have deployed a testbed on the MS campus. It currently consists of 11 WiFi
basestations and 2 moving vans that operate around the campus during the day. The testbed is meant not
only as a research vehicle but will also provide connectivity to van riders.
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