N.S. air force base using high-tech tool to aid search and rescue missions
CBC
The Department of National Defence has announced it's implementing a new technology that uses cell phones 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 a people who have been "reported as overdue and in potential distress," the department said in a press 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 cell phone can be entered in the app, and the antennas on the aircraft then function as a cell phone 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 cell phones are accessible and on their person and charged."
Local politicians and waterfront users say the province's sewage plan for the redevelopment of Ontario Place could make a popular part of the waterfront a health risk for beachgoers, rowers and swimmers.
The P.E.I. government has halted plans to purchase more electric school buses due to the financial uncertainty surrounding Lion Electric, the company that manufactures most of the vehicles for the province.
A city councillor is suggesting the City of Calgary do an external review of how its operations and council decisions are being impacted by false information spread online and through other channels. Coun. Courtney Walcott said he plans to bring forward a motion to council, calling for its support for a review. He said he's not looking for real time fact checking but rather, a review that looks back at the role misinformation played on key issues. Walcott cited two instances in 2024 where factually incorrect information was circulated both online and at in-person meetings regarding major city projects: council's decision to upzone much of the city, and the failed redevelopment proposal for Glenmore Landing. "Looking back on previous years, looking back on major events and finding out how pervasive misinformation and bad information is out there and it's influence on all levels of the public discourse is really important," said Walcott.
Quebec's public security minister said Tuesday the province was sending more officers to the U.S. to help fight organized crime near the border.
Ontario officials estimate that U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on Canadian goods could cost up to half a million jobs, Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday, as he called for stronger and more visible action from the federal government.
A 37-year-old man from York, P.E.I., who was reported missing in New Brunswick yesterday has been found dead, the New Brunswick RCMP said in a news release.
The number of Londoners seeking community housing is on the rise, according to the city's latest homelessness data.
The union representing mechanics and labourers at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. says 99 per cent of its members have voted in favour of strike action.
Last spring, Caio De Naday Hornhardt believed his former landlord had done him wrong, with a same-day eviction.
Blair Davis says he was in the paddock of his West Lawrencetown, N.S., farm several years ago when he first heard a buzzing noise and looked up to see a drone hovering overhead.
It's January and that means residents of Miramichi are experiencing a now-annual round of anxious speculation: will the Centennial Bridge close completely this year?
Police say a man who was shot in a parking lot in Lévis on Saturday night was likely not the intended target.
A judge has dismissed comments a Manitoba woman made during her arrest about consuming alcohol before hitting her boyfriend with a school bus because her Charter rights were breached.
Two Saskatchewan families say they felt more like hostages than guests of a resort in Mexico when they got severely ill and were pressured by staff to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in exchange for medical help.
Edmonton utilities company Epcor has dropped part of a fee charged to customers who opt out of the installation of new water meter reading devices.
Many, including B.C.'s premier, have called for a Team Canada approach to Donald Trump's tariff threat. But it seems some provinces are going it alone.
Homelessness in northern Ontario has grown four times faster than in non-northern communities in the last eight years, and new research suggests the region's rates could more than quadruple over the next decade.