Dissection of a Medallion doodad thingy

[Cruise-Crazzy]

I too have a pacemaker.  I was on the Regal beginning of April.  My understanding at least 6 inches away from pacemaker.  I purchased a clip with a string from Office Max for my belt loop to keep my Medallion on.  That system worked well.  Medallion was readily available and out of way.  I did not feel any adverse effects during the cruise.  The Ocean Medallion representatives on the ship were hesitant to say the Medallion could effect a pacemaker.  It is waterproof up to 3 meters.     

[beg3yrs]

Just want to make a couple of points here regarding the "magnet".

 

1) Tools are often magnetized themselves to make is simpler to pick up parts. Just because the medallion was attracted to the pliers doesn't mean the medallion was a magnet, maybe the pliers were. Has anyone tried to stick their medallion on the cabin wall or a refrigerator?

 

2) Yes, a coil can be used to make an electromagnet but, the power required to make an effective magnet from a tiny coil like that would be excessive and the tiny little battery in the medallion would be quickly drained. IMHO, that coil is more likely the antenna used by the medallion to send its information to nearby sensors.

 

So, those of you who are worried about pacemakers and credit cards, take heart (no pun intended...), the medallion is not likely to cause you any problems with credit cards. However, Princess is likely covering themselves with regard to pacemakers as the medallion is a very low-power transmitter and I'm sure they haven't tested all pacemakers to be sure there's no interference. Better to be safe rather than sorry regarding the pacemakers - until they are tested, keep that distance.

Edited April 20, 2019 by beg3yrs
Pacemaker clarification

[cruisingpeople]

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

Just want to make a couple of points here regarding the "magnet".

 Has anyone tried to stick their medallion on the cabin wall or a refrigerator?

 

Mine is on the refrigerator as we speak.

[voljeep]

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

until they are tested, keep that distance.

how do you do that in a crowded elevator ? - or just always take stairs ?

[cruisingpeople]

Went to edit previous post but was timed out. Wanted to add:

 

It has about half the "sticking power" compared to the ship magnets they sell on board in the boutiques.

[beg3yrs]

1 hour ago, cruisingpeople said:

Went to edit previous post but was timed out. Wanted to add:

 

It has about half the "sticking power" compared to the ship magnets they sell on board in the boutiques.

If it's an electromagnet, it will eventually lose its magnetism. If that doesn't happen, there's some kind of permanent magnet in the medallion. Still think the coil is an antenna.

[beg3yrs]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

how do you do that in a crowded elevator ? - or just always take stairs ?

As an earlier poster said, six inches from the medallion to the pacemaker should be good.

[Ep010835]

2 hours ago, cruisingpeople said:

 

Mine is on the refrigerator as we speak.

 

Being the curious sort, I just checked. Our last OM cruise was this past December. The OM device still retains enough magnetism to stick to my refrigerator. It sticks easily on either side or on its edge. 

[Colo Cruiser]

2 hours ago, cruisingpeople said:

 

Mine is on the refrigerator as we speak.

This is good to know Joe as my son has a VNS ( vagus nerve stimulator) implanted in his chest.

It is used to recognize possible onset seizures and block the crazy electrical signals to his brain. 

He uses a handheld magnet to activate/deactivate it by swiping it or holding it over the implanted device his chest. The implant is located just below the left collarbone area and just below the skin similar to a pacemaker. 

The device is also read and calibrated at the doctors office via a laptop.

[pablo222]

On 4/20/2019 at 6:16 AM, beg3yrs said:

Just want to make a couple of points here regarding the "magnet".

 

1) Tools are often magnetized themselves to make is simpler to pick up parts. Just because the medallion was attracted to the pliers doesn't mean the medallion was a magnet, maybe the pliers were.

 

This seems pretty baseless.

 

Maybe the medallion was balanced on the pliers, and the picture inverted...

 

Or superglued...

 

The original poster was nice enough to take the time to post the autopsy.

 

If you want to contradict him, perhaps you should have at least some basis...

 

 

Edited April 21, 2019 by pablo222

[Thrak]

On 4/19/2019 at 11:19 AM, golfb4cruzing said:

What would happen if you threw it overboard ? Would alarms sound and the ship circle back ??

 

I seriously doubt that would happen but, if they knew you threw it or you were seen, you would likely get kicked off the ship at the next port...

