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Burnham
Hovercraft Home Page > Burnham Hovercraft
News Archive
August
20, 2005
Military
sound system tested by hovercraft and Coastguard teams
A
powerful new communication system used by the military and police
to provide advice and warnings to people several hundred metres
away was tested by Burnham-On-Sea's marine rescue services
this week.
The
Medium Range Acoustic Device (MRAD) could be used to communicate
with casualties in mud and sea rescues along the Somerset coast
if it were to be purchased in the future.
 The
system was set-up near Brean Down Fort this week to let the Coastguard
and BARB, the group that runs the hovercraft, carry out informal
tests by communicating with crew members more than 500 metres
away at the trig point on the top of the Down without the need
for conventional radios or handsets.
The
tests were carried out during a two-hour long search and rescue
exercise on the Down.
Andy
Philips, a director at Weston-based Audio Nation, the company
that is distributing the equipment in the UK, explained how the
hailing system works.
"It
turns sound into a beam effect and lets people throw their voices
over several hundred metres. It's unaffected by wind noise or
bad weather conditions - the sound of someone's voice will still
get through."
"It's
already used on a day-to-day basis in Iraq by the military to
clearly communicate with with civilians, some of whom are hostile,
from a safe distance.
"It
could be used here by the hovercraft or Coastguard to send warnings
to casualties in mud or on the sea, advising them that help is
on the way or offering them safety advice."
Pictured
at the top of this page are Mark Webster and Andy Phillips of
Audio Nation.
RELATED
LINKS:
Official
Burnham Hovercraft Web site home page
Audio
Nation
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