BIOS: Technology Means Business

For the first time in the UK, a computer-aided drowning detection system helped lifeguards detect and rescue a young drowning victim in Bangor Swimming Pool (North Wales).

The Gwynedd Council decided more than two years ago to install the Poseidon system as an additional measure to raise the level of safety for all swimmers. Poseidon serves as a lifeguard's 'third eye' to help prevent drowning tragedies in public, lifeguarded swimming pools.

The accident happened Wednesday, August 24, when a teenage girl, swimming at the water's surface, sank to the bottom of the pool at the deep end. Poseidon monitored potential distress, detected her immobilised at the pool bottom and within 3 seconds sounded the alarm to the lifeguard on duty, who rescued the victim and pulled her out of the water. She was resuscitated and taken to a hospital, where she recovered. The elapsed time of the entire incident was 62 seconds.

Poseidon alerts lifeguards that something suspicious is happening in real time, and notifies them of the exact location of the incident. François Marmion, General Manager of Vision IQ, the company which developed Poseidon, said that health organisations worldwide document hundreds of drownings and near-drownings every year, many in pools staffed with professional, certified lifeguards. 'It is virtually impossible for lifeguards to see everything that is happening in the pool all of the time, given the warm, noisy and crowded environment in which they typically work'.

Poseidon is a computer-aided drowning detection systems designed to work alongside human lifeguards. Already in service or being installed in more than 120 pools in Europe, North America, Japan and soon in Australia, Poseidon is a computer vision surveillance system that recognises texture, volume and movement within a pool.

Comprised of an advanced camera network that continually surveys the pool and a specialised software system that analyses, in real-time, the trajectories of swimmers, the system can alert lifeguards in the first seconds of a potential accident to the exact location of the swimmer in danger.