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posted by mrpg on Friday December 29 2017, @09:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the españa dept.

New app developed to locate people in areas with no phone signal

Researchers of the Universidad de Alicante (UA) have developed new technology that makes it possible to locate people who have suffered an accident in remote locations without a phone signal and where a speedy rescue is essential to save lives. The system can also be used in emergency situations that arise as a result of earthquakes, floods or forest fires, where mobile phone infrastructure is often rendered useless.

"We have designed an application (app) that can be incorporated to any Smartphone and that, without a signal, emits a Wifi signal which in turn acts as a distress beacon over a distance of several kilometers", explains the creator of the technology and professor at the UA's Department of Physics, Systems Engineering and Theory of the Signal of the Higher Polytechnic School, José Ángel Berná. This signal contains the location (coordinates) of the person who has suffered the accident or disappeared and is using the Smartphone emitter, along with a short message that "can be altered depending on the situation, with examples such as 'I am injured', 'I am disorientated' or 'I need help'", specifies Berná.

In order to detect the distress signal, the researcher has also created a light (half a kilo), portable receptor device which rescue teams or mountain shelters could use. This device has a small antenna and connects to the Smartphone of the search party. When an accident occurs, the victim only has to activate the mobile phone app, which will in turn emit the distress signal periodically – for hours or even days, even if he or she is unconscious – indicating the coordinates of its location.

The Network of Valencian Universities for the promotion of Research, Development and Innovation, RUVID, is a non-profit private organisation that was born in December 2001 through a partnership agreement between the five public universities from the Valencian Region.


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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Friday December 29 2017, @07:55PM (1 child)

    by frojack (1554) on Friday December 29 2017, @07:55PM (#615631) Journal

    For Pete sake, just send a Stingray up in an airplane looking for a regular cell phone connection beacon instead of dicking around with wifi.
    One loop route over Spain at 30,000 feet ought to do it. (At last a valid use for a Stingray!)

    (If I'm in the bush I'm going to be turning off wifi and bluetooth anyway just to save power). I'll also drop to 3G or even 2G if the phone supports it).

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  • (Score: 1) by pTamok on Saturday December 30 2017, @12:03AM

    by pTamok (3042) on Saturday December 30 2017, @12:03AM (#615689)

    That might work, but the WiFi approach has some merits: not least, if you are out in the bush with no phone signal, it makes sense to switch your phone into 'airplane' mode to stop it wasting power by sending full-power phone transmissions to look for non-existent base stations. This depletes your battery faster than when you are in a well-covered area. Much faster. Having a well-designed Wi-Fi app that turns Wi-Fi on and off every few minutes then sleeps until the next chirp will have a lower battery drain.

    As some people point out, this adds to the burden of equipment that SAR groups would need to carry, which is not ideal.