Automated Cellular Beach Safety Flag System

There are typically three flags: red, yellow, and green. Similar to the logic of a stoplight, the flag color reflects the water conditions. A high powered light with the same colors will complement the flag to increase visibility. With this warning system, swimmers can now make more informed decisions on whether or not to enter the water. The purpose of this project is to alleviate the demand for personnel to swap out beach safety flags. This is a tedious and redundant task that must be repeated multiple times a day to maintain flag accuracy. This project is designed to provide the means of instantaneously changing flags using a cellular connection. The flags can either be automatically changed using real, accurate data from the National Weather Service or manually by cellphone by personnel with the appropriate permissions (local firefighters, meteorologists, etc). Without needing to send someone to manually change the flags every day, the reoccurring financial burden on communities wil be somewhat alleviated. This may allow for more flags to be dispersed to less populated shorelines, increasing coverage and most importantly, safety. Taking the flagpole a step further by adding additional technology, the flagpole can collect weather data from the beach and send it back to the National Weather Service, which will help them better predict the weather. Better predictions means more accurate flags, further increasing safety!

This project is being developed under the Strategic Education through Naval Systems Experiences (SENSE) Enterprise. SENSE's mission is to enable the workforce of tomorrow to redefine the boundaries for air, land, sea, and cyber supremacy through experimental learning and discovery. Students will design, build, and test engineering systems with a focus on Navy applications in all domains: space, air, land, sea, and undersea. Get hands-on experiences with cutting-edge defense technologies that directly impact the safety and success of our armed forces. Prepare for civilian employment opportunities in Department of Defense research labs or with DoD contractors.