N.S. air force base using high-tech tool to aid search and rescue missions

The Department of National Defence has announced it's implementing a new technology that uses cellphones to find people during search and rescue operations.

Called the Cellular Airborne Sensors for Search and Rescue (CASSAR) system, it has been used on some aircraft at CFB Greenwood for the past six months. 

According to Lt.-Col. Mark Norris, commanding officer for the search and rescue squadron in Atlantic Canada's Arctic, the Greenwood base has been using CASSAR operationally on their CC-130H Hercules aircraft, and the benefits are immeasurable. 

"It shortens search times, which in turn makes us more ready to respond to others that are in need," said Norris. 

CASSAR uses mobile phones to locate people who have been "reported as overdue and in potential distress," the department said in a news release. It is set up on a laptop in the cockpit of an aircraft and works through an app, Norris said.

Information about a missing individual's cellphone can be entered in the app, and the antennas on the aircraft then function as a cellphone tower to trace the exact location of the phone. 

If a person's phone is turned on, isn't on airplane mode and has sufficient battery, the search and rescue team can also use the app to communicate through the phone to find out more about the missing person's situation. 

Norris said CASSAR software was used during a search and rescue operation in June that involved an overdue vessel in Labrador. Norris said a visual search would've taken an estimated six hours. But with this technology, it took 15 minutes to locate the phones of those on the vessel and for communication to commence. 

"I can't overstate how huge that is," said Norris. "There's someone that's overdue, and there's loved ones that are concerned, and we're concerned. So … we've found the people that are missing, but … we're also able to determine what their situation is." 

Norris said because 85 per cent of Canadians have mobile phones, the software will advance the tools already available to teams during search and rescue operations. But he said Canadians still need to be prepared, especially since the technology cannot act as a navigation beacon if a phone's battery is dead. 

"It's important to have all Canadians be as prepared as possible to keep themselves safe," he said. "And because of this CASSAR system, to make sure that their cellphones are accessible and on their person and charged."