Foundation Projects
Efficient and reliable GPS wireless Ad Hoc sensor networks for marine monitoring, searching, and rescuing applications
Bac Ha International University (BHIU)
This project propose a wireless ad-hoc network that restores the sea-to-land link from small fishing boats to the central base-stations located near the shoreline and provides an efficient monitoring and positioning service for fishing boats.
The wireless ad-hoc network is built upon an existing high frequency (HF) coastal radio system and integrated with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for a real-time location monitoring. The proposed network is therefore cost-effective, efficient and reliable than other commercially available satellite-based systems.
The main problem that is being addressed in this project is the unreliable sea-to-land wireless link from fishing boats to central base-stations. This link is limited by a maximum transmit power of radio equipment on board and the Line-of-Sight (LOS) condition. This problem is more profound for small boats, which are not equipped with radio communication equipment and LOS condition is not usually satisfied due to blockage by islands or large ships or the earth’s curvature.
During storms, the link condition gets worse because of a higher loss due to rain attenuation. As the result, monitoring and communication with small fishing boats operating far from the coastal line is a challenge task. In addition, searching and rescuing these small boats during or after storms are much more difficult since its current or last-known position is not available.
The proposed wireless ad-hoc network solves this problem for small fishing boats by replacing a long range and unreliable link to base-stations with multiple short range and reliable links between boats, which are in proximity to each other, and boats that are closer to base-stations. The signal takes a longer path and incurs a larger delay but has a higher probability of reaching the base-stations. The additional GPS receiver and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) control board integrated into the existing radio equipment provide the location and monitoring service by periodically updating the central base-stations with ships’ current location and condition by sending data packets through the established multiple links of the ad-hoc network.
