Portable Life Protection System for Fishermen Using Global Positioning System A. Senthilkumar 1 1 Assistant Professor (SS) EEE department Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Pollachi, Abstract The Global Positioning System (GPS) offers a very easy and a relatively cheap way of finding out ones location on the planet. As the name indicates this project is an application of GPS. It is a very hardship business for fishermen who stand in the middle of the ocean without knowing where they are actually located. This project addresses these problems by providing a preprogramed portable navigational guide. The GPS receiver continuously generates and gives the latitude and longitude information continuously. The system also has a microcontroller into which the boundary co-ordinates of the country are already programmed. The information from the GPS receiver is given to the microcontroller where the current coordinates are compared with the boundary co-ordinates and it is found out if the device is with the boundary of the country or not. In addition the project houses a distress alert system in which the concerned authorities are immediately sent a distress call from the boat if the fishermen are facing some calamity. Also a communication between the fishermen boat and the nearby ship is introduced in this system. An Automatic Identification System is introduced here. That is instead of pressing the key asensor is fixed and the information s from the fishermen boat is automatically transferred to the coastguard section. Index Terms Global Positioning System, GPS Receiver, Automatic Identification system ARM controller, RF module I. INTRODUCTION The global positioning system is a satellite-based navigation system consisting of a network of 24 orbiting satellites that are eleven thousand nautical miles in space and in six different orbital paths.[1] GPS has become an indispensable aid to navigation around the world, and an important tool for map-making and land surveying. GPS also provides a precise time reference used in many applications including scientific study of earthquakes, and synchronization of telecommunications networks There are many applications of GPS that are widely being used. This project aims at another possible application of GPS which can aid small scale fishermen from accidentally crossing over into international waters. This project aims at another possible application of GPS which can aid small scale fishermen from accidentally crossing over into international waters. The project involves the construction of a portable device which will give an audio visual indication to fishermen if they approach or cross over into international waters. The heart of the system is a GPS receiver which is connected to a microcontroller unit and a display device which shows the fishermen their current position and the country they are in at any point in time. In addition the project houses a distress alert system in which the concerned authorities are immediately sent a distress call from the boat if the fishermen are facing some calamity. The data transfer to the central system takes place through the high frequency RF transceivers. On the reception side there is a PC attached to the RF transceiver that gives the location of the stranded fishermen and alerts the authorities in case of reception of distress call. In the proposed work a communication between the fishermen boat and the nearby ship is introduced. The heart of the system is a GPS receiver which is connected to a microcontroller unit and a display device which shows the fishermen their current position and the country they are in at any point in time.in addition the project houses a distress alert system in which the concerned authorities are immediately sent a distress call from the boat if the fishermen are facing some calamity. The data transfer to the central system takes place through the high frequency RF transceivers. On the reception side there is a PC attached to the RF transceiver that gives the location of the stranded fishermen and alerts the authorities in case of reception of distress call. Embedded System is a combination of hardware and software used to achieve a single task.[3] Embedded systems are computer systems that monitor, respond to, or control an external environment. Environment connected to systems through sensors, actuators and other I/O interfaces. Embedded system must meet timing & other constraints imposed on it by environment. An Embedded system is a component within some larger system. It is contrast with generalpurpose computers. The software in the embedded system is called firmware. An Embedded system is an intelligent firmware designed for a definite process to be achieved perfectly. 60
II. PORTABLE GPS NAVIGATION AID FOR FISHERMEN Fishermen and pilots had always launched their boats to take crew from ships grounded on sandbanks and rocks. Liverpool was probably the first port to provide a 'lifeboat' for such rescues. Many inventors had demonstrated prototype 'unsinkable' boats, but a competition in 1790 led Henry Great head to build the lifeboat 'Original' for South Shields, and then to supply boats of the same design to over twenty ports and harbours. The life saving effort was strongest where local organisations funded the boats and supported their volunteer crews. Not until 1824 was there a National Institution for Preservation of Life from Shipwreck to promote life saving coast wide. Success still depended heavily on local effort until, from the 1850s, improved organisation and fundraising enabled the renamed Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) to establish many new stations and gradually to take responsibility for previously independent lifeboats. In the older days there was no communication between the fishermen boat and the coastguard section. So there was