UK: Tritech’s StarFish Sonar Sets Standard in Search & Rescue Missions

StarFish Seabed Imaging Systems, the shallow water, sidescan sonar system from Tritech, is proving to be the standard Search and Rescue (SAR) tool.

StarFish has been successful in a SAR operation for body recovery. Where other sonars have failed to locate the missing person, StarFish 990F’s high resolution imagery was able to lead the rescuers to recover the missing body, a sailor who had drowned and had been missing for over 10 years.

StarFish demonstrations at the Dublin Water Rescue Conference in October 2011 generated strong interest from the SAR community. The meeting brought together key SAR professionals as well as underwater technology companies and included Tritech, SeaBotix, manufacturers of SARbot™, the underwater and surface water search and rescue package, and the Irish Coast Guard.

StarFish Seabed Imaging Systems are the most portable, high-performing and easily operated side scans on the market. StarFish is available as an entry level system (450F), higher resolution (452F) and a higher frequency & resolution (990F) system, offering users a variety of options depending on their specifications.

Derek Flanagan, Divisional Controller, Irish Coast Guard comments:

“Searching for a submerged victim can be long, frustrating and dangerous for our boat teams, Police and Navy Divers. Using the StarFish side scan sonar will enable the Irish Coast Guard to search large areas relatively quickly and safely, adding an extra dimension to our search team’s capability.”

StarFish systems are an ideal tool for shallow water surveys through the application of Compressed High Intensity Radar Pulse (CHIRP) and digital-signal processing (DSP) techniques. The sonars are operated with ease, offering true plug-and-play technology, powered by user-friendly StarFish Scanline software. A Software Development Kit (SDK) is also available from the StarFish website to allow ease of integration into the users own software package.

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Subsea World News Staff , March 09, 2012;  Image: Tritech