goTenna's Chief Scientist featured in Scientific American Magazine

Mar 17, 2021

About goTenna

goTenna believes that preparedness leads to better outcomes – a multi-layered service goTenna provides straight out of the box with network setup, training, and execution. We are advancing universal access to connectivity by building the world's most intelligent and scalable mobile mesh networks. goTenna is the world's leading mobile mesh networking company, providing off-grid connectivity solutions for smartphones and other devices, as well as augmenting traditional communications networks. This technology enables mobile, long-range connectivity even without cellular service, Wi-Fi, or satellite connectivity. goTenna's drive to create resilient connectivity began during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when approximately a third of cell towers and power stations in affected areas failed. goTenna believes that preparedness leads to better outcomes – a multi-layered service goTenna provides straight out of the box with network setup, training, and execution. Based in Brooklyn, New York, goTenna is a proud partner of the United States military, first responders, and law enforcement, among others, and is backed by investors, including Founders Fund, Union Square Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Collaborative Fund, and Bloomberg Beta.

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Scientific American Magazine featured goTenna Chief Scientist Ram Ramanathan in an article that explores the challenges of creating connectivity on a global scale. The article discusses percolation theory, including its relevance to mesh networks.

See the excerpt below:

For designers of mesh-networking apps, finding the percolation threshold is a practical engineering problem. Changing the device's power, which controls the range, is one way to turn a dial. The central question, says Ram Ramanathan, chief scientist for the mesh-networking company goTenna, is, “What do you want the transmit power to be to have a connected network?” The answer would be fairly simple if power and connectivity had a linear relation—if each small increase in power led to a proportional small increase in connectivity. But the existence of a percolation threshold means there is a risk that the network will suddenly lose connectivity as people move around. The optimal power is one that ensures the network is always connected but does not waste energy.

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