At the 2019 WOWSA Ocean Fest in Redondo Beach in Southern California last October, several 10 km marathon swimmers tried out the WAVE DDS trackers on their heads [see their reactions in video below].
Co-founder Mark Caron and his team at WAVE Drowning Detection Systems have developed the next generation of open water swimming technology, an innovative wireless real-time individual swimmer tracker that can be used on and in the water. The unique system determines when swimmers are at risk of drowning and immediately alerts lifeguards, volunteers, officials, and people nearby so they can investigate, intervene and conduct an emergency rescue, if necessary.
The system works in swimming pools, lakes, oceans, and rivers. The entire alert system is based on facial submersion. That is, if the swimmer’s face is in the water for over a certain period of time (e.g., 10 seconds), the system alerts lifeguards and people in the area. The system remains unaffected by water type, depth, clarity, glare, bubbles, marine life or other environmental factors that can adversely impact other technologies.
“Because the coastal course stretched 5 km along Redondo Beach, Mark put the central hub on the lead escort boat and the lifeguards could manage swimmers within a 300m radius around the boat throughout this real-world test on the Pacific Ocean,” recalled Steven Munatones. “It worked as advertised and really provided an extra layer of security, above and beyond lifeguards both onshore and offshore.”
Caron explained that the impetus of the company was to dramatically reduce the incidence of preventable, senseless drowning through the use of technology, education and public awareness.
Caron and Vice President Adam Nuhfer discussed the WAVE DDS on today’s edition of WOWSA Live with Munatones.
For more information on WAVE DDS, visit www.wavedds.com.
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