The most notable changes this week is to our product. A point was brought up in the Capstone meeting that enforcing taxi drivers to download an app runs into the same issue – getting people to download an app and data consumption problems. Isabel and Natalie suggested using Zigbee sensors instead whenever anyone renews the license. We’re exploring this solution, but the regulatory aspect is still necessary.
This is a great idea, but the engineering problem becomes more difficult. Apart from lack of experience with working with the sensors as opposed to iOS, here’s a roadblock:
how does a sensor know its location without the internet? (That is the problem we are trying to solve after all – the dry spots in the network infrastructure).
Woody suggested having docks or stations throughout the city (the docks know their location & hopefully zigbee’s know the distance from the location). We’re exploring this idea, but it’s the first-half of the problem. The second-half is storing the data. Every app/sensor needs a backend, and right now we are answering what we want to use in our technology stack. From an engineering standpoint, this is what has our attention.
Zooming out however, we are still answering whether we are solving a problem that needs to be solved. Identifying the weak spots in network infrastructure is something people care about, but a question that still needs to be answered is what can the government do about that? What incentives do private companies have to build cell towers in a place where the capital expenditures exceed the value of the customers they serve there?
At this moment, we are trying to incorporate what we took away from Dr. Ahluwalia’s talk – give the government a way to make money for the services they offer. We want to empower the government financially. We are reexamining our business model to see if we are really doing that or if we can do better.
At this moment, we are trying to incorporate what we took away from Dr. Ahluwalia’s talk – give the government a way to make money for the services they offer. We want to empower the government financially. We are reexamining our business model to see if we are really doing that or if we can do better.
The Telecommunications Group
Nathaniel Parke, Woody Chung, Samuel Penny, Rachel Gross, Thomas Koch
Excellent