Tired of constantly having to charge up your phone and check the signal level?

In Deerfield, a town outside Amherst, Mass., they are using turtles to test a new wireless network that combines solar phone batteries and a new peer-to-peer protocal that may drive breakthroughs in how phones are designed.

Not that the turtles are too excited about it, but what can you do without prehensile thumbs and a phone duct-taped to your back?

The National Science Foundation is sponsoring via grants two groups of scientists from the University of Massachusetts - computer scientists and biologists - launched a joint experiment last month attaching cell phones to snapping turtles from the local swamp.

Jacob Sorber is a doctoral candidate in computer science who designed the network he calls TurtleNet. “The idea behind the technology is to create a network of constantly moving devices that record and store information, transmit data from one device to another, then relay all the saved information to a central location while running on self-charging batteries.”

Using orthodontic cement and duct tape, students risked bite and limb to attach postcard-sized waterproof computer/cell phone to the shells of about 15 of these grumpy turtles found in spots near the swamp. Once activated, the gadgets take periodic readings of the reptiles’ location and body temperature and sends the information as a text message to a base station, which in turn transmits the data to the UMass-Amherst campus about 15 miles away.

The solar-powered computers are light enough so they don’t weigh the turtles down, and they don’t interrupt their mating habits. “We’re trying to get a better idea of their range, the routes they take and where they hibernate,” said Mike Jones, a partner in the experiment who is working on a doctoral degree in biology. “If you have that information for a good number of turtles, you can predict what their patterns will be for the next 50 years or so.”

Why snappers? Local development is driving these turtles to the endangered animals list. “People think they’re a nuisance, they’re aggressive and they’re smelly,” he said. “And you see a lot of dead snappers on the side of the road. But most of the turtles that people are running over are mothers trying to get somewhere to nest.” The hope is that this experiment will generate enough information to help protect turtle habitats.

Meanwhile, the wireless part of the experiment helps drive the technology to a lighter, more flexible footprint. “A lot of the existing technology works great as long as you’re not moving around and you have stable networks and people who could recharge batteries,” says Sorber.

This could be used in the future to allow text messages to be sent even in rural areas that don’t have a cell tower or reliable power for recharging, .

Short-distance transmissions allows for long battery life in each computer, and the solar panels attached to the units are expected to constantly keep the batteries charged.

The experiment is designed so that information automatically swaps as turtles get in range of each other. The turtle-to-turtle relay ends when one of the snappers passes near a single base station that receives all the accumulated information. Although the turtles meander up to 10 miles from the Deerfield swamp they know as home, their nature is to return to the bog where the base station is.

See pictures and catch up on the experiment’s progress at their website.

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