City's femme trio develop mobile-sniffer-cum-jammer

‘Use of mobile phones is strictly prohibited in the college premises.’ This is a sign often seen in colleges across the city.

Despite ban against use of cellphones in several colleges, students continue to blatantly flout the rules.

But, all this could change as three students of JSS Polytechnic have developed a ‘mobile sniffer-cum-jammer,’ which would prevent all cellphones from connecting to the cellular network.

The trio - Vindya M S, Ranjana C N and Yashaswini K S - sixth semester electronics and communication students of JSS Polytechnic recently bagged the first place for their model at a competition for polytechnic students at the E-Week organised by Aspera, the NEN E-Cell of Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, they said that their model of ‘mobile sniffer-cum-jammer’ could be used in colleges and also in petrol bunks, where people continue to use a cellphone despite it being dangerous. They said establishments where cellphones are banned can adopt this technology. A low-powered-jammer would be sufficient to block signals within a range of 15 to 20 feet. The range can be extended up to the size of a football field if a high-power-jammer is installed.

Once, the power is switched on, the model searches for mobile phones in the vicinity and delivers a text message to a pre-programmed mobile number indicating that the jammer would be switched on.

Having completed the project within one month, the team of three aspiring engineers say that their model can be used for GSM phones. Further work could be taken up to include CDMA-based cellphones as well, he added.

The students were assisted by guide Yamuna K, HoD Asha Kulkarni and principal Ramalingana Gowda.