[Moose07]

Thank you so much for the pictures, it helps to get a true idea of how big it really is in regards to how I want to wear it.

[Ride-The-Waves]

On 4/16/2019 at 11:28 AM, CRUISEWITHH said:

Thank you for determining the device is magnetic.   I have a pacemaker and was worried about that because it means that I will have to keep it a great distanced from where my pacemaker is.

 

I couldn't get a straight answer from Princess techie's regarding that.

 

 

I don't have a pacemaker, however, was wondering about that very issue with the constantly broadcasting medallions.  Most similar broadcast systems come with warnings not to use close to pacemakers.  That Princess couldn't provide you with an answer is troubling! 

[AF-1]

Cell Phones can disrupt a pacemaker more than a small refrigerator magnet.  The ocean medallion magnet would be minimal interference with a pacemaker.  The link below was published this week.  If gives more insight for those who have pacemakers

 

https://facty.com/ailments/heart/living-with-a-pacemaker/1/

[denmarks]

It is an iBeacon that sells for about $15-$20. They probably get them for $5.

https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-BLE-iBeacon-BC037-iBeacon-configure/dp/B07FC5FMHW/ref=pd_bxgy_147_img_2/145-9114187-2919219?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07FC5FMHW&pd_rd_r=40e79b04-7d19-4754-8660-6ca106113b45&pd_rd_w=OXfts&pd_rd_wg=RyMex&pf_rd_p=a2006322-0bc0-4db9-a08e-d168c18ce6f0&pf_rd_r=BKA0XEBGB47N5A5ES8RZ&psc=1&refRID=BKA0XEBGB47N5A5ES8RZ

https://www.amazon.com/programmable-Battery-Bluetooth-eddystone-Technology/dp/B078N2B7RD/ref=sr_1_4?crid=16CJ42AIJ7LEG&keywords=ibeacon&qid=1566057082&s=gateway&sprefix=ibeaso%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-4

[bobby3334]

For those putting on your refrigerator have you considered thieves located a 1,000

feet away will be led directly to it and all of its contents?  Not to mention your house and its contents by advertising you have 

enough money to cruise.  

[AskOceanMedallion]

On 8/17/2019 at 9:23 AM, Ride-The-Waves said:

 

I don't have a pacemaker, however, was wondering about that very issue with the constantly broadcasting medallions.  Most similar broadcast systems come with warnings not to use close to pacemakers.  That Princess couldn't provide you with an answer is troubling! 

For anyone concerned about the Medallion's potential impact to any medical device, the Medallion includes magnets and radio frequency (RF) technologies that have been designed and manufactured RF standards set by the FCC. The levels of RF energy it contains is similar to other electronic devices. Because each medical device differs, we suggest you check directly with the manufacturer of your medical device and physician for guidance. 

 

 

[jondfk]

For those wondering how much the medallion thingy might cost, I'm fairly aware of the different varieties of RFID technology and would estimate that the circuitry involved here probably costs well less than a dollar.  The battery is very likely the most expensive single component, even that goes for no more than about $0.30 in volume.  There are far cheaper fully passive systems available but this is about as basic a system as you can make and have it be active (meaning broadcasting a signal).  If you have a toll tag in your car, you are basically using the same technology as Princess, a bit bigger battery, a bit more effective antenna, a few million more unique codes, but from the standpoint of remote reading quite similar.  

[Pierlesscruisers]

On 4/19/2019 at 11:19 AM, golfb4cruzing said:

What would happen if you threw it overboard ? Would alarms sound and the ship circle back ??

No, not unless wrapping the medallion in RF-blocking tape or having the medallion's battery die or some other such event would cause it to cause alarms to sound and the ship to circle back!

 

Tom

[Pierlesscruisers]

On 8/17/2019 at 8:55 AM, bobby3334 said:

For those putting on your refrigerator have you considered thieves located a 1,000

feet away will be led directly to it and all of its contents?  Not to mention your house and its contents by advertising you have 

enough money to cruise.  

 

There are no "contents" in the medallion. The medallion simply links to the computer on the ship where the data of that particular cruiser is stored. After that cruise is ended I would strongly suspect that the file containing all the info on the passengers on that cruise are moved to a storage area that is inaccessible to any of the applicable medallions (in addition to being multiple miles away from where that file is located!) Not only that but I suspect that the data is encrypted in the first place anyway.

