GPS -- is getting your rig equipped do-able?

[wee 0]

maybe i didn't get enough sleep last night, but i was just thinking... since they are using GPS for everything now (from cars to car keys)... would it be a stupid idea to put a chip in the main?
the chips are tiny from what i understand and getting less expensive by the day i'm sure. i don't know enough about this to keep rambling, but is it a realistic idea? has anyone had it done? if not on their main--anywhere on their rig?
it's probably a horrible idea... i was just thinking it the gps serv could help find cutaways a lot faster AND should it ever get stolen you can atleast get an idea where it is.
does anyone know anything about this? i know nothing about the costs... but if they are in keychains, how pricey can it be? i'm guessing it would be about the price of a cypres-- TOPS (if it is that much-forget it!)
but considering their services / reciever?? i dunno.. who knows anything about gps? other than the fact that it is use in our planes (i think that technology is more advanced).
cheerios!

If the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off!

[billvon 2,991]

>would it be a stupid idea to put a chip in the main?

Problem is primarily power. If you leave it off most of the time (to save batteries) you have to have a way of turning it on, like breaking a wire around the 3-ring. If you leave it on you have to change batteries every few months. (And what are the odds your riser batteries will be dead when you cut away your canopy?)

An RFID chip with a directional high-gain antenna might work better. We've talked about this before. Basically a passive chip that will 'echo' back a strong signal. Once you have a cutaway you get out the big antenna/transceiver and go hunting. That way the thing on the risers is cheap and the thing on the ground is expensive, but you only need one thing on the ground.

>but if they are in keychains

I suspect those aren't GPSes.

>cheerios!

Cornflakes.

[Kennedy 0]

Rice Chex!

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[quade 4]

I've always thought the radio tags they put on falcons would work pretty well.

http://www.merlin-systems.com/falconry/fmv.htm

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Remster 30]

Quote

I've always thought the radio tags they put on falcons would work pretty well.

http://www.merlin-systems.com/falconry/fmv.htm

Even the large one is not that great:

Operating Life   -   35 days 

Remster

[quade 4]

If you don't find your gear laying out in a field after 35 days . . . you don't really want to find it.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Remster 30]

Yes, but, you better not loose it after 36 days of putting the tag on your main....

Remster

[quade 4]

No. That would be 35 days of constant operation.

So, maybe you'd have to put in new batteries every month or so.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Remster 30]

Probably... but considering how involved most jumpers are with their gears, its not quite likely! lol

But yeah, it would be a pretty neat feature for those who could deal with the hassle.

Remster

[WrongWay 0]

Better idea.....sew one of those bad boys into the label of your canopy. That way, if you chop it and it ends up in a corn field, you can just track it and find it in a matter of minutes.

Only problem is getting it to survive packing/opening....not to mention price. I dunno about you, but if I had 3500 bucks and could choose a canopy with a gps or two canopies....I'd buy two canopies.

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[Guest]

I agree with Billvon that RFID would be the cheapest way to go - the only problem I can see is that you'd need a pretty powerful transmitter and receiver to get the tag to play. AFAIK, commerical RFID is designed for ranges of just a few feet to tens of feet? Correct me if I'm misinformed - I haven't read up on new RFID development lately, whereas Billvon probably gets all the EE trade rags coming across his desk every week like I used to.

mh

.

[ahegeman 0]

The batteries on my hawk's transmitters last two years, and the signal goes 10 miles line of sight. I've thought about having them put on my freebag and main somehow, but its pretty open around Skydive Dallas. Besides, would a rigger do that? Is it TSO friendly? Could it potentially screw up reserve packing or deployment? I dunno about such things.

Cost/benefit may not work out too well on it, either. What are the odds of actually losing your main so badly that you'd have to have telemetry to find it? My transmitter is nearly $200 and the directional receiver set-up is at least $500.

Since I already have the transmitters and receiver for my falconry, and don't fly the bird during the summer, its all a sunk cost for me.

---------------------------------------------------------------
There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'.
--Dave Barry

[wee 0]

"RFID tags come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Some tags are easy to spot, such as the hard plastic anti-theft tags attached to merchandise in stores. Animal tracking tags which are implanted beneath the skin of family pets or endangered species are no bigger than a small section of pencil lead. Even smaller tags have been developed to be embedded within the fibers of a national currency." - pulled from http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/

yes! this is exactly what I had in mind. when we have pricey orders come in at work, I've noticed the boxes have a tiny chip on the inside flap for tracking purposes (even though Ups tracks them as well)... I bet it's an RFID chip!
I've been reading up on this -- trying to figure out how they are read but have had little success I did find out people put them in their pets incase they runaway (haha)... maybe this isn't a crazy idea afterall?
passive chips don't need a battery but it sounds like they would put off a weaker signal. I'm just not sure how long active chips last. Yeah, they would definetly have to be sewn in... the chip could still be read tho.
I'll see what else I come up with... but you're right, cost/benefit might outweigh this one after adding in the costs of the reader. (Especially since nobody has done it yet ---there's always a reason!) Thanks for the replies.
Lucky charms

If the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off!

[BGill 0]

i've always thought about this for quite a while now, and it seems to me that the best place to put a chip would be inside the hackey. that way, there is nothing extra on your risers/canopy/freebag that could possibly screw up deployment, reserve deployment, whatever. it's out of the way, and its going with your canopy when you chop.

the issue with battery life for the falcon transmitters: it says on there that the device is turned on and off with magnets. apply a magnet and the device turns off. putting magnets into your rig would be kinda tricky thought and wouldn't work with my chip in the hackey idea.

i always wanted to keep that "in the hackey" idea to myself and somehow market it in the future, but in all reality that'll most likely never happen so there's my idea if anyone wants to use it.

in regards to not wanting to use a main thats been lost for 35 days, i know someone who lost a canopy in a baglock, found it about a year later, got it inspected by a very well known rigger and he deemed it jumpable and in no way damaged. however, i'm sure that would be a different story for canopies chopped that are already out of the bad and exposed to the elements. but if you have a tracking device on your canopy there is no way you shouldn't find it within a few hours of chopping it.

and now i'm $0.02 poorer.

[Guest]

It would be cool if a transmitter was activated on cutaway. If so, a receiver at the DZ would react, and everyone would know immediately that there's been a chop. That (decreased overall reaction time) could help keep the canopy from getting lost in the first place.

Once again, AFAIK, passive RFID is only useful for very short range; active RFID isn't much better. If anyone has more information about RFID families, please feel free to weigh in - I'm too lazy to research it myself today.

[Ducky 0]

This subject has come up a time or 2 at the DZ and I have reasearched it some. I found that all the necessary items are in existence, inexpensive and there are NO big hurdles as discussed here.

The battery issue is VERY easily solved and not an original idea by far. DZO co-operation is the only real catch, as a base system would be necessary. When or if I am motivated enough to implement this into a prototype I'll let you all know.


kwak

Sometimes your the bug, sometimes your the windshield. Sometimes your the hammer sometimes your the nail. Question is Hun, Do you wanna get hammered or do you wanna get nailed?????

[airtwardo 7]

Better idea!


Don't pack anything you'll have to chop!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[wee 0]

Quote

Better idea!


Don't pack anything you'll have to chop!

right.so anyway, glad to see others have thought about this. ducky's right though.... from what I read it sounds like you only need one reader, so it would only make sense if the dzo were involved.

If the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off!