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New app developed to locate people in areas with no phone signal [ruvid.org]

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.

Original Submission