Winning Chronicle of Visonary Innovators-Survivor Location Broadcast System for Enhanced Maritime Search & Rescue Operations| FYDP Fall 2024, Group 1(ATC 01)

                       -The core challenge was to create a system that could operate reliably in the open sea, far from any cell towers or internet access. This solution is a self-sufficient Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) built using LoRa (Long Range) technology. This approach creates a flexible, self-healing “mesh” of communication. Instead of relying on a single, powerful (and power-hungry) beacon, the whole system uses multiple low-power nodes that can relay information to one another, dramatically extending the communication range and battery life. After analyzing multiple designs, Group 01 chose this UHF mesh network over a traditional peer-to-peer VHF system because it proved far more cost-effective and offered a vastly superior battery life—a critical factor in a 24-hour+ rescue scenario. The system is comprised of three main components: The Victim Beacon: A Life-Saving Watch; The Network: Digipeaters; The Rescuer’s Hub: Mission Control Unit & GUI.  The Victim Beacon  system is a simple, wearable digital watch for the survivors. They designed it this way for everyday usability—if it’s practical, people will wear it. In an emergency, this watch becomes a lifeline. It goes beyond simple tracking by incorporating a suite of biometric sensors to monitor the victim’s heart rate, body temperature, and oxygen saturation. This vital data is transmitted directly to rescuers, allowing them to assess a victim’s condition remotely and prioritize rescue efforts for those most in need. To keep the watch small and light, the group members offloaded the main communication and GPS hardware to a small “pocket router,” which pairs with the watch via ESP-NOW wireless protocol. The Network System is a series of Digipeaters is the backbone of the project’s network. These are low-cost, solar-compatible relay nodes that can be installed on fishing vessels, buoys, or other boats. When a victim’s watch sends a distress signal, these Digipeaters automatically pick it up and relay it across the mesh network, hopping from node to node until it reaches a rescuer. The Rescuer’s Hub means the rescue team carries a Mission Control Unit (MCU), which acts as the base station. We developed a custom “Victim Data Visualizer”—a graphical user interface (GUI) that runs on a laptop connected to the MCU. This dashboard provides rescuers with complete situational awareness. They can see each victim’s precise GPS location plotted on a map and, crucially, view their live vital signs. Rescuers can also remotely trigger a buzzer on the victim’s device, helping them pinpoint survivors in low visibility or at night. Group 01 subjected the prototype to a series of rigorous field tests to validate its performance. The system successfully met its core objectives: Battery Life: The subsystems demonstrated the ability to last well beyond the 24-hour “golden day” requirement, with the mesh network design proving exceptionally power-efficient. Vital Signs Accuracy: When tested against commercial-grade medical devices, our watch’s sensors proved highly accurate, showing an average error of just 0.62% for temperature and 0.55% for oxygen saturation. Network Performance: The LoRa-based mesh network demonstrated stable hop-to-hop communication, low latency, and reliability even with multiple nodes active. The project’s innovative approach and potential for real-world impact were recently validated when it was awarded First Prize at the Fall 2024 Final Year Design Project Showcase, selected from a competitive field of seven other teams. This work demonstrates that a low-cost, locally-developed system can provide the robust, life-saving capabilities that are currently inaccessible to Bangladesh’s maritime community. The group is now focused on refining the design for mass production, developing a fully waterproof, IP-rated enclosure, and integrating automatic distress detection.