Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Emergency SOS via satellite

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 479 posts

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#131

Post by brookst »

photochemsyn wrote: post #60
Centrino wrote: post #5

The article doesn't mention which satellites or which satellite provider is used. But Apple invested $450 million in Globalstar. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/11/emergency-sos-via-sat...

This article from LeMonde seems to imply that they're using Globalstar: > "To offer this new feature, Apple had to integrate a miniature antenna in its smartphone. It captures part of the signal of satellite constellations without relying on a satellite dish or a specific telephone handset. The iPhone manufacturer signed an agreement with Globalstar, one of the operators of low-altitude constellations, sets of satell…

The "85% of their bandwidth" part is super interesting. It implies usage for much more than occasional emergencies. Globalstar has ~12Mhz of global S-Band spectrum[0], which they describe as "3.7 Billion MHz-POP", a unit I'm not grokking.

But I am pretty sure that is a LOT more bandwidth than what will be used for highly compressed text messages in emergencies.

[0] https://www.globalstar.com/Globalstar/media/Globalstar/Downl...

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#132

Post by dylan604 »

Kye wrote: post #64
germinalphrase wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Listed features: - thermal imaging - laser assisted distance measurement - indoor air quality

I can do 1/3 with my iPhone already using the lidar and 3/3 with attachments.

I don't remember anyone using a tricoder saying, "hang on. i need to switch attachments to do the thing."

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#133

Post by dylan604 »

goda90 wrote: post #98
braymundo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet Kirk's communicator couldn't even play games, so it's wilder. :)

When watching sci-fi movies and TV, I often wonder what happened with the development of gaming, social media, and virtual reality in the timeline of the show. It seems like in most of the cases where they actually get mentioned in sci-fi, it's kind of dystopian.

Didn't Kirk have to cheat to beat Spock's unbeatable game? Games might not have disappeared, but maybe they changed to be unrecognizable by people that can only travel at slower than warp speed.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#134

Post by petre »

Alex3917 wrote: post #30
wstrange wrote: post #21

This is really going to eat into Garmin's Inreach market (ditto for Spot, Zoleo, etc). It says free for the first 2 years. I'm curious what the yearly cost will be after that, and how it will compare to an Inreach plan. On an ongoing basis, it's the subscription fees that really add up.

The bigger threat to Garmin is probably just the new GPS. There are probably a lot of folks who will now put off buying their first bike computer for a couple years now that an iPhone with Strava is going to be almost as accurate as an Edge 530 or whatever. Having a real bike computer is still going to be better, but by significantly less than it was a year ago.

One doesn't need to buy an expensive Garmin model. I've got an Edge 130 and an older Edge 25 that I've bought second hand. The 130 came as an upgrade to the older device and is perfect for my use. Both devices connect with my Forerunner 245 watch for the HR. Whenever I don't want to use them (commute or sub 20 km workout), I just use the watch. Dual frequency GPS is probably going to make its way into cheaper Garmin models soon enough, maybe thanks to Apple.

Having a phone on the handlebar/top tube is cumbersome and annoying, battery life is crap and distractions galore. I don't want needless phone calls from annoying people interrupting my workout and distracting me from watching the road. I've set up my Garmin devices to ignore phone calls and texts from the phone during workouts.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#135

Post by JadeNB »

MarkMarine wrote: post #129
COGlory wrote: post #123

I was just on the ground coordinating with 4 friends that got buried in 5+ foot of unexpected snow in the mountains (forecast said 1"-2" when they went up) for the rifle opener in Montana. I wound up getting sick so I stayed home (hilariously I was the only one who got an elk) but I sent them up with my InReach. All I can say is THANK GOD that I did, because it turned into over a week long effort to get them out. Two…

For Emergency services there is no “activate and pay later” because you don’t need to activate, and you don’t need to pay. If you have an iPhone 14 it’s supposed to just work if you’re calling 911.

