Students make lifebuoys to find victims' locations

Two students from the University of Technical Education (University of Danang ) created a life buoy that can automatically find victims by communicating between the buoy and a bracelet using GPS technology.

The product was researched by Tran Van Phuc and Dang Thanh Son, 4th year students of the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics, since August 2022 with the goal of creating a smart buoy, using technology to replace traditional life buoys in searching for victims.

Team leader Tran Van Phuc said the smart buoy is designed with a GPS device that can communicate with the user's bracelet to send a signal to help the buoy actively determine the location of the victim to rescue without the need for control.

Students make lifebuoys to find victims by themselves — Tran Van Phuc introduces products at a fishing port in Da Nang. Video : *NVCC*

The buoy is made of composite fiber, U-shaped, can be hung on the side of a boat or the shore of a lake, river... and is anchored by an electromagnetic lock. The product has two electric motors attached to the tail of the buoy, and can reach a maximum speed of 20 km per hour. The user's bracelet is equipped with a pressure sensor and GPS to determine the location of the victim.

When a person falls into the water, reaching a preset threshold, the pressure sensor will send information to the control circuit. The GPS system is also equipped on the buoy. Two GPS signals will be sent to the central control circuit, comparing the location to activate the nearest buoy to automatically find the victim. At that time, the nearest buoy automatically unlocks the electromagnetic latch to find the victim for rescue through the location on GPS.

The lifebuoy was tested by the team at the fishing port to understand the needs of fishermen. Photo: NVCC — The lifebuoy was tested by the team at the fishing port to understand the needs of fishermen. Photo: *NVCC*

The team tested the product at a fishing port in Da Nang in July to evaluate the device's performance. The team had fishermen wear the bracelet and dip it into the water to test the system's ability to activate. As a result, the device reached victims within a 180-meter radius in two minutes under conditions of small waves and light winds.

The requirements of rescue equipment ensure high readiness in case of an incident. Therefore, Phuc and Son built a mobile application to manage all information of the life buoy such as buoy location, operating status, battery life, phone numbers of local emergency units... This helps ensure that the product is always ready to operate well when needed.

However, according to Phuc, when operating in an ocean environment, with a GPS system, the ability to receive signals is delayed, affecting the ability to rescue. The group plans to test radio communication to overcome this problem. In addition, when operating at sea, with the current engine, it is difficult to meet the speed when the environment is affected by large waves, strong winds... The group plans to invest in an engine with higher power to operate stably in the ocean environment.

Image of the group's active life buoy design. Photo: NVCC — Image of the group's active life buoy design. Photo: *NVCC*

Master Do Hoang Ngan My, lecturer of the Department of Control and Automation Engineering Technology, University of Technical Education (University of Danang) highly appreciated the group's idea. The group created a smart buoy capable of proactive rescue with high automation, without the need for an operator. However, the research is being tested on one buoy, not a system of multiple buoys. Thus, the group needs to build a common monitoring model for the entire system of multiple buoys to ensure readiness and accuracy during operation.

In addition, Master My believes that product testing needs to be done many times in situations as close to reality as possible to adjust the design and features of the lifebuoy to suit each different rescue environment.

Ha An

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