Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Are You The "Target"? Who's On Point?- GPS implant designed for humans 'tested'

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 23:32:01 -0400

Are You The "Target"? Who's On Point?- GPS implant designed for humans 'tested' 
17:04 16 May 03
Will Knight

A prototype GPS tracking device, designed to be implanted inside a person, has been successfully tested, claims its manufacturer. However, technical experts are questioning whether the system could really work.
The disc-shaped "personal location device" measures 6.35 centimetres in diameter and 1.27 centimetres in depth - roughly the same size as a pace-maker.
Currently it consists of an antenna to receive signals from the satellite constellation that comprises the Global Positioning System and an induction-based power-recharging system. The latter should make it possible to recharge the device's batteries from outside the user's body.
Eventually the device will need to connect to a cell phone network if it is to relay the satellite-determined position of its host to another person.
Applied Digital Solutions (ADS) hopes the device will appeal to people who might be a potential hostage target, as well explorers and mountaineers who risk being stranded in remote locations. The company says it should be possible to shrink the overall size of the device by at least half.

Weak signal
Richard Langley, a GPS expert at the University of New Brunswick, in Canada, has followed the development of ADS's technology for some time. "I'm still sceptical," he says.
"To get the entire GPS receiver, and in particular the antenna, under the skin is going to be extremely difficult," he told New Scientist. "Given the current strength of the GPS signals, which are extremely weak, you can only shrink the antennas down so far until you don't have enough sensitivity."
Langley points out that the smallest commercially available GPS antennas are around two centimetres in diameter. "Surely they're not suggesting that people have an operation to have a GPS receiver and a cell-phone put inside the chest cavity," he says.

Sub-dermal
ADS will not disclose details of its initial trials, but says both the GPS antenna and the power recharging component were tested. A company spokesman told New Scientist: "It is a sub-dermal device so it was tested in an appropriate manner to give us confidence it would work."
The scheme has already provoked controversy among civil liberty campaigners who are concerned about the privacy implications of such a technology. In the past some commentators have suggested children could be protected against abduction in this way.
The ADS spokesman defends the technology, saying people should be allowed to make decisions for themselves: "In certain situations the company believes people would consider this for security." The company is also developing satellite-tracking systems designed to be worn on the wrist.
17:04 16 May 03

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