MOB Alarm

[winsbury]

Well, it will give that info for as long as you don't need it (because the crew's location is the same as the boat's). Then, when they fall overboard and you do need it, you will stop receiving their position because they are out of bluetooth range and the transmitter is underwater.

With short-range systems like bluetooth and Lifetag, the idea is to sound an alarm when the radio link is broken. To maintain a link, and actively track the casualty, you need something more powerful like an AIS SART or a 121.5MHz homer.

Pete

I was suggesting those devices rather than having an expensive non-waterproof phone that most people prefer to leave below deck. The system would be small and cheap enough to have a few devices ready paired and sat on board and could simply slip into ones pocket. I really didn't intend anyone to use GPS to find out whether anyone was in the head

 

[prv]

I was suggesting those devices rather than having an expensive non-waterproof phone that most people prefer to leave below deck.

So why say "give holders location info to the central unit" ?

Pete

 

[winsbury]

So why say "give holders location info to the central unit" ?

Pete

It takes away the necessity for the central unit to have a gps ( a good number of ipads and tablets dont have built in gps) and since it may well be below deck might not have a good signal in any case.

 

[nigelmercier]

These may be worth looking at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00CTJH68Y/dolcetto-21

 

[rogerthebodger]

Here is a bit of kit that looks like it does a similar thing.

http://www.smartnudge.com.au/about.html

 

[newWave]

Just wanted to say I created a similar application, but discarded the idea due to following factors:
- Battery drainage on the device.
- Interference to the BT signal (a solid wooden door was enough to cut the signal).
- Limited range of some devices (minimum was 5m to a maximum of 30m).
- Limited number of devices that can connect to the master device (I believe it was 7)

I was lucky enough to have several tablets and phones to test and the number of false positives made it unrealistic as a cheap solution (e.g. use devices owned by the crew).

A dedicated solution with a propper base station and dedicated “keys” is obviously possible with some research, but fails the initial idea of a cheap MOB system

 

[elton]

In case anyone didn't spot it, I've emailed a copy of the app to the gmail addresses of those who requested it. Now off to the pub.

 

[symondo]

Cool concept! Will watch this develop, good luck with the project