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The "operational environment" of Nokia's patent-pending cell phone lightning detector. (Source: USPTO)
New patent aims to warn callers of impending lightning strikes

Finnish phone maker Nokia has applied for a U.S. patent on technology that will equip mobile handsets with the ability to detect lightning.

Lightning bolts typically produce radio waves in the frequency range of 10 Hz to 5 GHz. This often produces pops and crackles audible on AM/FM radio receivers and TV sets. Nokia plans to provide software in the phone to detect and analyze those signals, providing information to handset users on their proximity to approaching lightning strikes.

According to the patent application, the Nokia system would use two adjacent radio channels to detect the atmospheric disturbances, allowing the phone to provide its owner with as much as 10 minutes warning before a thunderstorm actually becomes visible at the user's location.

"There is a large population that would benefit from such a safety feature," the application states. "To some persons, it might provide only a nice-to-know everyday knowledge. To a considerable number of persons, however, storm and lightning originated threats have significant implications in the form of an increased risk, loss of property or even fatal consequences."

Nokia claims that an accurate lightning predictor would be particularly useful to people who spend a significant amount of time outdoors, allowing them "to take suitable safety measures in time, for instance seek shelter." Aviators would also be a valuable target market for the weather-enabled phones.


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Is there a need for this??
By ZimZum on 5/25/2007 1:13:51 AM , Rating: 5
Considering that there is about a 0.0002% of getting struck by lightning at any given time. This feature is probably slightly less useful than a Goblin detector.




RE: Is there a need for this??
By gigahertz20 on 5/25/2007 1:17:36 AM , Rating: 5
Spiderman could have used a goblin detector.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By oTAL on 5/25/2007 6:07:58 AM , Rating: 2
The key words here are convergence and flexibility.
Spiderman has an all purpose "danger detector", much more useful that separate goblin detector, lizard detector, sand detector, octopus detector, explosion detector, etc.
When Nokia invents a working and reliable "danger detector" I'll buy it even if it costs $10,000.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By glitchc on 5/25/2007 12:42:21 PM , Rating: 3
The danger detector wasn't used even once in Spiderman 3. Just another nail in the coffin of a particularly bad movie.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By JAlbatross on 5/25/2007 6:16:27 PM , Rating: 1
It's called "Spidey Sense".

Please keep your comic book character power references a little more up to date.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By Smoza on 5/25/2007 1:23:21 AM , Rating: 1
Nokia have run out of things to cram into there phones, thus more useless features.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By soydios on 5/25/2007 1:27:18 AM , Rating: 5
Let's say I'm sitting at home one evening, reading DailyTech, when all of a sudden, my Nokia cell phone tells me that there have been lightning strikes in my area. Even though I do have a surge protector, it would be nice to get the advance notice, and just unplug all my electronics around the house.
Or if I'm out playing golf, it would be convenient for my personal safety to know that I should seek out the nearest lightning shelter, before getting all tingly during my backswing.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By Archmaille on 5/25/2007 3:12:02 AM , Rating: 3
I don't play golf... and my UPS has a $100k warranty on anything plugged into it so if the lightening does fry my comp I get a new one! Other than that I don't think that I've ever unplugged everything in my house when lightning is striking... nor do I need a cell phone to tell me when I could just look out the window.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By dude on 5/25/2007 4:09:17 AM , Rating: 2
Just a side note: Do you have receipts for ALL your items plugged into the UPS? Well then, you're going to have to prove it somehow. Also, depreciation may factor into it so your $1,500 computer may only be worth $500 after you purchased it 2 months ago.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By borowki on 5/25/2007 5:44:42 AM , Rating: 2
Eh, I suggest you read the fine-print in your UPS booklet. I seriously doubt manufacturers would offer such a guarantee. No device can protect against a direct lightning strike. Think about it. If a lightning bolt manages to jump across an air gap of a hundred miles, it certainly isn't going to be stopped by the opening from a blown fuse.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By AnnihilatorX on 5/25/2007 7:45:09 AM , Rating: 2
Not quite correct. Lightning can be easily diverted with a low resistance to ground channel (earth wire). A surge protector should have a ground channel to divert the electricity to ground safely


RE: Is there a need for this??
By borowki on 5/25/2007 11:14:15 AM , Rating: 2
A surge protector can divert the spike current induced by lightning. The bolt itself is too powerful.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By Justin Case on 5/26/2007 1:14:17 AM , Rating: 2
If you think you can "easily" divert the amount of electricity in a lightning using a household earth wire, then you don't understand some fundamental points about how electricity flows, and the relative orders of magnitude involved.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By bldckstark on 5/25/2007 12:52:13 PM , Rating: 3
A hundred miles? The link below lists the distance of the average ground striking 30kA lightning bolt at 41 meters.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleUR...


By elpresidente2075 on 5/25/2007 8:02:11 PM , Rating: 2
OR you could just look at the sky and use the rest of your senses to figure out that its about to start thunder/lightning...

