Tapping the collective power of wireless devices to boost cell phone signals.

Elza Erkip, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, is developing a technology that enables mobiles to forward one another’s signals to the receiver. By combining the power of surrounding smartphones, laptops, and other wireless devices, this technology would help the average cell phone user by decreasing interference and increasing the battery life of wireless devices. Considered one of the pioneers of cooperative communications, Professor Erkip and her colleagues were awarded multiple National Science Foundation grants to explore fundamentals of cooperative networking and create testbeds.