Maritime Rescue will test its new intelligent rescue and pollution control system at sea, iSar, in the Canary Islands this month, which, among other innovations, will allow the automatic detection of people who have fallen into the sea during the night.
This was explained to EFE this Tuesday by the head of the air service of the public business entity, Néstor Perales, who stressed that iSar is a "very brave" innovation project co-financed by 85% with European Regional Development Feder funds, which has involved an investment of 21 million euros to "improve the overall response of Maritime Rescue in three challenges".
In order to optimize searches at sea, Salvamento will introduce artificial intelligence into the sensors carried by its air and sea assets, so that they can automatically detect castaways day and night, a pioneering achievement in the world, he said.
These intelligent sensors will also serve to detect pollution spills on the sea surface, control emissions from ships at sea and also harmful and dangerous atmospheres before undertaking a rescue, which will provide greater safety for the professionals who carry them out.
The iSar project will also make it possible to work with new platforms, such as unmanned aircraft, such as the 200-kilo helicopter that will be based in the south of Gran Canaria and can be boarded on the new Maritime Rescue tug, currently under construction.
In addition, this initiative will provide "a great competitive advantage" to this public business entity, created in 1992 and which has a staff of 1,400 professionals who have helped rescue 682,000 people, as it will allow the creation of a real-time communications network that will operate on the high seas.
Currently, the Salvamento resources, when they go out to an emergency, are "as if isolated" because their sensors collect information but it is not transmitted in real time, until the resources reach their bases, this information cannot be recovered and that will change from satellite communications and new command and control platforms, so that anything detected by these sensors quickly reaches the coordination centers and crisis cabinets.
The iSar project will premiere in the Canary Islands, where next week it is planned to start testing drone cameras, boats, satellite communications and the command and control consoles that have been developed.