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NYC cabs
NYC commuters no longer have to worry about having that important phone call dropped unexpectedly

New York City has alot of characteristics such as massive population, constantly moving working crowd, good food and a lot of cell phone dead zones.  Finally a company is trying to map out those dead zones.

Although it seems trivial to map such locations based on the proximity to a celluar tower, the metal and concrete composition of the city make it extremely difficult to find dead spots.  Often times, an usual building or tower configuration will leave one side of a New York street with crystal-clear signal and the the other completely dead.

The New York taxi commission recently granted Stockholm-based Ericsson approval to place mobile sensors in the trunks of over 50 cabs.  Experts from Ericsson say that cabs are the best conveyor for the sensors because they run the most random routes. 

Engineers are fed information about signal strength and clarity from the small devices.  The signal strength is then tied to GPS mapping software that plots the signal strength onto a NYC map.  Cab orientation, direction and elevation are also taken into consideration.

Company executives say that this method is the cheapest way because cabs cover the most area, while covering all the areas that other public transportation does not.  With cabs already on route, using them for the mapping system does not take them out of their way or cost either the cab companies or Ericsson any extra money.


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