Abstract:
Over time, the customers of mobile network operators across Nigeria have suffered
from the uncertainty of signal coverage at different locations. This uncertainty is created by poor
or unavailability of network services due to inadequate coverage by individual mobile operators.
This results to subscribers of a given operator not having connectivity in some locations where the
operator’s service is not covered. To mitigate this, an android-based mobile application and a web
application was designed and implemented. This software entity uses a crowdsourcing technique
to collect mobile signal data of all operators across the country. The mobile application contains a
web service entity that collects signal strength and location data of mobile users on an hourly basis
and stores the same in a local mobile database located in the user device. At specified intervals,
the content of the local mobile database is forwarded to a centralized secure database located in a
webserver. The App maps the crowdsourced data on the google map of Nigeria and displays it on
the user device. Thus, users can, ab initio, know the locations where various operators cover and
the strength of the signals. This solution will not only help users solve connectivity challenges but
will also provoke a healthy competition among service providers to improve on their network
coverage and quality of service (QoS). It will also help communication regulators like the Nigerian
Communication Commission (NCC) to independently appraise the level of mobile coverage across
Nigeria for appropriate planning and policymaking. Again, the crowd-sourced data which with
time will become Big Data will serve as a data house for future research on Big Data Analytics
and will be used to provide solutions to various connectivity and human mobility problems. The
web service and mobile application development were achieved using Java, XML, SQLite and
PHP, and JSON while the database server was configured with MYSQL Server. The App, which
was developed at the Federal university of Technology Minna, Nigeria, was tested by installing it
on many students’ android phones. The result was impressive as mobile signals from various
locations around the campus and Minna town were being mapped on the user interface in realtime.