RescU Wristband

**Whiters96** · 02-08-2015, 02:52 PM

Dear readers,

We are a group of students from the University of Warwick, located in the United Kingdom. When we were asked to carry out a business plan around an innovative idea as part of our degree, we decided to target the global problem of natural disasters, including earthquakes, hurricanes and floods. Being impossible to prevent those events, we decided to try to come up with something that could drastically reduce the loss of human lives and increase the effectiveness of search and rescue teams.

We hereby designed RescU: an everyday wearable wristband, battery powered, which measures the pulse and sends off a low wave signal. What for? Well we all know about the “golden hour”, the most critical timespan after the disaster, during which rescuers have to intervene and extract the survivors from the rubble of what was before home. We thought that if, in addition to the already existing rescue techniques, rescuers were provided with a transmitter receiving the wristband signal, it would be much easier, faster and effective to locate people. Not only would the wristband operate if the survivor is conscious, but measuring the pulse, in the likely event of the person being unconscious, rescuers would still be able to precisely locate the individual. We believe simplicity is the key to a successful and reliable project, hence the wristband unit price should not exceed $40. We have not estimated the cost of the transmitter yet, but we would like to maintain the price as low as possible to render it available not only to Govt. and NGO agencies but also to local communities, speeding up the rescue process in the aftermath of the disaster.

As part of our task, we have to measure the market potential for this product, there’s no better place to ask for opinions and critics than an emergency preparedness blog, and here we are!

**hunter63** · 02-08-2015, 03:16 PM

Hunter63 saying Hey and Welcome.
I have to say our purpose here isn't to promote any product, but more geared to allow self survival/rescue in the Wilderness.

Few questions come to mind......

Who monitors these transmitters?
What is the cost or being monitored?
Is this to be passed on to some government agency?
Would they look for only subscribers first before non owners?
Are they going to be provided free to low income people?....at what cost?...Who pays?
Will they be required?....at whose cost?
What if you don't want to be monitored?....Will rescue be withheld till subscribers are accounted for?

Sounds like a good idea, in a controlled environment, ........Gated Community, Camp Ground, Cruise Ship or personnel security company.

Great idea , but some one has to pay for it....?

**kyratshooter** · 02-08-2015, 05:01 PM

Help!!

I've fallen and I can't get up!

**1stimestar** · 02-08-2015, 05:26 PM

Good idea but how are these different then a SPOT locator other then the wristband form?

**hunter63** · 02-08-2015, 06:06 PM

So if you take it off and put it on the dresser....they come looking for you?

MIL had Life Alert...and you had to pay for the subscription.

Tornado, earthquake......wrist bands going off all over....do the "Gold Package get rescued first?

They come and get you , but your buddy didn't buy one so they gonna leave him behind?

As always "The devil is in the details".....

Need more of the details.

**Rick** · 02-08-2015, 08:55 PM

What you are describing is the Emergency Automated ID (EAI). It is currently used on a number of portable amateur radios. It just doesn't monitor the pulse.

How do you intend to precisely identify the location of a person? Will it somehow transmit GPS info? If not, then you will only know a general location that might be a city block square and 30 feet deep.

**wilderness medic** · 02-08-2015, 09:27 PM

Originally Posted by kyratshooter

Help!!

I've fallen and I can't get up!

HAHAHA beat me to it. This sounds like Life Alert for the general population. In my opinion I don't see this selling very well. Even if it's bug free and SPOT on (haha),it has to be worn to be effective. Do you see people wearing this every day? No one knows when disaster is going to strike. Are you figuring it will be along the lines of "Oh here comes a hurricane, everyone put on your beacon?"

I personally would not buy it. I personally wouldn't wear it even if it was free.

Just my opinion but in a mass casualty rescue situation, although a pulse rate, or lack thereof, could help a bit, I don't think it's that big of an upgrade from a regular SPOT locator.

**Whiters96** · 02-08-2015, 10:03 PM

Hey thank you very much for all of the comments!
It's my first post ever so I beg your pardon for the several lacks of info. First of all sorry for the "product promotion", we are not producing anything, we are just a group of first year students taking care of a bit too ambitious idea.

Well our project was to make it possible to measure the pulse and, if active, send a short distance signal, no GPS or satellites to make it simple. Yes we know it is currently used in several radios, me myself I use it when skiing in groups: we all set on one channel, to make it easier to locate people in the event of an avalanche.

The point of our idea was to produce a product that can yes be sold to Governments and Non Governmental Agencies, but mainly sold to the average citizen. The main core is to increase the efficiency of the local community in search and rescue operations in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe. Yes the Government will arrive with helicopters, dogs and well trained teams; but if only all people would be wearing one of the wristbands, "locals" could help each other in locating missing members possibly trapped under the rubble.

The concept is to include two main parts in the system: the wristband and a transmitter. The wristband should be ideally worn by most if not all of the members of a unity, say a neighborhood, a block or even just a single home. For each unity there would then be an X amount of transmitters, simple and easy to manipulate, for which use some members of the unity would be trained for. Say someone in the unity is missing, the transmitter could be used as a detector for the pulse-activated signal to give local rescuers a precise idea on where to start digging and looking for. We were also thinking of creating, in future, a dog collar mounted transmitter.

I am extremely thankful that I received some useful critics from you guys! I do apologize again for the imprecisions in my post!

See you soon!

Thanks!

