Extra functionality in a PLB? (student research)

Good morning,

I’m looking for a few opinions here to help with research for a project I’m currently doing.

I am an industrial Design student from Loughborough University. The idea for the project is to make developments on existing Personal Locator beacons for use when the user may not be capable of using it themselves.

Although I am a keen climber and mountaineer, I haven’t ever been in a situation which I feel would warrant carrying a PLB, so hopefully I can get some insights from some of you with more experience (any opinions are welcome!).

I’m looking into functionality that could be added to the device to increase the physical interaction with it. Being an automatic PLB (albeit with manual controls as well) I don’t really have any design requirements for the unit- it could just be a box with a button on.

Any opinions on what would be interesting/vital/helpful to add to the device are appreciated.

what would YOU find useful?

(Note: These extras can be run off a separate power source from the main battery)

Any input is greatly appreciated

I'm not sure what use the automatic notification would serve: if someone and their partner(s) is uncouncious then its unlikely rescue would arrive in time to prevent their deaths. No point risking lives for bodies.

Then there are major issues for assessing conciousness: how would you tie it to vital signs? Movement? What happens when the person sleeps?

In terms of functionality, the best example on the market is the Delorm Increach SE. It allows two-way text communtication, which helps lower risk to rescuers and better identifies the actual resources needed for the rescue.

So: two-way communication, a hard button keyboard, simple GPS functionality.

I knocked myself out riding my dirtbike in the woods when i was 17. I was riding a stream bed and tried to jump a log and it kicked my rear tire out and i hit my head (with helmet) against a large rock and knocked myself out. No idea how long i was out as I was alone, but i woke up on my back laying water... Perhaps a device that you are speaking of could be marketed to people who hunt/fish/climb etc. alone? I stopped doing many activities by myself after that because i realized how lucky i got. GPS, A Blinking Light, and a whistle would be sick. You could pop it in the brain pocket of any backpack then if you were out and people couldnt actually see you, the light would help (strobe)? As for how it would get triggered...i have no idea, you probably get paid a lot more to figure out real problems like that. ^_^. Cheers

Thanks for the responses, and apologies in the delay in replying.
The exact criteria it would measure are still being decided- as you mentioned there are issues with assessing consciousness and so the device probably wouldn't be able to monitor that. I cannot elaborate on the functionality at this stage (copyright reasons), but will update later on to gauge opinions.

Those suggestions are exactly what I'm looking for Foster, thankyou. Anything that could elaborate on what is good, isn't good and would be useful in a PLB is great.

Thanks for the insight Brett, that's also pretty helpful. I'll message you for some more information if that is OK.

Any more opinions are welcome.

Thanks

Also, have edited the original post slightly!