I like your post a lot - This raises a good question.
Software is the key!! The right software combined with the right equipment could make communications as we know it a thing of the past. In the bigger picture - IMO this is only the beginning!!
GPS is readily available and has been for years. That's great for working above ground but the problem most people do not realize is that trying to communicate with people underground and locate them with a simple GPS locator after some kind of a disaster or major accident has struck is a whole different story.
Read the examples below and then think of how it could affect people 100 - 500 feet below the surface of the earth when an accident or disaster occurs!
GPS cell phones! Work Great if they are not damaged or the battery is not taken out!! In some systems the unit has to be turned on in order for the GPS to work. If it were shut off by the user or because of damage - you're S.O.L. in trying to locate it with GPS.
You have a GPS locator service in your car such as On Star. You can call On Star any time and find out where exactly your car is - correct?? Wrong!! The little transmitter called an antenna on top of your car receives and sends that signal. If your car happened to be involved in a roll over accident and the antenna were damaged - your car is no longer visable to On Star or any other GPS locator! If a car thief unscrews the On Star antenna - your car basically becomes non existent on a GPS locator screen. I tested this out with my own On Star system!
Communications. Think communicating with people is just that easy huh? - Ever have a dropped cell phone call because you drove through a bad patch or a 'dead' zone, where your cell phone lost its' signal? This is basically the same theory. Law enforcement deals with this all the time although they probably do not want the general public to know it - they are communication problems because of 'dead' zones or bad patches all the time - especially state police officers.
You have hundreds of feet and tens of thousands on tons of earth between the people mining and the people on the surface. How do you keep a cell phone signal or a two way radio signal strong enough to consistantly working through one big 'dead' zone - or bad patch, especially after a disaster or accident?
For the sake of argument, let's say the GPS worked fine in locating the miners that are trapped. Even if you CAN locate survivors - communicate with them to find out where the cave in was, find out how many people are alive, what their conditions are, or access the situation under the ground in order to determine a time frame of how much time is left before it may be too mate for a rescue.
Simply put - Most people think that the technology is there already and in part they are right. What most fail to realize that even with the technology that is out there today is that, the technology is not built to maintain operations under the extreme conditions that are presented in an underground accident or disaster as happens with miners of all kinds! The size, capabilities, and cost of this equipment to work in an underground environment after a disaster or accident could, up until now - have been absolutely huge!!! Making it very unattractive to any minerals or mining company.
It sounds like IPackets has spent the time and money to make the software powerful enough that it has found a way to send a signal through 100 tons of rock and dirt and not have to set up a bulky 5 ton transmitter/receiver somewhere in the mine!!
I am with IPKL for the long haul!!
