Signals From Ground Zero

Are innovations in handset batteries possible from the Sept. 11 tragedy?

Days after the attack, wireless carriers and vendors banded together to form the Wireless Emergency Response Team (WERT). Engineers from all over the wireless industry came together in the hope that, by locating wireless signals with special testing equipment, they could find survivors.

Several engineers at Lucent, WERT's organizer, thought it might be possible to use basic testing equipment and directional antennas to detect wireless phone signals from below the debris. This standard testing equipment normally is used to detect interference at cell sites and base stations. By connecting the equipment to directional antennas, the equipment only would pick up signals from one direction — the rubble, said Frank Briamonte, Lucent corporate media relations manager.

“One of our guys had a brother in the operations department for the NYPD,” Briamonte said. “He called his brother, who related the idea to NYPD. They called and said to come down and help.”

On Wednesday, the first team of wireless carriers and vendors arrived at Ground Zero. The engineers took preliminary measurements and began testing and searching, but no signals were found. By Thursday, FEMA caught wind of WERT's effort, and the two groups began working hand-in-hand.

“The equipment we brought down on Wednesday was too big and bulky to get real close, but by Friday we had smaller, more portable equipment that allowed us to shoot down into holes,” Briamonte said.

Emotions ran high on Friday when the team caught a few signals, but those signals were traced to wireless phones that were in use on the ground by rescue workers. WERT and FEMA worked together throughout the weekend, and WERT ceased efforts on Monday at FEMA's request.

Despite WERT's efforts, no survivors were found based on their wireless handsets' signals. The key reason is that most handset batteries likely had gone dead several days after the attacks, and WERT only could search for signals from live handsets. In an effort to extend battery life, wireless carriers in New York City changed their network parameters so that cellular-phone signals would register less often in the network, which resulted in less stress on handset batteries, Briamonte said.

Even so, this unique situation put high strain on handset batteries, said Isidor Buchmann, Cadex spokesperson.

“With the surrounding repeaters down, and the cell phones under massive rubble, higher signals are needed to enable communications with the repeater,” he explained. “This requires more battery power from the cell phone. Even in ideal conditions, the battery would be dead (several days later).”

In standby mode, it's difficult to say how long batteries would have lasted. Some phones may have been partially charged, while others had full battery life. According to Mary Koral, Sanyo spokesperson, wireless-phone batteries can last anywhere from one to four days, depending on the phone and usage.

“The battery life on these phones varies greatly,” added Alexa Graf, AT&T spokesperson. “Some can't get through a day, while others can go three or four. Overall, most will last several days if fully charged and not used.”

Harter (betsyharter@aol.com) is a freelance writer based in Athens, GA.