X-Message-Number: 8282 From: Brian Wowk <> Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 17:15:55 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Death Alert Systems Eugene Leitl <> writes: (deleted) >Best thing would seem to design the gadget something akin to a >bulky wristwatch, very like a G-Shock. Multichannel biotelemetry >goes to an immobile station hooked to the phone line, which then >dials the CSP (Alcor, whatever), and yells for help. Movement, >temperature, and photoplethysmography (cardiac-frequency >modulation of tissue-backscattered NIR light) seem to suffice. Sounds like overkill to me. Photoplethysmography alone would suffice for sleeping. Pulse oximeters that easily fit onto a fingertip or toe are off-the-shelf medical instruments, as are the alarm systems that indicate when blood oxygenation goes awry. Pulse oximetry systems with RF links to a base station are also off-the-shelf items, used in hospitals everyday. Eugene's message was very insightful, but it also underscored the difficulty of trying to create an alert system that is all things to all people. The cryonicists who most urgently need these systems do not need GPS tracking (and do you really want your spouse to know where you are at all times? ;) but rather need simple vital sign monitoring with an autodialer in their homes. I'd be surprised if an entire package that does all this wasn't already on the market. If not, then clearly it should be doable with mostly off-the-shelf equipment and a minimum of denovo engineering. Of course Eugene's other concerns... >6) Once you've got some 10 customers, things are getting hairy. >Idle cyclic calls, call time slots, multiple lines, >authentication, resistance to malicious jamming, no-fail and >fail-safe etc. issues come up, so questions of the >appropriate protocol and centrale complexity (UPS, >decentralization) can no longer be ignored. still apply. But again, I'm certain that commercial services (analogous to household alarm monitoring companies) already exist to provide monitoring of dial-in medical alert devices. Some of these dial-in alert devices (like the one where you just press a button when in distress) have been available for a decade. No need to reinvent the wheel. Yea, I know I'm just an armchair commentator who hasn't made a personal effort to solve this problem. But have all those now involved in denovo engineering projects fully examined the off-the-shelf options? The need for these devices is not unique to cryonicsts. *************************************************************************** Brian Wowk CryoCare Foundation 1-800-TOP-CARE President Human Cryopreservation Services http://www.cryocare.org/cryocare/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=8282