SBIR-STTR Award

Rip currents cause multiple drowning deaths each year as swimmers are often unaware of the location and strength of coastal currents. Currently, ocean safety officials do not have an affordable and reliable commercial system which can measure coastal currents. The goal of this Phase I study is to test a stereo camera system to measure the speed, direction, and location of alongshore currents and rip currents. The proposed stereo camera system will employ cameras mounted on pan-tilt systems for flexible use. As an additional tool, a smart phone application will be tested to measure currents over a limited area. Test measurement will be carried out with different camera configurations and for different beach settings. The creation of the new stereo camera system and the smart phone application will give ocean safety officials and beach goers a way to measure coastal currents before entering the water hopefully preventing dangerous events. Best practices for using the new observations will be studied as part of an expert and general public meeting and recommendation will be documented.

Inexperienced swimmers are often unaware of the presence of treacherous rip currents and this leads to many drowning deaths each year. Even when signs are posted, the public probably does not clearly understand the danger. It would be more informative if the public were ale to maps of the location, speed, and direction of coastal currents. Ocean safety officials are using various methods to inform the public of these dangers but at this time they do not have an easy way to map out the location, speed, and direction of coastal currents. New sensors are needed to address this need. The goal of this Phase 2 project is to develop camera systems which will measure the location, speed, and direction of coastal currents. Three approaches will be developed including a cell phone application, a single camera system, and a stereo camera system. When mounted on a pan-tilt system (with accurate encoders), it will be possible to measure distant coastal currents in a quantitative manner. The data stream can also be made compatible with existing regional protocols.