By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
February 8, 2010

In light of recent maritime disasters that plagued the many regions of the country in recent years, engineering students from the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) has developed a search and rescue device that will soon be deployed in Davao City.

The vessel SOS system, which bagged the second prize in last year’s 5th SWEEP (SMART Wireless Engineering Education Program) Excellence and Innovation Awards, works through an installed tracking system on the ship’s hull with a saltwater sensor that activates when the device is submerged underwater.

“A message is then sent to the base station—with visual GIS data outlining the exact location of the ship—through GSM transmission, alerting authorities of the ship’s situation,” explained Charese Olmoguez, an ECE (electronics and communications engineering) student at the ADDU who is part of the team that developed the device.

The system has been proposed to the local government of Davao City, through the championship of Councilor Leonardo Avila, to which it got nodding heads from local government executives, including Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

“But we had initial delays because we couldn’t find a vessel to test the system with,” Olmoguez said. They were eventually able to use a ship provided by the coast guard, which they have been running tests with since December with engineers from SMART.

As of writing, no final word is out yet regarding the target deployment date of the SOS system. “But we are networking with private corporations to be able to drive down the cost of the hardware,” remarked a SMART official. “Davao has an existing infrastructure for emergency response (through Rescue 911, the city’s 24-hour emergency response system). There’s already momentum that we can build upon.”

Olmoguez estimated the system to cost around P20,000 per unit. This consists of both the devices installed on the ship’s haul and the receiving system on the base station.

Olmoguez said she and her team—composed of Ann Marie Roselle Balinas, Flora May dela Cruz, and their mentor Engr. Marloue Pidor—have expanded their system to include land-based emergencies, outfitting a panic button instead of a saltwater sensor into the vanilla board.

Designed in 2008, the search and rescue system developed by ADDU students were entered into the 5th SWEEP Awards, responding to the theme “Strengthening Community-Based Emergency Management System.” SWEEP Awards is an annual competition of technology innovations designed by student-faculty teams of partner schools to benefit their respective communities.

This year’s SWEEP Awards saw the most number of entries from provincial school partners, with systems including: an SMS-based anti-car theft system; a coin-operated timing system for student registrants; a fish density detection system; an e-commerce website for SMEs; a land mapping system; a water supply management system; a barangay reporting system; and two election-related wireless systems.

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