MIT figures out a way to improve cellular reception

Even if you live near a cluster of cell towers, cell phone reception can be uneven. But those Poindexters at MIT have a way to improve reception using Error Correcting Codes. These ECCs allow data to be encoded and transmitted without losing any fidelity regardless of how much noise is on the channel. The ECC sends out a codename in a test message, to check how much noise is on the channel. The louder the noise, the longer the codename. This becomes a problem on exceptionally noisy channels as it requires a long codename. And if the level of noise is fluctuating, the codename could be too short to make sure the data is transmitted correctly.

So after taking a timeout from playing World of Warcraft, these MIT geniuses decided to use a long code name broken up into chunks. Professor Gregory Wornell, in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, says "The transmission strategy is that we send the first part of the codeword. If it doesn't succeed, we send the second part, and so on. We don't repeat transmissions: We always send the next part rather than resending the same part again. Because when you marry the first part, which was too noisy to decode, with the second and any subsequent parts, they together constitute a new, good encoding of the message for a higher level of noise." In English, the system sends a codeword broken into sections. These sections are sent in sequence until enough of the code can be recognized and decrypted. This works regardless of the level of noise in the channel.

While still in a research phase, H. Vincent Poor, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University, says that commercial deployment is not too far away. Poor says, "The codes are inherently practical. In fact, the paper not only develops the theory and analysis of such codes but also provides specific examples of practical construction."

And if you start to feel that headache coming on, just be glad that you don't need to know exactly how you smartphone works inside to be able to enjoy of the features available on it.

source: MITNews via Gizmodo