NLnet funds disaster zone phone software
[Press release Thursday, April 14 2011;
Nederlands 
]
Software developed by Australian
Flinders University's
Dr Paul
Gardner-Stephen which enables mobile phones to communicate during a
disaster will be freely available to the public by the end of the year
thanks to the support of the Netherlands based NLnet Foundation.
The Serval BatPhone software can be used on compatible mobile phone handsets to create an alternative "network" where conventional mobile phone coverage has been destroyed or simply does not exist. Instead of relying on mobile phone towers, the Serval system relays calls for one mobile phone to another as either a "closed" network or to connect to a temporary tower.
Dr Gardner-Stephen, Research Fellow (Rural, Remote and Humanitarian Telecommunications) at Flinders School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics in Adelaide (Australia), said NLnet’s contribution of about AUD 40,000 would be a significant boost for his Serval Project team.
"We are delighted to receive the support of the NLnet Foundation, an organisation dedicated to supporting ventures and people that contribute to an open information society," Dr Gardner-Stephen said. "We currently have seven Flinders and INSA Telecommunications exchange students developing the Serval BatPhone software. They are getting valuable, real-world experience as they work on this integrated and substantial humanitarian software engineering project," he said.
"NLnet’s support will go towards project management and senior developer resources to more effectively manage the team’s coordinated efforts. It’s a significant step towards our goal of making Serval BatPhone freely available in a first public release later this year."
"We are delighted to receive the support of the NLnet
Foundation, an organisation dedicated to supporting ventures and
people that contribute to an open information society," Dr
Gardner-Stephen said. "We currently have seven Flinders and INSA
Telecommunications exchange students developing the Serval BatPhone
Valer Mischenko, NLnet’s director said mobile communication have
become an inescapable part of our lives. "Unfortunately, existing
systems relying exclusively on commercial operators' networks can
neither be called reliable enough, such as in disaster situations, nor
secure enough, such as in circumstances of changing political situation
- and they are not legally sustainable, as they are easily prone
to various forms of cyber attack," Mr Mischenko said. "One may call the Serval system 'an operator-less mobile
network', which can take over when operators' networks fail for one
reason or another. We are very glad with such initiatives which help
to implement our mission and make networks based communication reliable
and trustworthy," he said. "NLnet Foundation sponsors tens of bigger and smaller networking
technology related projects every year. The results of these projects
are all open and can be freely used for further development of the
technology." NLnet Foundation is a widely respected private charity fund supporting
developments of networking technology worldwide, and has over the years
actively contributed to (internet) standards, open source projects and
subsidiary or enabling activities such as the development of GPLv3.
NLnet Foundation's means came initially from interest on a substantial
own capital formed in 1997 by the sale of the first Dutch Internet
Service Provider. Its private capital ensures an absolute independent
position. The articles of association for the NLnet Foundation state:
"to promote the exchange of electronic information and all that
is related or beneficial to that purpose". At any moment, dozens
of projects are being supported worldwide. Communicate anywhere, any time ... without infrastructure, without
mobile towers, without satellites, without wifi hotspots, and without
carriers. Use existing off-the-shelf mobile cell phone handsets. Use your
existing mobile phone number wherever you go to talk to people near you,
without paying roaming charges. Serval enables mobile communications no matter what your circumstance:
mobile communications in the face of disaster, in the face of poverty,
in the face of isolation, in the face of civil unrest, or in the face of
network black-spots. In short, Serval provides resilient mobile
communications for all people, anywhere in the universe.About NLnet Foundation
About the Serval project