The alarm device for preventing people from drowning, developed by the Zhoushan Juyang Technology Company in Zhoushan, East China’s Zhejiang province, is in trial use at a local swimming pool. [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

A technology company in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province recently developed an automatic alarm device to prevent swimmers or visitors from the risk of drowning.

According to Fang Dongping, general manager of the Zhoushan Juyang Technology Company, the device consists of a master device and a slave device. The slave device, worn by a swimmer or visitor, will send signals to the host device on the land if it senses any danger of drowning, and the host device will then make alarm sounds to warn the safety supervisor, who immediately gets notified if anyone is drowning.

Fang added that the device has different settings to meet the needs of different scenarios. For swimmers, signals will be sent after they dive in the water for more than 30 seconds; for visitors on a recreational fishing boat, the alarm will be immediately triggered when they fall into the water; for tourists on the bathing beach, the alarm will be triggered when they sink one to two meters deep.

Researchers demonstrate how the device works in the water base of the Zhejiang Ocean University. [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

A host device is equipped with 50 slave devices, said Fang.

As a famous island city, Zhoushan has many water sports activities, and therefore many drowning incidents have occurred. To solve this problem, the company started developing the alarm device half a year ago.

"Once a person faces any danger of drowning in the water, we can know and save lives immediately. That is the biggest benefit of the device," said Huang Yongliang, a professor at the Zhejiang Ocean University who contributed a lot to the R&D of the device.

Huang added that the device is now in trial use. He hopes that cooperation between the company and the university will be strengthened to enhance the device's performance.