First responders have awesome tools. But in tough situations, even common folks need to help.
After what happened in Myanmar, we need something like this that works properly.
It has only been tested in controlled environments. It can also be improved; I know BLE is not _that_ effective under rubble.
If you have any feedback or can contribute, don't hold back.
Can voice be transferred? Message be recorded and rebroadcasted?
What about making the device vibrate SOS pulses. The person at stake might not have the strength to tap or bang, may be able put the phone on a metallic surface and send vibrations?
Those two questions are spot on.
Voice cannot be transferred yet. Re-broadcasting might require a bluetooth meshnet.
Vibrations are a great idea. They are not that battery intensive. They also can be detected by 3rd party tech.
Both were added to the list of ideas. Thank you!!
I haven't done any effort there, because I want to get this into hands.
Improvements are definitely needed with location, but the signal loss as you mentioned is higher priority and restricts what can be used for location.
I'm planning to do my homework about alternatives to help mitigate the signal loss. And from there, the options for location might be clearer.