 

Tom

[bobby3334]

18 minutes ago, Pierlesscruisers said:

ted!) Not only that but I suspect that the data is encrypted in the first place anyway.

 

Tom

I was making a joke Tom in the context of the discussion. Mike 

[Pierlesscruisers]

2 minutes ago, bobby3334 said:

I was making a joke Tom in the context of the discussion. Mike 

Ah, sorry 'bout that.  My error.

 

Tom

[bobby3334]

No problem.  Often on any site including CC something is said and there is no way of telling if they are joking.  There was a discussion about 

putting the OM on the refrigerator since apparently(I haven’t tested it) it is magnetic.  Mike 

[brianlojeck]

Because my thoughts here are based on the OP, I'm going to make this a reply here to keep the conversation together. First, a bit about me: I'm an electronics designer (FPGA Programmer) in the Aerospace industry, and I teach engineering courses at the university level. I also love new toys.

 

In the OP's photographs, you can see some of the parts on the circuit board. one of them, the one with it's part number in 3 rows, is in Nordic Semiconductor's nRF52832 line. That part is, doubtless, the heart of the medallion. It contains a microprocessor (a very tiny computer), bluetooth, RFID, and WiFi hardware in the same chip.

 

I have tried to get the medallion to talk to other bluetooth, RFID, and WiFi hardware, with no success. The uProc is likely looking for very specific patterns before it starts to communicate.

 

I am fairly certain they ship the medallions to the passenger so close to the sail-date because they want to make sure the battery doesn't run out while at sea. I'd be interested to see what the battery life is. I'm sure their 28 day round-trip to Tahiti is viable, but what about their 110 day round-the-world cruise?

 

The heart of the system is 4 elements:

1: they've dramatically increased ship-to-world network speed. I'm sure this is for data-sharing and data-collection purposes, like tracking where everybody is on-board at all times of the day, and using that data to analyze ship design.

2: MUCH better wifi throughout the ship. Basically, everywhere has a solid connection.

3: the medallion you carry

4: these sensors. In hallways they are set about every 20 yards, there is one in every room of every cabin (4 in my suite alone). I never looked for them in bars and dining joints, but I'm sure they are there... as well as in the pool areas.

 

In my testing, the sensors detect you when you get within about a yard of them. They cannot interpolate your position between sensors: if you watch your location as you walk down a hallway you'll see yourself "teleport" 20 yards at a time, not walk smoothly down the hallway.

 

My room door opened smoothly for me: it was always open by the time I got within two strides of my door.

 

Paying for things must be a pain in the butt: no crew member seemed to want to do it. On the Royal, the crew would just confirm your room number and name instead of having you "beep" the medallion.

 

I figure, one of two things are happening. Either:

1: the sensor broadcasts an ID number via bluetooth; the medallion receives the ID number, then re-broadcasts it using the ships vastly better WiFi to a central computer that uses the information to figure out where you are

OR

2: the medallion broadcasts an ID number via bluetooth; the sensor receives it and communicates with the central computer either via WiFi or hard-wired link

 

Chances are, they are using option 2, so that the most work is not done by the tiny disposable thing, but the Nordic chip has a lot of horsepower for such a simple job... so they may be saving that horsepower for something more complex or nefarious in the future.

 

Either way, the medallion's only real purpose is to help a computer on the ship find you. Everything else is done by phone apps, ship's systems, etc.

 

When it's all said and done, I liked that I could pre-fill out my boarding paperwork, and it was kind of neat having my door open*, but I miss the cruise cards. there's no serious benefit to the medallion to the user**, and they don't fit in my wallet onshore.

 

* This is a security weakness. If I stole your card, it would take A Long Time to test the card in every door, and I'd look suspicious. On the other hand, if I steal your medallion I only need to walk quickly through the ship, and listen for a door to unlock

 

** there are, though, serious data-mining benefits to Princess. I expect to see Vegas-like benefits systems, where people who spend more time out and about in bars and casinos get more and better offers from the cruise line.

[polmcs]

They have those circular sensors about every 10-15 feet or so in the Sanctuary. I had no problem ordering a drink via the app and having it delivered to me at my lounger! 😉