Now, an app to locate lost objects in sea

Anything lost at Sea? Here is a mobile app that will help quickly locate. From lost boats to missing fisherfolk, a total of 64 different types of objects can be searched by this mobile app developed by the Hyderabad-based, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS).

Called SARAT (The Search and Rescue aid Tool), the app will be available for download from Google Play Store. It will be useful to the Coast Guard, Navy and Coastal Security Personnel to drastically cut down their search and rescue operations time. Which in turn will mean minimising loss to life & property.

According to SC Shenoi, Director INCOIS, “The SARAT mobile app is a versatile & efficient tool, as conducting search and rescue operations at sea is extremely challenging and can be compared to the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack”.

He said the app would be compatible with over 90 per cent of Android-based handsets in use. Its accuracy has been validated using networks of drifting buoys and other instruments of the Ministry at various locations. There are ongoing efforts to integrate the app with INSAT satellite system so that real time transmission and relay of information can be possible, he added.

The app was developed at the laboratories of the Institute here a couple of years ago and a web format was released last year.

Giving an example of its proven application, the INCOIS Director said the system assisted in the recovery of the Coast Guard’s missing Dornier aircraft off Chennai in 2015. The need for search and rescue operations arise during bad weather over the high seas, especially when fisher folk venture out and their vessels capsize.

Users can select a specific point where the person or object was last seen using the App’s interactive map or they can select a nearby coastal location, approx distance travelled and bearing angle so that the ‘last seen’ point is calculated. The most possible Search Area is then generated and relayed in map form as well as a text message. It can predict the most probable search area for up to five days.

The most probable ‘Search Area’ is generated and relayed in map form as well as a text message. The rescuer can share his GPS location in the app to calculate his closest route to easily reach the Search Area. To avoid connectivity issues the rescuer may use the SARAT app in advance while still on land, to determine the Search Area and then download the generated approach route.

The app will help ensure quick action and make the system available to all. The mobile app was formally launched in New Delhi by Rajendra Singh, Chairman of the National Maritime Search and Rescue Board and Director General, Indian Coast Guard on Monday.

Request forms and generated responses have been provided in local languages of all Indian coastal States so that fishermen can easily use it to search when their fellow fishermen are in distress. .

COMMENT NOW