PHOTO COURTESY OF SWIMSMART
Drownings on the Great Lakes are more frequent than we like to believe; in 2020 alone, 108 deaths were reported, up from 97 in 2019. Lifeguards and flag-warning systems aren’t always possible or efficient, and so two Michigan Technological University grads came up with a simpler technological solution: SwimSmart Warning Systems.
The SwimSmart beach warning system offers autonomous, real-time updates from the National Weather Service using a traffic-signal model and long-range 5G cellular generation, and can be wired into a building or operate from a standalone solar battery source, making it convenient for more remote beaches.
Helping swimmers exercise good judgment can help prevent drownings, and SwimSmart aims to do just that.
“Almost anyone knows to stay out of the water when waves are six feet or higher,” says Professor Andrew Barnard, director of Michigan Technological University’s Great Lakes Research Center who along with fellow MTU Husky Jacob Soter co-founded the system. “It’s the three-to-five footers that look deceptively fun. They’re the most deadly.”
The founders hope the system can also be useful in providing a continuous loop of information to feed back to the weather service to help form more accurate local reports and help in “dark spots” where forecasting tools are limited.
Two of Michigan’s busiest beaches — Frankfort and Muskegon — have already implemented the new SwimSmart system.
To learn more, visit mtu.edu.
