Beach Warning Tower Network for Real-Time Hazard Alerts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing beach safety systems are inefficient and resource-intensive, often relying on manual flag changes that fail to accurately reflect real-time weather conditions, leading to high costs and increased drowning risks due to rip currents and other hazards.
Innovation Solution
A beach safety system (BSDS) utilizing advanced weather data, sensors, and a rules engine to provide real-time alerts through visual and audible warnings, integrated with a network of devices including zone emergency towers, cameras, and smart buoys, connected via various communication protocols to ensure timely and accurate safety information dissemination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If manual flag changing is used to signal beach conditions, then the system is simple and low-cost, but the response time is slow and resource consumption is high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical manual flag changing system with an automated electronic system that uses sensors, processors, and electronic display devices to automatically monitor and communicate beach conditions, eliminating the need for human intervention in real-time condition assessment and signaling
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service operation where sensors automatically detect beach conditions, the processor automatically evaluates safety status, and the display devices automatically signal warnings without requiring human operators to continuously monitor or manually change flags based on changing conditions
2Area of stationary object
If more flags are deployed to cover all beach zones, then coverage is improved, but the cost of resources to change flags increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses electronic display devices that can be viewed from multiple locations simultaneously, creating virtual copies of the warning signal across different beach zones rather than requiring physical flags to be manually positioned and changed at each location, thereby reducing the quantity of physical signaling elements needed
3Measurement precision
If weather station sensors are located several miles away, then the system structure is simpler, but the measurement precision of beach conditions is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the monitoring system into multiple distributed sensor units positioned at specific locations around the beach, with each sensor independently measuring local conditions and transmitting data to a central processor, allowing precise local measurements without requiring a single complex centralized system
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces wireless communication transmitters as intermediaries between the sensors and the central processing system, allowing sensor data to be transmitted remotely without requiring physical connection or centralized sensor housing, thereby simplifying the overall system structure while maintaining measurement precision
4Productivity
If manual flag changing is used, then the system is easier to operate, but the productivity of safety information dissemination is low
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical flag changing operation with an automated electronic system where sensors continuously monitor conditions, the processor automatically evaluates safety status, and display devices automatically signal warnings, dramatically increasing the productivity of safety information dissemination without requiring manual intervention
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables continuous monitoring and real-time signaling through automated electronic systems that operate without interruption as conditions change, whereas manual flag changing involves discrete, interrupted actions with delays between condition changes and signal updates, thereby increasing the continuity and productivity of safety information dissemination
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed in this document are beach safety devices, beach safety systems, and methods of use referred herein as BSDS. The BSDS utilizes various connected, electronic tools that improve the safety, operational efficiency, and emergency response time of a designated beach. In one form, the BSDS utilizes a visual warning system utilizing a colored warning light language. The BSDS comprises at least one central command tower CCT having various combinations of warning lights, audio generator, an emergency button, a life ring handle detector, and a beach monitoring module to process and initiate a response to beach condition data and emergency signals. Some embodiments further comprise one or more zone emergency towers networked with the CCT that are spread across the beach front or pier to extend the safety coverage across the beach. Other BSDS peripherals include a life ring node, a modular buoy node, a sensor buoy node.