HotSpotCrowd: A crowd sourced based application for sharing data between mobile devices

摘要

The constant need for Internet connection via mobile devices, especially when a Wifi access point is not available, has caused issues like the cost of overusing cellular data to surface. On the other hand, the most popular mobile device, namely the smartphone, highly depends on having Internet access. In this paper, an android application is presented that aims to allow smartphone users to exchange device specific information and share their cellular data via mobile Tethering. The logic the developed application's approach lies in the fact that users with an overplus of data at a specific period of time, will be willing to share it with others by turning their mobile device to a Wifi access point. By doing this, they will be credited with virtual coins, in relation to the number of bytes they shared, which can be exchanged in a future occasion where they may be in need for Internet access.