Most people consider their smart phone a daily necessity, like a wallet or car keys, and a group of students are hoping to use that mentality as a way to track survivors. When a mobile phone's Wi-Fi is switched on, the device emits data packets at regular intervals. The signal strength varies depending on the surrounding terrain, the weather or interference. Alone the signal is hard to pinpoint, making it difficult to find the signal's original location, but if taken from multiple locations calculations will allow for the approximate location to be found. Using a Wi-Fi antenna attached to a UAV, developers are hoping to be able to fly between different points to get the location of the phone, and hopefully the user. The beta tests have also included the drone tightening its location around a selected device in to indicate the signal's position. This technology could be a much needed tool after natural disaster, and shed alight to the many benefits of drone usage.
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