The Boston Globe has a great article on Q-Track’s successful firefighter rescue demonstration at WPI earlier this month: WORCESTER — The blinded, disoriented firefighters who crawled up the stairs of a century-old brick building here recently had to find a missing colleague, and find him fast. Their only hope was […]
Monthly Archives: August 2010
47 posts
Here’s another collection of RFID and wireless related links: VeryFieldsRFID has a good introduction and tutorial to RFID. BoingBoing presents a brief historical item on the WWI-era prohibition on amateur radio. Chris Paget’s DEF CON 17 talk on RFID Mythbusting helps dispel myths about RFID range and security: And finally […]
Early in the morning, the The 313th Regiment received orders for movement to the north. The 313th was ordered into division reserve, and the 1st Battalion moved to vicinity of St. Pierre.
[iframe: src=”http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=uwbantennacom-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=B00002E20R” frameborder=”0″ width=”120px” height=”240px” scrolling=”no”] Lone Star (1996) Drama 135 min. Dir: John Sayles. Stars: Chris Cooper, Matthew McConaughey, Kris Kristofferson, Elizabeth Pena. Blurb: The sheriff of a small Texas border county (Cooper) tries to solve a decades old murder in which his father and predecessor as sherriff (McConaughey) […]
It’s been a busy week, so here is yet another RTLS/RFID update: Mark Roberti of RFID Journal has a new blog entry on the RFID Privacy Conundrum. From the Daily Californian, New Backpack Makes 3D Maps of Buildings H/T: Ericsson Labs Harris unveils firefighter location system. H/T: Stephen J. Crowley […]
The 30th Infantry Division moved across the Seine to assist the 79th Division in extending their bridgehead, today 27 August, 1944. The attack began at 16:00. As I’ve been researching and reconstructing my grandfather’s WWII experiences, several books and references have been of particular help: Ernie Pyle’s Brave Men collects […]
Conventional RTLS typically relies on one of three general approaches: Direction Finding (DF): originated by John Stone Stone in 1902, Amplitude Ranging: originated by Lee de Forest in 1904, and Time of Flight (Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), or Transponder Ranging are typical approaches): orignating in the 1920’s and 1930’s. […]
Consulting Engineer, Stephen J. Crowley, provides an informative update on the latest experimental applications at the FCC. Here’s one example: Reindert A. Smit, apparently an amateur radio operator, filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to experiment with ROS digital communications modem software, whose purpose is to […]
A few RTLS and Location Based Services updates: First, a nice introduction to Location Based Services from ComputerWorld. An explanation of Facebook’s new Location Based Service from the New York Times. Yet another Location Based Service launched yesterday: “Qilroy,” a Qualcomm Service Labs incubated project. Precise Path has a precision […]
Last month, a Q-Track team traveled to the historic Safety Research Coal Mine in Bruceton, Pennsylvania to conduct RF propagation and performance tests on a Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER®) Real-Time Location System (RTLS). We optimized the system for use in a mine environment in an effort funded by NIOSH. We […]
The organizers of Fifth Precision Personnel Locator (PPL) Workshop (held on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, or WPI, August 2-3, 2010) collaborated with the Worcester Fire Department to conduct realistic firefighter rescue exercises. All three systems tested enabled rescues substantially faster than the 24 minute unaided rescue baseline. The […]
[iframe: src=”http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=uwbantennacom-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=B00023P4OC” frameborder=”0″ width=”120px” height=”240px” scrolling=”no”] It Started With Eve (B&W) (1941) Comedy 92 min. Dir: Henry Koster Stars: Deanna Durbin, Charles Laughton, Robert Cummings Blurb: The death bed wish of an ill-tempered millionaire (Laughton) to meet his son’s fiance leads his son in desperation to grab a hat check […]
It’s not news to anyone who’s been following ÆtherCzar’s 1099 mandate coverage, but starting next year an onerous requirement will be placed on small businesses by clueless politicians with no real-world experience in business and no understanding of the unintended impact of their mandates.
The 79th Division successfully established the first bridgehead across the Seine today, 20 August, 1944. The Division, including the 313th Regiment, will remain in a defensive position for a while, waiting for the rest of the Army to catch up.
The Second World War spurred further innovation in RF-based navigation. The first wide-scale deployment of an RF-based location system was the Long Range Navigation or “LORAN.” LORAN was an evolution from a shorter range British system called “GEE.” Like GEE, LORAN employed synchronized impulse signal transmissions from paired transmit towers. […]
At 11:50 today, 19 August, 1944, Company C, 1st Battalion of the 313th Regiment (including Paul Farnum) reached the Seine River. Shortly afterward they engaged in a firefight with enemy troops entrenched across the river. Meanwhile an officer and two enlisted men from Company A of the Engineers became the […]
Last week, Wil Wheaton tweeted about a great post at “Roll 3d6 Six Times for Stats” from a father introducing his ten-year-old daughter to Atari Adventure. “What a great idea,” I thought. “My favorite Atari game! And I have two five year old daughters – five plus five equals ten.” […]
The 79th Division was ordered to the north to take defensive positions on high ground south-west of Mantes-Gassicourt. The Division motorized and moved at 13:30, reaching the vicinity of Poudreauville about 22:00.
In 1905, an obscure patent clerk in Switzerland wrote four scientific papers, any one of which would have guaranteed his future fame. The clerk’s name was Albert Einstein. His four papers: proposed that energy exists in discrete levels called quanta (the photoelectric effect), demonstrated that the microscopic quiverings of small […]
Yesterday, the 313th Regiment completed their move across the Eure. The 313th remained in the area today, 17 August, 1944, on patrol to secure the area from scattered German forces reported in the area. In a rare occurrence, the Luftwaffe strafed the 313th but did not inflict significant losses.
Back in July, a team from Q-Track Corporation traveled to Bruceton, PA, just outside Pittsburgh, to conduct RF propagation and performance tests on a Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER®) Real-Time Location System (RTLS) optimized for use in a mine environment. The visit inspired this post about the history of the Bruceton […]
Here are a few RTLS and RFID news updates… Here’s a great article in xconomy|Boston on RFID innovator, ThingMagic. ThingMagic co-founder, Matt Reynolds, was one of the first to consider using low frequency signals for indoor location. He’s now a professor at Duke University pursuing an interesting line of research […]
At 10:00 today, 15 August, 1944, the 313th Regiment and the rest of the 79th Division advanced to Nogent-le-roi – only 30 miles from Paris. Meanwhile, the German counterattack at Mortain has failed and the German remnants are trying to escape through the narrowing gap remaining between Falaise and Argentan. […]