> For Emergency services there is no “activate and pay later” because you don’t need to activate, and you don’t need to pay. If you have an iPhone 14 it’s supposed to just work if you’re calling 911.

This is nothing special about the iPhone or the version; every cell phone is supposed to put through calls to 911:

> All wireless phones, even those that are not subscribed to or supported by a specific carrier, can call 911.

https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#136

Post by brookst »

rtkwe wrote: post #112
WhyNotHugo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was really wondering what kind of satellite-based emergency SOS they were using -- mostly because I'd never heard of it until it was being shipped in a commercial product, which is something very rare to see. So basically, they have their own infrastructure for their own proprietary 911 service with global coverage? It's really amazing that we live in a world where we can have such infrastructure, but at the same t…

GPS has always been available to get location information even offline. What you usually don't get at the user end is a map of where you are because maps apps don't cache or download automatically. I've installed OSMAnd+ and downloaded a lot of maps to avoid that and I wish Google Maps or Apple Maps made it easier to download a large swath like you can with OSM. (you can even download POI to still be able to do some…

I believe it is T-Mobile and Starlink, though very early stage (just a press release[0] about "a vision to give customers a crucial additional layer of connectivity" that "aims to work" with existing phones, far as I can tell).

And yes, the Apple announcement is just the productization of a feature in the Qualcomm X65[1]. But I think this is a case where the technical implementation is the easiest part; I would be surprised of other X65 adopters also delivered satellite comms, at least unless/until it's obvious it's driving phone purchasing decisions.

[0] https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/t-mobile-takes-cove...

[1] https://9to5mac.com/2022/09/18/iphone-14-satellite-connectiv...

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#137

Post by MarkMarine »

brookst wrote: post #44
wstrange wrote: post #21

This is really going to eat into Garmin's Inreach market (ditto for Spot, Zoleo, etc). It says free for the first 2 years. I'm curious what the yearly cost will be after that, and how it will compare to an Inreach plan. On an ongoing basis, it's the subscription fees that really add up.

I’m not sure it will eat into those markets. Those are device for people who know they are going off-grid and may need both emergency comms and who (typically) also want to be able to let people at home know where they are and how things are going. My take is the Apple SOS is for people who are unprepared and surprised, and who wouldn’t have bought a satellite comm device and paid for the subscription because they we…

One of my buddies does S&R in Marin county, they get called for people getting lost 300 yards off trail that were going for a walk CONSTANTLY. Just people out for a walk, no cell coverage. They never have gear with them. My friend said this a game changer.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#138

Post by BoardsOfCanada »

nickcw wrote: post #100

From the small print > The service will be included for free for two years starting at the time of activation of a new iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Which kind of implies it will be a pay for service after two years.

That could be some very bad PR in two years. Imagine "X got lost and died two days after his apple(tm) subscription expired".

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#139

Post by samcat116 »

gz5 wrote: post #121

>Satellites move rapidly, have low bandwidth, and are located thousands of miles away from Earth, so it can take a few minutes for even short messages to get through. Low orbit satellites can be about 500 kilometers / 300 miles so would be the logical next step?

Yes which is why you're seeing LEO constelations now. But most previous ones were in GEO which is much farther away.

Re: Emergency SOS via satellite

#140

Post by amscanne »

JadeNB wrote: post #135
MarkMarine wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For Emergency services there is no “activate and pay later” because you don’t need to activate, and you don’t need to pay. If you have an iPhone 14 it’s supposed to just work if you’re calling 911.

> For Emergency services there is no “activate and pay later” because you don’t need to activate, and you don’t need to pay. If you have an iPhone 14 it’s supposed to just work if you’re calling 911. This is nothing special about the iPhone or the version; every cell phone is supposed to put through calls to 911: > All wireless phones, even those that are not subscribed to or supported by a specific carrier, can call…

The parent comment is referring to the iPhone 14's ability to reach emergency services via a satellite network; this is indeed something special.
Post reply on HN