By Robert Lett
This is basically a system to locate the handheld when making a call to 911. In the mid to late 1990's, many people got cell phones just for the emergency use of being able to call for help almost anywhere. The problem came up when statistics showed that almost 92% of all serious 911 calls, (where the person was just barely able to make the call), they either didn't know where they were or was unable to tell the 911 operator where they were, or they might not have been able to talk at all. This caused a big concern, 911 operators couldn't do anything but listen to the person on their cell phone as they pass away. The Location Sensitivity system still doesn't work if you are in an area that only has an analog signal. (Which is the older cellular system of the mid 1990's and earlier). Most metropolitan areas and all interstate freeways are covered by the newer digital service. It's just when you get out in the middle of no-where, you might end up with an analog signal. Most phones will display the letter "A" in the top right or left corner when using this system. Check your phone documentation, some phones don't even have this capability. Which means if you get into one of these areas, you can't make any type of call what-so-ever.
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Soon, the Location Sensitivity feature will probably
be offered by the cellular companies as part of
their pricing plan. Some carriers like Nextel
are already taking advantage of this new technology
by giving customers a GPS location service along
with their calling plan. If you don't have this
option with your carrier, and you have a Smartphone
you can always purchase one of the SD slot GPS
units that works with mapping software. The program
I've really enjoyed is Mapopolis, which works
great with most of the popular GPS hardware available.
And most even have a voice activation that will
tell you where to turn, which is directed through
the speaker phone portion of the Smartphones.
The ability to have GPS information and mapping
on your handheld will be a great plus while traveling.
Back to the Location Sensitivity. I'm just wondering
how much the cellular companies are going to charge
for such a GPS type service!? I'm sure they're
all working hard right now on the new pricing
plans that we'll have to pay if you don't have
the GPS hardware to install on your Smartphone.
When these services become available, they will
only be location based. Another words, most GPS's
these days will actually give you your current
altitude and most have a pretty fast refresh rate.
The refresh rate is the time between position
updates. An example; If you have a GPS in your
hand that refreshed three times per second, this
would be a very acturate reading. Even if you
are driving at 70 miles per hour, the moving map
on the GPS will be able to keep up with your actual
location. That's an issue the engineers are dealing
with on the Location Sensitivity system. It wasn't
designed to have any type of refresh rate at all.
Once a position has been found, it never was designed
to refresh that position. (I guess if you are
hurt, and you called 911, you aren't supposed
to be moving. Hmmm, So if you fell off a bridge,
and landed in the back of a truck driving down
the interestate, I'm not sure if they would be
able to locate you. They would know where you
were when you first dialed 911, but as your location
changes, they might not be able to find you).
Supposedly, the 911 operator can pull a refresh,
this would at least tell them the direction the
vehicle is moving. But to locate you while you're
moving, might be more difficult than anyone had
expected.
Another problem with many of the handheld units,
the actual speed of the processors within them.
Most cell phones operate on around 1 to 2 MHz
processor speed. Most Smartphones operate anywhere
between 30 to 500 MHz. (Most new home computers
are operating between 2 to 4 GHz processor speed,
just to give you an idea). This is where the engineers
are running into the biggest problem with creating
a GPS refresh rate. The processors in all handhelds
will just have to be faster than they are today.
And like all of our other technolgies, I'm sure
this won't be a problem very much longer for the
designers.
Hmmm, soon we'll have Pentium 9 cellular and Smartphones
running at 8 GHz processor speed! You know it's
going to come to this, and it's not that far away.
Robert Lett
http://www.robertlett.com
Let me ask you a question: How much is your computer
worth when you or your employees are sitting in
front of it? Now, how much is that same computer
worth when you or your employees aren't sitting
in front of it?
When you're out of the office and that potiential
client calls, do you have to tell them that you
will get in touch with them when you return to
the office? Is that potiential client calling
your competition in the mean time to see if they
get a better response? What if you could have
all your important files with you 24 hours a day,
7 days a week? Hanging on your belt or sitting
in your purse, and it wouldn't weigh too much
more than the cell phone you are currently carrying.
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