There ’s more than one reason to forefend dropping your phone in the water . Not only is it catastrophic for equipment that are n’t by rights waterproof , but your equipment will also lose most of its wireless connectivity when submerged , leaving you ineffective to text substance friends who ’ve gone overboard too , unless youdownload and set up a novel appcreated by researchers at theUniversity of Washington .
Although almost every raw smartphone can shrug off a dunking . But while submerged , most of a smartphone ’s good feature of speech become unserviceable , as wireless signaling do n’t propagate as well under water . cooking stove for wifi and Bluetooth become limited to maybe a few centimeters , because water is quite effective at absorbing wireless signals with unretentive wavelengths . That ’s how that microwave oven oven in your kitchen is so good at fire up moist foods .
It ’s a job that even impress the militaries of the world , many of which control with almost outright budget . If submarines desire to communicate with other ships , they either need to surface to a point where they can raise an antenna above the water line or use sound - free-base communication organization that trust on mike and speakers . Every smartphone coincidently has audio - based communication build up right in , and that ’s the headstone to howAquaApp , a new app for communicating wirelessly underwater across long distances , works . develop at the University of Washington ’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering , it ’s a clever mode to flourish a earphone ’s abilities without expect additional hardware .
Image: University of Washington
Even professional divers have traditionally relied on hundreds of different hand signals to communicate with each other under water , as twist that can help subaqueous messaging usually requires a military - sized budget . But the AquaApp is free , with its capable - source Android codeavailable to download from GitHubfor those who acknowledge how to build and install apps . ( Arecently publish inquiry paperdetailing the development of the app isalso useable here . ) The only other matter user need is a waterproofed phone or rainproof case .
rather of WLAN or Bluetooth , AquaApp use acoustical signals to broadcast messages to other Android smartphones running the app , through an interface that supply quick access to 240 pre - set message that match to diving hand signal . Said signal point everything from equipment position to nearby wildlife . But just like heavy wave can be obstructed or obscured on land , under water , they can be affected by noise from gravy boat and animals , the move of the H2O itself through moving ridge and currents , and even reflections from the surface of the H2O , the coastline , or the ground below .
To account for the ever - changing program conditions under water , the AquaApp first sends a fast introductory sign called a preamble to another equipment , which then analyzes the received signaling with a customs algorithm that determines the adept bitrate and frequencies to employ for each transmission . The optimize signaling specs are then sent to the other gadget before full back and forward messaging can begin .
Image: University of Washington
The AquaApp has been tested to depths as inscrutable as 15 meter in busy waters , and its God Almighty have happen it can achieve a data transmission rate anywhere from 100 bps to 1.8 kbps at a aloofness of 30 meters , which is idealistic for sending and receiving messages , or up to 100 meters if the bitrate is reduced to 10 - 20 bps , which still earmark simple S.O.S. messages to be transmitted in emergencies . In other words , you ’re not proceed to require to essay portion out photos back and forth during a dive , but the researchers also created their own networking protocol for the app , which allows up to 60 user to communicate under water in the same radical Old World chat , which stand for a life under the sea is no longer a sure fire way of life to escape your family ’s chaotic grouping electronic messaging .
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