The system, which is yet to be named, is the brainchild of Mr Maitland who, as a keen glider, decided to use the honours project of his Mechatronics degree to create a device that would allow the tracking of gliders in the air.

Mr Maitland explained how it soon became clear the device had uses in other areas.

“As most glider pilots now use a Global Positioning System (GPS) for navigation, I knew that the GPS positional data could be accessed using a cable,” he said.

“So I decided to build a hand-held unit to attach to the GPS unit that could simply transmit the GPS data along with an identification name to a computer at the base airfield, where we could see where the glider is on a 2D map.

“A prototype was developed and worked well.

“It was at this time that the Embreonix unit at Abertay sent all students an email advertising the national business plan competition.

“This led me to think that the device had a lot of applications not only to track gliders, but also hill walkers who also use GPS for navigation.

“As you could imagine, if a hill walker is stranded on a mountain, it takes a lot of time and money to rescue a single person.

“If the rescue team knows exactly where the stranded walker is, this can cut down rescue times immensely and the success rate goes up.”

gTrak came runner-up in the national competition, giving the company enough money to start developing the device and create prototypes.

The company grew and software engineer Sotirios Mitsis (26), from Greece, joined as a partner and became technical director.

The company is now four weeks away from testing the final prototype of the device. If successful, the device will go into production and a marketing campaign will be launched.

Mr Maitland said that one of the system’s strengths is that the hillwalker’s position is transmitted using a small radio, allowing it to be used on a mountain where other devices, such as mobile phones, do not work.

He added, “The base station now uses 3D graphics to display the whereabouts of the hill walkers or glider pilots. I must say that this is awesome software and looks fantastic. The software has a function where you can put on 3D glasses and you can view the mountains of Scotland in real 3D.

“We are also developing the device so people can use the hand-held unit that they already carry to see where friends are on the in-built screen.

“This again is a very useful feature in gliders and hill walking. If you could imagine a stranded walker stuck on the cold hills of Scotland, they can now see the rescue team coming to get them on their own personal screen.

"This will be hugely comforting. And this feature will be used to teach advanced cross-country tactics in gliders, like a lead-and-follow teaching technique.”