so many accidents took place in the middle of the ocean. In the ancient times the fishermen used the magnetic combas to find out the directions in sea. At that time there was no communication between the coastguard section and the fishermen boat.so in this project I introduces a new communication between the coast guard section and the fishermen boat by using the long distance data transmission. Here a GPS is being used for the calculation of the current position of the fishermen boat in the sea. A GPS receiver calculates its position by measuring the distance between itself and three or more GPS satellites. Measuring the time delay between transmission and reception of each GPS radio signal gives the distance to each satellite, since the signal travels at a known speed. Hence all these features make a complete portable device for fishermen that can help not only to move in a sea but also to gain access for information even in the middle of the vast waters. The bidirectional data communication method enables data can be originated both from the fishing boat and also from the coast making it a highly versatile system. Further any important information such as degradation of weather after the fishermen have ventured into the sea can be at appropriate times informed to the fishermen. The tracking unit is shown in the fig:1.this section All the information regarding the current coordinates and the country information are displayed on a small display. In addition to that there is a small buzzer and a visual indication which alerts the fisher men if they accidentally cross over into international waters. 61 Thus this system provides a very simple and a cost effective system which can be used by fishermen and other people to find out their position. Further the people at the ground especially the family and friends of the fishermen can be updated with latest position of the fishermen by the concerned authorities. This brings a huge sigh of relief to the family waiting on the shores. So if any boat that has not returned to the shore for a long time can be immediately found out and its location be traced to a particular point in the ocean.[2] This information can be passed on to the families of fishermen. Further the same fishermen can be contacted and informed about their families. III. BLOCK DIAGRAM The block diagram consists of three sections. The first one is Tracking unit. The tracking unit consists of the ARM microcontroller, GPS section, the transceiver section and the sensors. The second is the coast guard unit.in the coast guard unit it consists of the PC section which is connected by a transceiver. Through this transceiver the information came from the fishermen boat. The third is the nearby ship section. this is placed in the nearby ships. if there is any difficulties felt by the fishermen then the information is passes to the coastguard section and also to the nearby ships simultaneously. Fig.1 Block Diagram for Tracking Unit
By determining the position of, and distance to, at least three satellites, the receiver can compute its position using trilateration. Receivers typically do not have perfectly accurate clocks and therefore track one or more additional satellites to correct the receiver's clock error. Fig.2 Block Diagram for Nearby ship section The coast guard section consists of one PC which is connected to the internet and an RF transceiver. This RF transceiver is used to communicate with the fishermen boat. Fig.3.Block Diagram for Coast Guard Section IV. PROCESS DESCRIPTION FOR TRACKING UNIT Tracking unit is used to find out the path of the small scale fishermen in the sea water.here it consists of a microcontroller, GPS receiver, RF transceiver, water level sensor and an alarm unit. A. GPS Reciever The Global Positioning System (GPS) is currently the only fully-functional satellite navigation system. More than two dozen GPS satellites are in medium Earth orbit, transmitting signals allowing GPS receivers to determine the receiver's location, speed and direction.a GPS receiver calculates its position by measuring the distance between itself and three or more GPS satellites. Measuring the time delay between transmission and reception of each GPS radio signal gives the distance to each satellite, since the signal travels at a known speed. The signals also carry information about the satellites' location. B. GPS Broadcast Signal GPS satellites broadcast three different types of data in the primary navigation signal. [4]The first is the almanac which sends coarse time information along with status information about the satellites. The second is the ephemeris, which contains orbital information that allows the receiver to calculate the position of the satellite. This data is included in the 37,500 bit Navigation Message, which takes 12.5 minutes to send at 50 bps. C. Calculating Positions The coordinates are calculated according to the World Geodetic System WGS84 coordinates system. To calculate its position, a receiver needs to know the precise time. The satellites are equipped with extremely accurate atomic clocks, and the receiver uses an internal crystal oscillatorbased clock that is continually updated using the signals from the satellites. The receiver identifies each satellite's signal by its distinct C/A code pattern, and then measures the time delay for each satellite. To do this, the receiver produces an identical C/A sequence using the same seed number as the satellite accuracy and error sources. The position calculated by a GPS receiver requires the current time, the position of the satellite and the measured delay of the received signal. The position accuracy is primarily dependent on the satellite position and signal delay. D. RF Module Here using XBee-PRO OEM RF Modules. XBee and XBee -PRO Modules were engineered to meet Zig Bee/IEEE 802.15.4 standards and support the unique needs of low-cost, low-power wireless sensor networks.[5] The modules require minimal power and provide reliable delivery of critical data between devices. The modules operate within the ISM 2.4 GHz frequency band and are pin-for-pin compatible with each other. E. Arm Controller The LPC2148 ARM controller is used here. This is based on a 16-bit/32-bit ARM7TDMI-S CPU with realtime emulation and embedded trace support, that combine microcontroller ith embedded high speed flash memory ranging from 32 kb to 512 kb. 62
