TwiddleNet: Smartphones as Personal Servers

Abstract

TwiddleNet uses smartphones as personal servers to enable instant content capture and dissemination for firstresponders. It supports the information sharing needs of first responders in the early stages of an emergency response operation. In TwiddleNet, content, once captured, is automatically tagged and disseminated using one of the several networking channels available in smartphones. TwiddleNet pays special attention to minimizing the equipment, network set-up time, and content capture and dissemination effort. It can support small operations of emergency responders in the first 48-72 hours of an emergency response by using handheld devices based infrastructure and scale up to handle hundred of users with more robust backend infrastructure.