Earthquake Warning System Uses Cell Phones
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Japanese telecoms are developing a system that sends government earthquake warnings to cell phones seconds ahead of a major earthquake.
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With ever-more people using mobile phones to make emergency calls, the FCC has proposed a series of benchmarks aimed at helping insure rapid and accurate responses.
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Dark days are coming for analog cellular phones.
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Mobile coverage in rural areas could get worse before it gets better, leaving vulnerable many who rely on cell phones during emergencies.
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Fossil and Sony Ericsson are developing timepieces that tell you who's calling your cell phone.
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A computer model that can predict the impact of a tsunami from the San Francisco Bay area to Alaska is helping scientists plot danger zones in coastal cities to guide emergency planning.
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Japanese mobile telephone users may soon be warned of an earthquake in their area before it even strikes.
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When experts at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu were first alerted that an earthquake had struck Sunday off Indonesia, they had no way
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The extraordinary loss of life from Sunday&#39;s earthquake and tsunami waves is prompting Asian governments to consider developing a more comprehensive and effective warning system.
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(InfoWorld) - OKI Electric Industry Co. is testing a Safety Mobile Phone technology that could help pedestrians avoid being hit by vehicles. The phones use Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology to rapidly exchange location information about vehicles equipped with the same technology, the Japanese company said Monday. The OKI test is one of several supported by the Japanese government as part of an initiative aimed at deploying advanced communication systems across the country beginning in 2011 to lower the number of pedestrians killed in traffic accidents. The short-range service is designed to provide very high data rates in situations where minimizing latency in the communication link and isolating relatively small communication zones are important, according to a description of the protocol by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which helped standardize it. In the OKI test, pedestrians use mobile phones with an integrated DSRC module, while vehicles are equipped with communication systems embedded with the same technology, as well as GPS (Global Positioning System). The pedestrians and vehicles create a DSRC wireless communications area, which has a radius per device of several hundred meters. Each device sends out its location information at a regular time interval within the area. When a pedestrian device and vehicle device come close and the received power from each device exceeds a specific value that indicates a high possibility of a collision, the devices warn their users. Pedestrians are warned through the vibration function on their phones, while drivers receive voice guidance from their vehicle communications system. The technology can gather information about surrounding vehicles, perform the necessary calculation to identify impending collisions and warn pedestrians with DSRC-enabled mobile phones "in less than one second," OKI said in an e-mail response to questions. Such a quick response is possible because the system is able to send each vehicle's current GPS position and map its location against other devices in the area within milliseconds, the company said. The system warns the mobile phone user when a vehicle is within 150 meters, but the technology allows the distance from a vehicle to a phone user to be set freely, according to OKI. Although the trial DSRC system currently uses the 5.8 GHz frequency range, OKI plans to achieve compatibility with IEEE 802.11p, the international DSRC standard based on the 5.9 GHz band. The OKI development appears to be part of a growing trend to use mobile phones as safety devices. For instance, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has applied for a U.S. patent for aÂ lightning detector systemÂ designed for use in mobile phones. Â
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Officials in a rural valley in British Columbia hope that keeping out cellphones will help attract residents and tourists who want to escape to the quiet of nature.
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PARKFIELD, Calif. The earthquake that rattled nerves throughout Central California yesterday will boost efforts by scientists who are trying to predict future quakes.
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Asian telecommunication carriers are mobilizing to help those affected by the weekend's devastating earthquakes off Indonesia and subsequent tsunami waves.
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Major earthquakes around the world since early last century:
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A Monday-morning earthquake that registered 6.8 on the Richter scale is causing trouble with communications across Japan.
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COLOMBO, Sep 19 (IPS) - A tsunami alert, last week, sent thousands of Sri  Lankans living along the coasts of this island nation fleeing  inland, but authorities were exultant that the early warning  systems installed after the disastrous Dec. 26, 2004 Indian Ocean  tsunami were working.
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(InfoWorld) - A powerful earthquake that struck northern Japan Monday morning has caused disruption to communications services in the country. The earthquake struck at 10:13 a.m. just off the coast of Niigata prefecture, which is north west of Tokyo. The magnitude 6.8 quake registered an intensity of 6+ on Japan's scale of 0 to 7, in three locations. Citing figures collected at 1:30 p.m. Japan's NHK television reported at least two people were killed and more than 190 people injured. Television images showed dozens of collapsed buildings and damage to structures such as bridges. At one point black smoke was seen rising from the Kashiwazaki nuclear plant but the operator said this was from an electrical transformer that had caught fire and the reactors had shut down safely with no release of radiation. Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world and buildings standards are high to avoid widespread damage during strong quakes. As a result of the temblor major telecommunications carriers have imposed restrictions on phone calls into and out of the affected area. NTT East, the major fixed-line provider in the area, has activated its "disaster dial 171" service that allows people in the area to leave voicemail messages that can be checked by those in the rest of the country. An Internet version of the service, Web 171 has also been activated and allows those affected to leave voice, still image and video images for friends. The major cell phone carriers have similarly restricted calls and activated their own disaster message board services on wireless Internet sites. The restrictions are put on telecom networks to keep lines free for emergency purposes and also to avoid a collapse of the network due to the massive surge in calls often seen after a powerful earthquake.