Serval lets cell phones work without infrastructure, without government or during disaster - using your existing phone number

Problem

Telecommunications, especially mobile telecommunications, depends on big infrastructure, big enterprise and functioning government. Disrupt any of these and you endanger the provision of mobile communications to people. This can be due to disaster, war, monopoly, remote location or various other reasons. Also, big infrastructure carries a big price tag, which prices telecommunications out of reach of billions. We would suggest that the often quoted statistic that 6 billion of the worlds 7 billion have a cell phone hides the fact that perhaps half of those cannot afford to make regular use of that resource due to the cost of service and/or limitations of coverage. Thus we define our target audience broadly as the approximately half of the world's population who live in an economy of scarcity of mobile communications, for whatever reason.

Solution

We realised that cell phones have the fundamental capability to communicate directly and form a simple self-organising mesh network that is simple to use and basically behaves like a regular cellular network from an end user's perspective. So we have created open-source software that makes this a reality, using the WiFi radio in cell phones to create a P2P telephony and data service that behaves just like a regular cellular network, including using existing phone numbers -- but with absolutely no reliance on external infrastructure or authority. We have already released a developer prototype on the Android Market and are planning to port to iOS and Symbian in the near future and as we mature the software, promote it with handset vendors and carriers so that it comes pre-installed on new handsets. We have also created technology whereby one phone with our software can become a wifi hotspot and offer the software for download to other compatible phones that don't yet have the software installed. This allows for retro installation even DURING a disaster, and for communities to spread the software themselves, without requiring even a single internet connection. The software also has the means to make opportunistic use of internet connectivity to connect the local mesh telephony network to the outside world.

Example

Imagine an earthquake strikes, similar to that that recently struck Christchurch New Zealand or Haiti. Much of the mobile and fixed communications infrastructure is out. Ordinary cell phones become useless. However, some people in the area has the Serval mesh installed. These people use it to contact nearby family and friends and to coordinate their actions and support of those around them. People around them realise that these people's phones still work and ask questions. Those with the software say that their phone works because of special software, and ask if the enquirer would like it on their phone, too, because it is free. Soon more people have the software installed and are not only able to join the network, but add to its coverage. By an iterative process soon much of the affected population have local mobile telephony service again. Some users of the software are also aware that it offers a twitter-like function that lets you tweet messages with GPS coordinates, perhaps to indicate where roads or other infrastructure is damaged, or where shelter and food may be found. News spreads and soon many are using this capability to coordinate their actions, help maintain law and order, and become part of the recovery process much sooner. Some phones near the edge of the disaster can see cell towers that are still operational. The Serval software on their phones realises this, and links the mesh to the outside world. Consider also people living in poverty, where everyday life can be viewed as a disaster zone.

Marketplace

No other party has created a system that is entirely independent of infrastructure, uses off the shelf cell phones, and existing phone numbers to create an feasible mesh telephony platform. Skype requires internet access. Village Telco provides only fixed-line services. Neither allows the use of existing phone numbers.