But it is a neat technology that may have more usefulness than this single implementation that we have here. What that other use would be, I don't know, but I'm sure its there.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By Archmaille on 5/25/2007 3:02:13 AM , Rating: 6
Better yet they could make the phone glow blue when Orcs are near by, because it is in those times that you must be extra careful.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By QuantumPion on 5/25/2007 10:28:07 AM , Rating: 2
This is the funniest thing I have read in weeks, thanks for the roflmao @ work.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By Munkles on 5/25/2007 10:31:00 AM , Rating: 5
I'd buy it

I can see it now they'd call it the Nokia Sting©


RE: Is there a need for this??
By borowki on 5/25/2007 5:14:18 AM , Rating: 2
One has to remember that statistic figures apply to the theortical "average" person. The risk to an individual is obviously dependent on amount of exposure. An avid gulfer has a fairly significant chance of being struck. A guy who reads Spiderman comics all day in his parent's basement, on the other hand, probably has zero chance.


RE: Is there a need for this??
By GaryJohnson on 5/25/2007 1:40:50 PM , Rating: 2
Then there's this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/5106510.stm which says:

quote:
If you're struck by lightning on its own it will flash over your body but if you're holding a phone it will internalise and cause much worse injuries.


Hot topic for Nokia
By jabber on 5/25/2007 4:58:27 AM , Rating: 6
Ties in nicely with this feedback and the article that preceeded it.

Basically about how Nokia and the other phone makers have lost their way with what the customer actually wants.

http://www.theregister.com/2007/05/23/mobile_mailb...




I think it would be nice.
By redbone75 on 5/25/2007 7:09:16 AM , Rating: 3
If you never have to use this feature it would be a wonderful thing, but no one wants to be in the position of wishing they would have known ahead of time. I lost a good friend a little over a year ago to a lightning strike. He and his friends were out playing baseball when it happened. They were finishing up their game because of an approaching storm. Unfortunately, the calm sky led them into a false sense of security. I personally wish that he and his friends would have had something like this to warn them that the danger was a little closer at hand.

I agree that there are many features of mobile phones that seem quite useless and ridiculous, but any feature that is implemented that is meant to help save lives and avoid injury is quite welcome to me.




RE: I think it would be nice.
By DublinGunner on 5/25/2007 7:55:55 AM , Rating: 3
I can see it now, the phone beeps, 'lightning approaching', but as you happen to be nowhere near any conductive source, the lightning strikes your phone................


Can't help but think....
By Archmaille on 5/25/2007 3:08:42 AM , Rating: 4
I can just imagine some guy walking down the street on a rainy day (because we all like to walk around in the rain talking on our cell phones) with his phone to his ear when all of a sudden he's on his butt with a dazed look on his face wondering what the hell just happened. When all of a sudden his phone starts beeping so he looks down at it to a message that say's "You've just been struck by lightning, this is a courtesy message from Nokia, seek shelter or stay put because we all know lightning never strikes the same spot twice. (which is really a myth but since you just got struck with lightning you might want to stay put for a min)"




RE: Can't help but think....
By Gatt on 5/25/2007 3:55:23 AM , Rating: 1
If you get hit by lightning walking down the street in a rainstorm, odds are very good that it's going to be the corenor reading that text after cutting it out of the burned flesh from your corpse.


Verison already has this feature
By jak3676 on 5/25/2007 9:08:05 AM , Rating: 4
Anytime I'm driving near a storm, my phone gets full of static. Come to think of it, my car radio has this feature too.




Very nice
By JoeBanana on 5/27/2007 8:09:55 AM , Rating: 2
I think this is a very good feature. I would like to know how far away the thunderstorm is. But Nokia must make this feature cheap.(which shouldn't be hard from the hardware view) Keep up the good work Nokia.




RE: Very nice
By peternelson on 6/2/2007 2:28:14 AM , Rating: 2
I downloaded an applet onto my Jornada pda where you tap the screen when you SEE the lightning, then again when you hear the thunder. It displays time in seconds and calculates the distance between you and the strike. I think this could easily be incorporated by nokia.

By the way just so it can't be patented: The phone could use its mic to listen and its camera to see the flash of lightning. Could thus leave out the screen tapping. I suppose to augmemt this with some dsp on the radio spectrum pops would give both long and short range coverage. However I'd advise not holding your phone during a storm for your safety, and to prevent possible damage to the electronics of the phone, probably better to turn it off anyway.


Sounds quite handy
By Darth Farter on 5/25/2007 1:16:50 AM , Rating: 2
For the guys that plan to do something with an iron pole in an open field...

FYI nice but pretty much useless gimmick imo




Excellent news
By UnFaZeD on 5/26/2007 12:43:42 AM , Rating: 2
I live in Singapore, where it rains as much as two or three times a day...and the incidence of lightning strikes is among the highest in the world...this would be a great tool to have to know when to stay indoors...




Tornado?
By typo101 on 5/27/2007 8:29:59 AM , Rating: 2
So everybody was quick to mention the fact that it's extremely unlikely somebody will get hit by lightning, but I think the customer base that would truly benefit from this could be those that live in tornado country. I don't live in such an area so I could be wrong and lighting doesn't follow tornados closely.

Also, there are many situations where there is equipment outside and 10 minutes warning before a rainstorm could save thousands of dollars.

There are plenty of non-ridiculous applications. As long as this doesn't make phones big or kill battery life, I think its great.




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