DIY Texting System For Really Underground Radio

Gulthek writes "Sixteen-year-old Alexander Kendrick has created a device that allows texting and other data transfer from almost 1000 feet underground. The tech could allow rapid emergency communication with the surface and opens the potential for scientific measurements without the need to continually visit (and disturb) the cave environment." There's some kvetching in the NPR story's comments that it's not the first use of cave radios, but that seems to miss the point.

Comments

This doesn't just apply to caving I expect.

[Anonymous Coward]

This doesn't just apply to caving, it should work as well for mining no? Range shouldn't be an issue since if it uses radio then relays should be feasible.

Re:This doesn't just apply to caving I expect.

[Darkness404]

Even with low bandwidth, a simple message of "Hey, I'm still alive down here, send help" shouldn't be too hard.

Ultra narrow bandwidth

[stox]

Reduce your bit rate to a few bits per second, even fractional bits per second, and you will be amazed at how far you can get a signal with a minimum of power.

The article's more interesting point is buried

[JoshuaZ]

The article also talks about how this could be used by scientists who are investigating or monitoring life in caves and that this could be used to help find useful substances being made by life in the caves. From the article:

But scientists think one of the biggest threats to this emerging source of antibiotics is actually the scientists themselves. In fact, researchers believe the more they visit a cave, the less likely they are to find antibiotics. People contaminate the sensitive cave environment just by being there. Northup thinks that by connecting data recorders to Kendrick's radio, scientists could remotely transmit information about the cave environment. "So a cave radio that allows you to beam data to the surface rather than visiting it in person can be extremely valuable," she says. "It could save the cave."

Frankly, this doesn't seem that likely since to check if something is a useful antibiotic it needs to be tested against actual cultures generally. However, this does have serious potential of helping and of increasing our knowledge base. General medical knowledge and more anti-biotics will likely save far more lives than using the technology just to rescue people who occasionally get trapped in caves.

Then what is the point?

[SuperBanana]

Well, what is the point, then?

VLF systems have been in use for decades to communicate with the US Submarine fleet, not because of interference, but because it passes through just about everything and has a very, very wide propagation. Unfortunately, the power levels are so high that people wonder/suspect it's causing nature / health problems for nearby residents.

I mean for fucks' sakes, this stuff was in use by the German navy during WW2- 70 years ago. All this kid did was apply the obvious, and apparently, it's so obvious, someone thought of it 40 years ago. More info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_low_frequency

Also, the kid didn't implement any sort of retransmission or error correction. That makes it pretty useless for both emergencies (imagine: "person has 3 hours to live" instead of "30 hours") and scientific data collection. It's also pretty standard these days.

Just run a damn cable ...

[BitZtream]

Seriously.

If you're leaving a sensor in a cave or mine to gather data, its going to be there a while. Take a spool of wire with you on the way in and just hard wire the thing for data and power.

Wireless is rarely the right way to do things, especially stationary things.

Re:Living with Mom

[jimbolauski]

Why risk your pasty white skin getting outdoors to text?

What nerd doesn't have wifi and a wifi enabled phone.