vxbush 9/12/2022 5:59:31 AM

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OR, if you are thinking of a satellite phone for emergencies, what about the satellite features in the iPhone 14? It does satellite. 

Occasional Reader 9/12/2022 6:34:22 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 1:

Good morning, vixie (my new nickname for you...).

Indeed, a reference to that feature (highly interesting, and long overdue, IMHO) was what prompted a discussion of this topic at Instapundit a few days back.  A couple of posters who claimed to have some expertise in things like mountaineering pointed out that Apple's description of the thing sounds like a one-way beacon more than two-way communication; and that in a true emergency, two-way communication is crucial.  

This description, on the other hand, references (if rather obliquely) some capacity for two-way communication, although it sounds slow/limited; and also points out the hardware limitations regarding the antenna size (because... size matters!). 

I think the bottom line is, I'll hold out on my next iPhone upgrade for the iPhone 14, because I do like that feature, and it's probably all that I "need" right now.  If and when I start doing more camping and such, including with my son, I might pick up the Garmin device. 

vxbush 9/12/2022 7:22:22 AM

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In #2 Occasional Reader said: Good morning, vixie (my new nickname for you...).

Urm. Not sure how I feel about that. Seems quirky.

In #2 Occasional Reader said: This description, on the other hand, references (if rather obliquely) some capacity for two-way communication, although it sounds slow/limited; and also points out the hardware limitations regarding the antenna size (because... size matters!). 

This was discussed in the original presentation. It is slow, and they admitted that the only way they could get real communication was to have an antenna on the outside of the case. Apparently this is Not To Be Done™️ on Apple devices, so they came up with their own method of finding and communicating with the satellite. It sounded like more of a beacon to me as well, but the goal was to keep communications as simplified as possible. 

My take on satellite phones (and I am in no way knowledgable about satellite stuff; I defer to JCM on this) is that we will eventually all be using satellite phones, because cellular, while currently ubiquitous, can fail. We've loaded the skies with thousands of satellites, and we're reaching the point where everyone is expecting to be able to reach anyone and everyone from everywhere on the planet. The idea of not being able to contact someone is seen as anathema. The same progression we've seen with wifi is going to happen with satellite telephony. 

Occasional Reader 9/12/2022 8:10:02 AM

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In #3 vxbush said: My take on satellite phones (and I am in no way knowledgable about satellite stuff; I defer to JCM on this) is that we will eventually all be using satellite phones,

Perhaps; I still don't know how they would address the problems of lag time, and line-of-sight. 

JCM 9/12/2022 8:13:15 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 3:

Our smallest antenna is the about 12 inches, our breakthrough tech is we have the transmit and receive modules mingled in the same antenna. But that is for high speed broadband internet. Satellite phones all have an antenna.

It appears from this, that it the iphone sat comm might be a text based messaging system.

One key innovation is that the mode doesn’t rely on transmitting full text messages. Instead, it asks a series of questions, and then encodes the answers into compressed form.

Since Apple knows what information is collected in what order, it can compress the data to almost nothing. For example, the first question is: Who needs help? The options are Me, Someone Else, and Multiple People. The iPhone could easily just send a 1, 2, or 3, with the server at Apple’s end turning it back into the full wording. If the feature asks five questions, this could easily be encoded into something like: 13225 plus the latitude and longitude. This makes satellite comms a lot more reliable.

vxbush 9/12/2022 8:32:55 AM

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In #5 JCM said: One key innovation is that the mode doesn’t rely on transmitting full text messages. Instead, it asks a series of questions, and then encodes the answers into compressed form. Since Apple knows what information is collected in what order, it can compress the data to almost nothing. For example, the first question is: Who needs help? The options are Me, Someone Else, and Multiple People. The iPhone could easily just send a 1, 2, or 3, with the server at Apple’s end turning it back into the full wording. If the feature asks five questions, this could easily be encoded into something like: 13225 plus the latitude and longitude. This makes satellite comms a lot more reliable.

I came to the same conclusion about this based on the questions. What wasn't clear was whether there was any ability to go back-and-forth with the iPhone user after that initial request for help. It would make sense  for the emergency rescue people to be able to say, "we'll be there in 5 minutes" versus "we'll be there in 20 minutes; take shelter" or something. 

Occasional Reader 9/12/2022 8:47:45 AM

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In #6 vxbush said: It would make sense  for the emergency rescue people to be able to say, "we'll be there in 5 minutes" versus "we'll be there in 20 minutes; take shelter" or something. 

Or "since those are zombies, aim for the head".  

vxbush 9/12/2022 10:48:15 AM

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In #7 Occasional Reader said: Or "since those are zombies, aim for the head".  

Oh, absolutely. 

Occasional Reader 9/12/2022 12:28:37 PM

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