VoIP phone service has arguably become of huge interest to the general populace, despite the problems Vonage has been having in the stock market lately. They’re the first VoIP-related company to go IPO, but they won’t be the last. Despite the popularity of VoIP service and softphone client software such as Skype, one of the drawbacks is the lack of a proper 911 emergency calling system.

The problem is that while a VoIP phone (soft or hard) could dial 911, there is currently no easy way to determine where the emergency call is coming from. Implementing e-911 service is something that the FCC in the US decided in 2005 to enforce upon VoIP service providers. A couple of companies have some solutions.

Dash911 offers an enhanced 911 emergency calling system for VoIP providers. At present, their coverage area covers the United States and Canada. According to the website, their system transports 911 calls over dedicated TDM/PSTN (Time-Division Multiplexing/ Public Switched Telephone Network) circuits instead of the Internet. Pricing info is on their site. 911VoIP in Canada and their US sister firm API offer a similar solution.

VoIP end-users (i.e., general public) cannot purchase these services from these companies. They must go through their VoIP provider, who decides which solution they are offering. That means that VoIP subscribers are at the mercy of their provider to have a reliable emergency calling system. I’m not so sure that this makes me comfortable. I’d rather have the choice in my own hands.

Personally, I was thinking of a different solution, one that involves GPS and GIS.  My idea would be to enable VoIP phones with a GPS chip. Electronic-privacy advocates might flinch at the ability of some third-party service to know where you are at all times. So I’m suggesting that this be a chip that can be enabled and disabled on demand. When a special 911 button is pressed, the GPS capabilities kick in, and a monitoring service picks up the signal via satellite. (When the call is over, the GPS turns off.)

The e-911 monitoring service then determines the location of the call via a GIS system, and the proper authorities are then notified. Keep in mind that each VoIP subscriber would be in a database run by the monitoring service. Like the 911VoIP service, medical data for the caller could even be kept on record.

Ideally, such a service could be a collaboration of a consortium of police departments, fire departments and hospitals across North America, run by an approved consultancy. But the likelihood of such happening is slim, given that department budgets are typically insufficient, and the amount of bureaucracy that would be involved.

With all the latest wireless technologies (RFID, Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi) available these days, it’s interesting to imagine how they might be combined into new applications with consumer electronics to create hybrid uses. Some of the ideas in the list below are serious, some just for fun. It’s not so much the wireless technology nor the consumer electronics in use that is new but the application and hybrid methodology. (If you’re sure that some of these applications exist, drop a comment.)

1. Wi-Fi + RFID skateboard. Parents that are tired of calling their kids in for supper can send a text message to this skateboard: supper’s ready. If your kid doesn’t come home in a few minutes, use the RFID tech in your handheld reader to locate them. (One company is already using RFID to track golf balls.) GPS is not necessary, unless your child is prone to going outside of 10-30 metres (33-100 feet). You could go one step further and set up a Wi-Fi speaker that plays a gentle, non-startling tone if your child drags his/her heels. The tone means that they have minutes before a servo-mechanism locks the wheels of the skateboard. You can then watch their return progress on a computer monitor using RFID or Wi-Fi based triangulation. (Or GPS for longer ranges.)

2. Office doorway monitoring system. An access monitoring system that adds an entry to an RSS/ Atom web feed whenever someone enters an RFID-enabled doorway using their smart passcard. The  security person live-monitoring the feed on location on a computer screen would see a default picture of that person. If the default pic does not match the appearance of the person on a video monitor, entry would not be granted. [There are systems that use more sophisticated means using biometrics, but they are costly.] The web feed would be published on the Internet but be password-protected. It could then be accessed by authorized company employees from remote locations for whatever reason. (Use your imagination.)!

