A team at Lancaster University, led by Prof Gordon Blair, is working on a project that would turn badgers and sheep into roaming hotspots. While the plan is to use the interconnected sheep and badgers to track animals, soil erosion, flood alerts, and bovine TB, it could be used for other purposes… like mobile wi-fi hotspots. Sweet!
The electric collars that the sheep will be given can transmit data over a range of 5KM. Imagine, never being without internet again while roaming the rural fields of Northern Wales looking for the Shire.
Why is this important news? If it works it could mean the end of dead spots for wi-fi. Imagine wi-fi enabled stray cats, rats, and maybe even people. Of course, you don't want to go the route BBH Labs went. They hired homeless people to be wi-fi hotspots and it backfired in a terrific horrible speed.
The most important thing is the possibility that the video you're streaming on your Vita or the update your downloading for your 3DS goes uninterrupted. These things can happen, all we need is wi-fi enabled sheep.
Fun fact: Sheep sleep in one area together. Imagine the signal you'd get if you were laying on them.
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