New Types of Sensors In Future Mobile Phones: Altitude, Emotion and More

[Earendil]

Who WANTS all these hardware features anyway? It's just more opportunity for people/big brother to track you down within inches. "Oh my gosh! He's sad and is on top of a cliff! He's gonna jump! Have him arrested immediately and suck all the data off the iPhone before he jumps!" Maybe the guy is just sad because he found a wounded bird on top of that cliff while hiking.

We can only hope that when our government cares to track every individual, innocent or not, suspect or not, that they do it using a device that can easily be tossed in a lake. More likely, by the time a government turns that evil, they will have more insidious ways than phones to track us.

 

[KingCrimson]

This is kind of ridiculous. You can't fit every conceivable sensor and keep the small form factor.

 

[tigress666]

I wonder how that would even be worth it.... outside of a building GPS can already get your altitude... inside a building, well... as a pilot, I know altimiters need to be calibrated constantly do to changing air pressure from the current weather. Unless the phone is constantly getting local air pressure readings via the internet, the altimeter would be useless....

I think it would be very useful to me.

This is at least one way I'd see an altimeter being useful. GPS is not accurate at all when it comes to altitude (For example everytime I have it track me on a walk, where I walk from my house and in a loop, it always says the sum of elevation I've walked is either positive or negative, it should be 0 since I am starting at one point and going right back to that point. There's no way I could have climbed higher or lower than it).

So for apps for those that like to walk or excercise and see the total amount that they did, including elevation, it could better show that. It could also more accurately calculate calories you burned when it could accurately see how much you climbed.

So that's why I would love to see that in my iphone.

 

[notabadname]

I'm curious, is there some new technology to adapt barometric pressure sensors so that they can accurately tell you the elevation over a period of time?

Last I checked, the sensors could detect a small enough changes in atmospheric pressure to sense a change in the equivalent of about 10 feet or better. However they are all still based on atmospheric pressure, which is its self constantly changing.

So you go to the 10th floor for a meeting, and by the time it's over you're on the 12 floor. How helpful ;-)

It's an easy fix. With a location aware phone, it can easily know the local altimeter from countless weather services (which is always adjusted to sea level for your location) and correspondingly keep your phone's elevation accurate, regardless of local changes in atmospheric pressure. This is how every aircraft flying knows its height above sea level.

 

[ladeer]

Mr. Vigna??? oh boy he must have a rough childhood

 

[notabadname]

I think it would be very useful to me.

This is at least one way I'd see an altimeter being useful. GPS is not accurate at all when it comes to altitude (For example everytime I have it track me on a walk, where I walk from my house and in a loop, it always says the sum of elevation I've walked is either positive or negative, it should be 0 since I am starting at one point and going right back to that point. There's no way I could have climbed higher or lower than it).

It is accurate enough for hikers and climbers that make significant altitude changes. The vertical accuracy is rated to be within +/- 15 meters or roughly 50 ft, 95% of all operating time, and that is a fairly conservative. If you are doing walks that entail no more altitude change then going from your second floor to your basement, is knowing the elevation change of your hike really that critical?

 

[3goldens]

I know some folks have been waiting for the day they can take their temperature rectally with their iphone.

They'll be so please about this news!

 

[lostngone]

As long...

As long as it a chip that detects mood/emotion and not a chip that gives my iPod/iPhone emotions I am ok with that.

 

[Fender2112]

I'm looking forward to the mood sensor. I can never tell if I'm happy or sad. This will make my life soooo much better.

 

[spazzcat]

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I do not want a device that monitors and reacts to my mental state. Creepy.

Are you sure you want to send this email, you seem a little to mad right now

 

[Doctor Q]

I can think of dozens of uses for a built-in lie detector.

 

[tigress666]

As long as it a chip that detects mood/emotion and not a chip that gives my iPod/iPhone emotions I am ok with that.

*laugh* Can you imagine that? I feel for the person who gets the emo iphone or the one who gets the iphone with a temper.

Or imagine a surly person getting a way too cheerful iphone that is always chipper!

 

[MrWillie]

I know some folks have been waiting for the day they can take their temperature rectally with their iphone.

They'll be so please about this news!

Well there is a few people on MR that I would like to take their Android phones and...


But seriously, think about it. Detecting emotions/mood. How cool. So when the Mrs is feeling bitchy, her phone sends you an alert and you know to put in some OT at the office.

 

[motulist]

Smartphones will become tricorders. It's inevitable.

How is it NOT already a tricorder? It already does about 75% of what tricorders were shown doing. In fact, it does way more than they were ever shown to do.

 

[biggreydog]

Altimeter for Augmented Reality

If indeed an altimeter is included and fairly accurate, expect an onslaught of AR applications referencing a master database of images and animations set to x, y and z. AR iAd anyone? And congress was wondering what Apple and Google were doing with all that position information and WiFi hotspot referencing?

 

[wizard]

Good but somewhat obvious news.

