Students invent 'tags' to search for earthquake victims

A group of students in Indonesia has successfully built a device that uses high-frequency ultrasound to help search for earthquake victims. The special thing is that this device is only as small as a credit card.

Called the Point-of-Contact Detector or Deoterions , this small credit card-like device is an ultrasonic transceiver, to determine the exact location of the user, if the person is caught Stuck somewhere in the rubble after an earthquake.

The device helps to save earthquake victims as small as a credit card.

Deoterions is the invention of a trio of students from Brawijaya University, East Java Island, Indonesia. They are all people who witnessed, or experienced the consequences of the earthquake.

Satrio Wiradinata, the inventor of this device, said: 'Anything can happen if a person is buried for too long. The victim's hands and feet may be necrotic and have to be removed. Victims may be traumatic. The consequences of an earthquake are always great, because people often don't think it will happen, so people don't have to be prepared when disaster strikes. '

Satrio Wiradinata added: 'During the 2009 earthquake, my mother broke her knee. Even at this point, she was still in pain. I lost a friend and my teacher because of the earthquake. He was buried under the stone bricks of my class. Another friend of mine lost his legs, because of that. '

Deoterions is the invention of a trio of Brawijaya university students, in the East of the island of Java.

A decade ago, in 2009, Satrio's homeland on Sumatra island was hit by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, leaving more than 700 people dead and thousands trapped in the rubble. crushed. Mr. Satrio was lucky to survive, after being buried in his classroom.

In 2009, Satrio's hometown on Sumatra island was hit by a magnitude 7.6 earthquake, leaving more than 700 dead and thousands trapped in the rubble.

However, his classmates and teachers were not so lucky. This horrific experience is the reason why Satrio and his two friends invented a device that can detect victims of earthquakes early and save them, before the worst happens.

'To solve this problem, I, Rizka and Dafi invented new technology. In a building, if all residents owned such a handheld device, when the earthquake struck and they were trapped, rescuers would be able to easily find them via the included app. According to ' - Satrio said.

'There are three main components in this device's hardware: the radio transceiver, the tilt-based trigger and the central control unit. In terms of software, we program it so it can run on both iOS and Android operating systems to increase popularity. In addition, we do not need the internet to use the application, in case the infrastructure is destroyed in the earthquake, '' said Rizka Maulana, co-inventor of Deoterions, explaining the device's construction.

Indonesia is located in a seismic activity called the 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an area prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Indonesia is located in a seismic activity called the 'Pacific Ring of Fire' , an area prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. According to statistics, about 71% of the world's most intense earthquakes occur in this ring of fire. Therefore, the invention of three young men is extremely necessary.

Ali Ghufron Mukti, Director of Indonesian Department of Science, Technology and Resources, said: 'This is a wonderful invention. In this case, the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Government of Indonesia will certainly pay attention and develop the research. We will either financially support or enable the product to be widely used, or help inventors in the media, and they can become a start-up. '

Currently, three young inventors have registered intellectual property rights for their inventions.

They said they will try to develop Deoterions Machine to the fullest, then think about selling to the market.