BUSINESS
Foto:
Zaměřovací zařízení
Location device
Equipment for
the search of
persons
in emergency
situations
foto:
VŠB-TUO
The method and equipment have been in
development since 2015 in the framework
of the project TAČR GAMMA reg. no.
TG01010137 conducted by Martin Tomis,
Ph.D. and principal investigator. In 2017,
this research team obtained a national
patent entitled “The method and equipment for locating people using normal
terminal electrical devices with wireless
connectivity” (patent no. 307099).
This method and device can:
locate people carrying a mobile phone,
locate people in places where the
mobile network’s signal is not available,
provide localisation even when the
mobile phone is partly damaged,
search for an individual in a crisis, which
can be, for example, an avalanche,
it can find a missing person or even
criminals.
Mobile phone as a clue
The device relies on the fact that the
majority of us carry our mobile phones
with us all the time, taking it practically
everywhere. The device can disturb the
wireless communication of all persons in
the area and thus find the person needing
help. To locate the person sought, there is
no need for the assistance of any mobile
network operator.
The method of the tracking device
Thanks to forced communication with the
mobile phone of the wanted person, we
can localise that person using an antenna,
achieving many times greater distance
than the other existing solutions allow. This
forced communication, using even some
unfamiliar phone number, can be:
a dropped-call: a ringing mobile
may facilitate and accelerate the
localisation of the wanted person,
a call: when localising it is possible
to speak with the wanted person
directly,
service queries: the phone does
not ring, it only responds to the
service queries of the device, which
enables the “hidden” location of the
persons,
SMS: applicable in an extreme case.
Localization is available even if your phone
is partly damaged. Thanks to our invention,
the search for persons can become faster,
especially when locating people from the
air using UAV.
The research team in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, VŠB–
Technical University of Ostrava
has developed a completely new
method and equipment for
searching for persons in emergency situations.
This method will be in operation in the
future, and mobile operators may join
the search, which may speed up the localisation and help the searched-for person
considerably. There is also the need to finetune the legislative framework, in which
the operator of this device must agree with
the mobile operators on the possibility of
using their licensed frequencies.
This new patented method can be used
by an integrated rescue system, such
as the Fire Rescue Service of the Czech
Republic, providers of medical emergency
services or the Police of the Czech Republic,
designated forces and the means of armed
forces, other armed security forces and
other rescue forces. After a workshop,
which took place on 1st March 2018 at the
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, some entities, such as the
Czech Police, have already expressed their
interest in this device.
Searching for business partners for market
launch: It currently exists as a sample model
with proven functionality, which verifies the
efficiency of this new method. The research
team is currently looking for a business partner who could produce and launch this
device on the market within one to two years.
POSITIV 1/2018
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