A 128-bit wide memory interface and a unique accelerator architecture enable 32-bit code execution at the maximum clock rate. For critical code size applications, the alternative 16-bit Thumb ode reduces code by more than 30 % with minimal performance penalty. Due to their tiny size and low power consumption, LPC2141/42/44/46/48 are ideal for applications where miniaturization is a key requirement, such as access control and point-of-sale. F. Key Features 16-bit/32-bit ARM7 TDMI-S microcontroller in a tiny LQFP64 package. 8 kb to 40 kb of on-chip static RAM and 32 kb to 512 kb of on-chip flash memory. 128-bit wide interface/accelerator enables high-speed 60 MHz operation. In-System Programming/In-Application Programming (ISP/IAP) via on-chip boot loader Software. Single flash sector or full chip erase in 400 ms and programming of 256 bytes in 1 ms. Embedded ICE RT and Embedded Trace interfaces offer real-time debugging with the on-chip Real Monitor software and high-speed tracing of instruction execution. USB 2.0 Full-speed compliant device controller with 2 kb of end point RAM. In addition, the LPC2146/48 provides 8 kb of on-chip RAM accessible to USB by DMA. One or two (LPC2141/42 vs. LPC2144/46/48) 10-bit ADCs provide a total of 6/14analog inputs, with conversion times as low as 2.44 μs per channel. Single 10-bit DAC provides variable analog output (LPC2142/44/46/48 only). Two 32-bit timers/external event counters (with four capture and four compare channels each), PWM unit (six outputs) and watchdog. Low power Real-Time Clock (RTC) with independent power and 32 khz clock input. G. Coast Guard Section PC Interfacing To interface the project to the computer, the RS232 port on the computer is used.rs232 is the technical name of the serial port on the computer, which is also referred to as the comm port (communications port). Before going into the details of the RS232 lets first evaluate all the other options available and find out why the RS232 port is used for the project. 63 The standard IBM clone PC has a variety of ports or interfaces available for different applications. Some of these ports like the VGA port, the Ethernet port and the PS2 port are for dedicated purposes. But the rest of the interfaces are quite general and can be used for interfacing custom hardware and applications like experimental projects. These are the ports like, 1. The Universal Serial Bus Port or the USB port 2. The Parallel port. 3. The Serial port or the Comm port. RS 232 PORT: The serial port or the common port (short form for communication port) is another available option for interfacing to the PC. The serial port on computers is in accordance with the RS232 standard defined by the EIA/TIA (Electronic Industry Association and the Telecommunications Industry Association) and hence is also referred to as the RS232 port (RS means Recommended Standard).But unlike the parallel port the RS232 port is much easier to use for general purpose interfacing and experimentation. On the programming front the serial port is the easiest of all the ports on a computer to use. Serial port can be directly accesses from most high level languages directly with simple commands. Also most microcontrollers come with a inbuilt serial communication module (USART) and hence programming the PC and a microcontroller for serial communication is very easy. H. Level Measurement Using Float Float is the one type of transducer which is used to measure the water level in the tank. Circuit description: The float changes the resistance value depending on the water level. This change is resistance is converted into corresponding voltage signal which is given to inverting input terminal of the comparator. The reference voltage is given to non inverting input terminal. The comparator is constructed by the operational amplifier LM 741. The comparator compares with reference water level and delivered the error voltage at the output terminal. Then the error voltage is given to next stage of gain amplifier which is constructed by another operational amplifier LM 741. In the gain amplifier the variable resistor is connected in the feedback path, by adjusting the resistor we can get the desired gain. Then the final voltage is given to ADC for convert the analog signal to digital signal. Then the corresponding digital signal is given to microcontroller in order to find the water level in the tank.
V. PROPOSED WORK In the proposed system a communication between the fishermen boat and nearby ship is being introduced.for that a RF transceiver section is places in the nearby ships and then the communication is possible between the fishermen boat and the nearby ships. In addition to that an AIS system is introduces. This automatically identifies the difficulties caused by the fishermen boat and it sends the information automatically to the coastguard section and also to the nearby ships.[6] By this the nearby ship can help the fishermen who all are in trouble earlier than the coastguards. This is the main advantage of this proposed system. Also instead of pressing the key the information is automatically passes to the coastguards and the near by ships. VI. CONCLUSION It is a useful device for safer navigation, especially for fishermen. The design of the device can be made even smaller than proposed by modifying the design specifications. