Safer cruise ships thanks to EU-funded research
When choosing their summer holidays, many European opt for a cruise, or use a ferry to get where they are going. A very important aspect of passenger shipping is safety. Thanks to EU-funded research, evacuating large passenger ships could be even smoother and safer in future. EU-funded researchers are also helping to design more stable cruise ships and ferries.
The three-year LYNCEUS project, which ends in early 2015, is demonstrating how low-power wireless technologies can help localise and track people onboard ships, providing essential information in cases of evacuation, and improve overboard search and rescue. The aim is to revolutionise current emergency management and ship evacuation practice.
“We have developed innovative wireless tags, which can be embedded into life jackets, so the location of people within the ship can be easily pinpointed,” said Dr. Anastasis Kounoudes, technical leader and CEO of SignalGeneriX, one of the project partners. “This will provide safety officers with the exact location of every passenger and crew member during an evacuation.” The technology can also be used to monitor the health of patients requesting to wear special bracelets, or help parents keep track of the location of their children on large cruise ships, which can carry thousands of passengers and crew. The researchers in the project have also developed a radar device able to detect the exact location of passengers who have fallen overboard.
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