I for one would love to see a user accessible temperature sensor. I say user accessible as it is pretty obvious that IPhone already has built in temperature sensors. The reality is this should be a no brainer and very inexpensive addition to the hardware. At least for a diode type sensor. An infrared sensor would be a bit more.

What would be really neat is an infrared sensor integrated right into the camera chip. That way you can have the camera stare at what you need to have the temperature measured on. Either way there have been numerous instances where a temperature sensor would have been useful to me. Ambient (diode/solid state) and infrared both have their uses.

My need for other sensors is more limited. However from the standpoint of implementation I don't think more sensors will impact the device negatively. The reality is this, more and more tech will be implemented into chips already on hand. Plus I can see Apple putting some analog subsystems on the A6. {there are likely some already in the current A5, it is just a secret what is in there}.

Or the integration can occur elsewhere, say in an accelerometer chip. For example build an altimeter and temp sensor interface into this chip. As has already been mentioned more functionality is inevitable. In some cases I have to wonder what the hold up is.

 

[Earendil]

It's an easy fix. With a location aware phone, it can easily know the local altimeter from countless weather services (which is always adjusted to sea level for your location) and correspondingly keep your phone's elevation accurate, regardless of local changes in atmospheric pressure. This is how every aircraft flying knows its height above sea level.

But Aircraft do not need to know their elevation to within a few feet. They depend on VFR or instrumentation to land, not their elevation for when they will hit the runway.

Is such a database available today? What about the adjusted pressure for places people might actually care to know their elevation, i.e. far from civilization?

I'm still not thinking having a barometer in your phone is going to be THAT helpful

 

[wizard]

In some ways 75% is a stretch, but yeah iPhone is close.

How is it NOT already a tricorder? It already does about 75% of what tricorders were shown doing. In fact, it does way more than they were ever shown to do.

It certainly has more computational horse power than was imagined back then. However it comes up short in a number of ways. For one no gas analyst, or radiation hazard detection. Nothing like a spectrometer either.

However some of this stuff is not far off in being pocketable. There are a number of lab on a chip techniques being worked on right now. So 75% is not far off at all.

Your point is well taken, as some one that was a big fan of star treck I marvel at how far we have come in many ways. Certainly the cell phone has now eclipsed the communicator and has adopted many tricoder features. The future looks bright as far as this reality goes. Now if we could only get an administration in Washington that has a clue about space technology. It has been at least 15 years since we have had a rational plan for space coming out of washington. Really pathetic when you think about it.

 

[wizard]

Generally it isn't the initial obvious use that makes something like this valuable.

...
I'm still not thinking having a barometer in your phone is going to be THAT helpful

Pocket barometers have been used for ages by hikers. Being totally mechanical they have limited function but are still useful. Beyond that knowing the local barometric pressure can be very useful.

What is interesting is not the uses that first come to mind but rather people finding new uses for the data coming from the sensors. The accelerometers are an excellent example with a lot of innovation happening with respect to those sensor datas. Actually the camera is another good example.

So while I don't see myself getting real excited about a barometer I would not put it past a software developer coming up with a reason to want one in the future.

 

[idunn]

Two sides of this equation

Great, now your phone will not only be able to pinpoint exactly where you are, but also give you a polygraph inquisition in the meantime.

I'm not saying these many functions are not useful and valued for other purposes. They are. But the dark side should be considered as well, and there is plenty of that in this world.

 

[kdarling]

For those who missed it:

$10 million X-Prize offered for first medical tricorder.

http://www.xprize.org/prize-development/life-sciences#artificial

 

[iWaldo]

Holy tricorder, Batman!

I would kill for a phone with an altimeter...

 

[kdarling]

I would kill for a phone with an altimeter...

How about a tablet? The Motorola Xoom has a barometer chip.

I think Moto visualized it being used for noticing if you're currently going up or down a set of stairs or an elevator.

As others have mentioned, the pressure sensor alone cannot tell the altitude unless it's corrected for the local air pressure.

Pilot trivia time: when the weather bureau issues the pressure setting to pilots, it's offset by ten feet. In other words, it's calculated to be correct for altimeters that are ten feet off the ground, as was true back in the days of early airliners like the DC-3. If you're in a Cessna 172 with the instrument only five feet up, using the correct setting should falsely indicate that the plane is five feet below runway level. Very few people know this.

I used to design flight computers as a hobby.

 

[AidenShaw]

If you're in a Cessna 172 with the instrument only five feet up, using the correct setting should falsely indicate that the plane is five feet below runway level. Very few people know this.

That explains my bumpy landings when I'm doing IFR.

 

[KingCrimson]

Pilot trivia time: when the weather bureau issues the pressure setting to pilots, it's offset by ten feet. In other words, it's calculated to be correct for altimeters that are ten feet off the ground, as was true back in the days of early airliners like the DC-3. If you're in a Cessna 172 with the instrument only five feet up, using the correct setting should falsely indicate that the plane is five feet below runway level. Very few people know this.

I used to design flight computers as a hobby.

Explain me why you would be relying on the iPhone for altitude reading instead of the aircraft instrumentation?