How false activations of personal distress beacons led to a DAME Award winning invention
Sean McCrystal, marketing director for the Wescom Group, has explained how critical the feedback loop from users has been for the company’s product innovation, such as developments in its sMRT brand for the offshore safety market.
“Reports from racing teams of false activations of personal distress beacons due to waves coming over the vessel helped sMRT understand the need for a more sophisticated two stage water activation system, where MOB beacons need to be armed, and the unit submerged before a distress alert is activated,” he says. “This also helped sMRT develop a better system to remotely deactivate DSC alarms when they are identified as false alerts, reducing the nuisance factor, and again making MOB units a more effective safety solution.”
Legislative and regulatory change has always been a key milestone for driving both innovation and technology adoption in marine safety and 2025 has seen significant strides, says McCrystal.
“The 2025 introduction of Class M regulations by the Electronic Communications Committee under ECC/DEC/(22)02, means that only Class M-compliant AIS man overboard (MOB) devices will be permitted for use in a number of European countries. The result has led to the development of more powerful man overboard devices, like the sMRT Alert. This unit utilises DSC alongside AIS to alert nearby vessels to emergencies, but with more advanced two-way systems to allow confirmation of your call for help and easy cancellation of false activations. As a mainstay of marine safety, improvements to the capabilities of AIS MOBs could have a sizeable impact on marine safety,” he explains.
Trends in marine safety products
According to McCrystal, following a wider adoption of life jackets as standard, customers are increasingly looking for wearable safety products. “This isn’t merely to do with the size of the products, but the ease of fitting, tracking the usability when inside a jacket and ensuring secure fitting when deployed,” he explains.
“The sMRT range offers out-of-the-box usability, without the need for professional life jacket fitting, and the use of the sMRT app allows users to see power and servicing data without having to take the unit off the life jacket.”
Wescom Group Australia is now supplying sMRT-branded products across Australia and New Zealand. The latest products from leading man-overboard beacon manufacturer sMRT, a Wescom Group brand, will be available for purchase through Wescom Group Australia.
Wescom Group opened a new manufacturing facility in Hull, UK, in 2024. The new purpose-built safety electronics factory is a culmination of Wescom Group’s investment after the 2022 acquisition of MRT Ltd.
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