Smartphone app allows users to donate ‘power’

11 years ago | Posted in: Technology | 696 Views

A new app provides an opportunity for users of Android tablets and smartphones to donate their unused device power for scientific research into HIV and AIDS.

The app for Android systems is called Boinc (for Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) and the objective is to allow scientists working on HIV research to harness donated power to run computer systems. The super network which different phones will help power is named FightAIDS@Home. Researchers working on the initiative are seeking new drug treatments for the HIV virus.

Therefore the new scheme is designed to combine thousands of “donated” handsets to create the power of a quasi-supercomputer which scientists can then utilize to carry out research, according to Engadget. The Scripps Research Institute and the Olson Laboratory run the project, and IBM’s World Community Grid powers it.

The scheme does not lead to a big drain on battery life, or take a phone above its data alloweance, for the app only works when a device is plugged in, near full-charge and connected to Wi-Fi.

A similar app to Boinc, is being developed by New York University’s Polytechnic Institute and named Seattle, which is designed to help student research. Other apps for science research are already in place. According to ZD Net, these include Einstein@Home project which uses the contributed processing power to analyse data from the world’s largest radio telescope and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico which draws on mobile power in the hunt for radio pulsars.

soyrce: http://www.digitaljournal.com

Tags:

Share it.

Leave a Reply

Related Posts