MIT develops GPS and accelerometer programming to increase mobile speeds

When we think of mobile GPS, we typically think of navigation. And when we think of accelerometers, we typically think about gaming. But researchers at MIT have figured out how to use that existing equipment to optimize our mobile data speeds, and decrease the likelihood of dropped calls.

When we use our devices on the move, like while driving, the wireless network is forced to hand off our communications between base stations. That's why you experience so many dropped calls, or sporadic data service while in motion. MIT reasoned, though, that we could use our existing hardware to predict our movement, and appropriately choose the 'hand-off' base station.

The prediction of our movement has a number of benefits. For one thing, devices were forced to switch base stations 40% less often. Secondly, throughput (total data to and from the device) was increased by 50%. Thirdly, the network was able to more appropriately estimate the proper bit rates, resulting in more reliable and overall faster downloads/uploads.

And there is one final benefit to the base stations themselves. Typically when a device breaks contact, the base station continues to send the information to the device, which is no longer in range. But with MIT's communications protocols, the base station is made aware of your absence, and saves its precious bandwidth for other tasks.

We told you yesterday about the FCC's eagerness to acquire more spectrum for wireless networks. And FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski insists that the spectrum crunch will require not only more spectrum, but more efficient use therein. While MIT's protocols are a ways from widespread implementation, they might be part of the solution to optimize our strained networks.

source: MIT via MobileBurn