**xjosh40x** · 02-09-2015, 09:06 AM

Something that would be much easier and less costly is to instead install a locator on a wristband then a communication devise for the teams. Install a motion detection device like firefighters use. It's a very loud beeping tone when am individual is motionless for 60 seconds. It could probably be adjusted to a different time setting. But this way a resue dog can hear it, so can other helpful hands in the communities, and rescue teams. Putting a dependable wireless communication device on a wristband will most likely go above your budget.

**TXyakr** · 02-09-2015, 11:33 AM

Sounds like a great project. Short range signal is key! Low battery use and cost. From the viewpoint of an electronic engineer with decades of experience in product design, manufacturing etc I assure you that most products selling for $100-400 actually only cost about $2-20 to manufacture in large quantities.

I'm not a big fan of Bluetooth but if wristband or chest - band communicated to app on smartphone then you would have a software platform for easy apps SW and GPS etc. Just random brainstorming. Y'all have probably already thought of that, just trying to be helpful.

No problem with posting too little info. If you post a long comment almost no one would read it. Catch 22.

My undergraduate senior design project was such a delicate "bird's nest" of "blue wires" my faculty advisor should have taken me out to the "back forty" and put me out of my misery but he passed me with compliments. LOL.

**TXyakr** · 02-09-2015, 12:50 PM

Basically what I am saying while trying not to hurt anyone's feelings it that while "fitbit" and similar device are very useful they are way over priced. Mostly marketing and heavy profit taking hey its free enterprise.
So you could make your own for a 3rd world "NGO" and write your own apps/SW. Just be sure to talk to your "legal department" law student down the hall about licensing patents etc. Then many negotiations and boring golf games later you may have a deal "theoretically". Welcome to the nightmare of business.

**LowKey** · 02-10-2015, 07:09 PM

Call me a tinhat, but we don't need any more internet Things.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirh...-the-internet/
Plus this one, a little more recent (yeah, it's NPR…)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...-are-listening

**TXyakr** · 02-10-2015, 08:33 PM

I agree LowKey it is up to the user to understand the vulnerabilities of the technology they are using. Sort of like the small town or country person who moves into NYC or Boston and leaves their front/back door unlocked and window curtains open.

Your new high tech car can be hacked brakes triggered to turn on. So may not be a good idea to flip off people or cut them off in traffic. I also strongly encourage people to turn off all internet connected devices when not being used and keep antivirus/firewall software updated. Keep a low profile.

I was at my cousin's home in Canada (he is a very smart man who has been very financially successful in life), and this total stranger pulled up at the curb and was using a laptop. My other cousin and I gave him a hard time about not employing the highest level of security on his WiFi. It was obvious what the guy in the car at the curb was doing. User be ware or live under a rock with a tin cap on and use "Air Gapped" electronic devices only. LOL Heck I once designed fiber optic communications systems for a Federal Agency (that we were not allowed to ever mention the name of but has been in the news a lot) because this is more difficult to tap into than twisted pair copper (Cat 6 or Cat 5). You be the judge. Have courier pass notes in code instead?

So RescU Wristband, well if some stranger figures out my pulse rate, it may violate Federal HIPAA privacy rules, but I won't let that raise my blood pressure to dangerous levels. Perhaps just a little.

FYI: if you are one of the most well known Female White Rappers from the "land down under" you might want to use a "throw away" "pay as you go" mobile phone to order your delivery pizza, ha ha ha bah bah

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/...ry?id=28840350

"I'm so fancy" but I like me some Papa John's Pizza pie.

**TXyakr** · 02-11-2015, 12:05 AM

If you're like Gary Busey you don't worry about people using the "idiot box" to spy on you because you like to talk to things. LOL

But for the rest of us… we just feel a little bit more comfortable disabling some of these features on our Samsung SmartTVs

http://www.cnet.com/how-to/samsung-smart-tv-spying/

And Smart cars, and smart refrigerators, AC controllers, Home Security systems with video monitoring that can be controlled with apps on Smart-Phones and on and on. Well as long as you use a highly encrypted unique password for each system so if one is compromised they are not all hacked into, then you just need to have these all memorized. Aw heck with it all, I'm gonna go live under a rock and wear a tin hat with LowKey. LOL got any space under there. Hows the weather? Is the snow pilling up high on that rock?

**Whiters96** · 02-14-2015, 10:47 AM

Hey ,

basically the wristband is going to have no subscription costs at all, once you buy it, it will go as long as the battery works, which will of course be replaceable.

The system will be based on a microwave emitter, which is only activated when the transmitter carried by rescuers sends a signal. In this way there will be no health dangers for the customer and battery life will be maximized. The component which will always be working is the pulse detector, to be sure that each wristband will represent a potential survivor. Furthermore we will print on each wristband the owner's blood type.

**Rick** · 02-14-2015, 12:10 PM

The blood type, while a good idea, might prove problematic both for mass production and for those that are given as gifts.

Not at all certain why you'd choose the microwave band. It's mostly a line of sight wave, it has lousy penetration capabilities so those trapped under debris such as in basements, etc. might never be detected, is subject to rain fade (google it) and absorption by surrounding materials. We used microwave extensively and for our application it was an excellent band to operate in but it does have drawbacks especially on low power transmission. Low power levels of microwave pose no health hazards to humans according to the latest research.

**hunter63** · 02-14-2015, 12:29 PM

Keep us posted....
Good luck on your project.

**Whiters96** · 02-14-2015, 01:14 PM

Thank you for the info Rick,

yeah the transmitter component is the toughest part to design! Sure I'll keep you all posted with updates!

Thank you for the wishes!

Kind regards