3. An SED Wi-Fi digital camera that auto-posts pictures to an online gallery, along with voice comments. These would be a boon to photobloggers that don’t want to waste time monkeying with a blogging platform and podcasting software. The photog would preview a pic, then press a button to publish live. Of course, the execution of this method either requires that the camera is enabled with a Wi-Fi cellular plan, or near a smart PDA with Wi-Fi, or has Bluetooth and is near a laptop with Internet access. So in the worst case, the photog records audio comments for each snapshot and stores everything on a memory card. Then, when they are able to connect to the Internet, they can auto-publish approved pics and audio. Voila, an audio-photo podcast. (Note: Wi-Fi cameras that can upload to a laptop or desktop computer are either already out at the time of this writing, or will be out soon. However, none of them connect directly to the Internet. Hence, the SED - Service-Enabled Device - designation.)

4. Internet-enabled iPods and iVods. These, like the camera above, are SEDs. Imagine being able to directly download audio or video content from the Internet without having to go through a laptop or desktop computer.

5. RFID-enabled VIP passcards for nightclubs. No more waiting in the cold night, shivering. Just smile and wave the RFID passcard, and you’re in. Get yourself access to special cubbyholes and get to know that special someone a bit better. Automatic frequent partyer points, anyone? Similar smart passcards might be useful for box seats at a sporting event, opera, or play. Add SED capability to a special home-based reader device, and you can purchase tickets easily. Bye bye scalpers.

Got anymore ideas? Devices you’d like to see? Or not see?

Tags: unwired, wireless tech, RFID, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, digital camera, biometrics, SED, ipod, ivod

Back in early 1982, Ottawa (Canada’s capital) city’s transit system was trying out a new service whereby you could call a phone number and find out when the next bus for your stop (coded with a unique number) would be arriving. The way the system worked was that you called a unique phone number for a specific stop. A person would contact the bus driver, on the route in question, via radio-dispatch, then give you an approximate ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival).

PBX (Private Branch eXchange) phone systems were new then, and the transit system must have purchased a block of phone numbers. The service was great for the winter time, especially in Ottawa when the mercury really dropped. The problem was, people had to be hired to answer the phones, and bus drivers were distracted by these calls from dispatchers. Other smaller cities later had a similar service, but used automated systems - no human answering your query - and these automated versions were really just approximations based on the regular schedule. Unfortunately, that meant they were often incorrect and ultimately useless.

Of course, large cities that  that run buses on 15-minute schedules or shorter probably don’t need either version of the ETA service. Nevertheless some cities are introducing a more accurate version the service using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology. New York is introducing such a service in Manhattan later in 2006 or early 2007. (Source: Waiting for the Bus.) A suitably-enabled device, such as a cellphone or smartphone/ PDA would then be used to check on the ETA of a particular bus. Much more accurate than the old methods, and no distraction to drivers.

While it’s difficult to understand why large cities with fairly frequent service would bother spending the money to set up a GPS-based ETA service, fare payment with smartcards (aka touchless or contactless payment) makes a bit more sense. Peppercoin and OTI Global in the US have jointly introduced a contactless fare card for transit riders in that works for both bus and subway. These smartcards contain an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) circuit known as an “RFID tag”, or just “tag”. Participants wave their fare card in front of an RFID reader, installed on select buses right beside the cash box, and payment is made from the card.

The U.S. is not the only country to introduce similar touchless transit fare payment projects. This sort of application for RFID technology makes sense, is convenient, and does not invade privacy like the smart passports that are being contemplated in a number of countries including the United States. Unfortunately, there’s still a big problem. These cards are not universal. Far from it. They typically cannot be used with other RFID systems.

The really big problem is that there is no set standard for RFID technologies around the world. Digital money applications are too fragmented, with little or no collaboration between manufacturers. The result is that you need one smartcard for, say, transit, another for shopping, another for movie theatres, and so on. Who wants to be carrying all these cards around?

Makers of these smartcards (and those paying for the applications) are doing no one a favour by not pushing for a worldwide standard. If you really want people to use digital money instead of hard currency, you want to make it easier, not more annoying. Thus a better implementation would be to use a more common device such as a mobile phone or smartphone or PDA, but only after some worldwide standard is defined and accepted. Let’s hope RFID manufacturers realize this soon, instead of expecting us to carry a separate wallet or purse for our smart cards.

Tags: technopedia, tech pedia, transit fares, touchless payment, contactless payment, RFID tags, smartcards, GPS-enabled devices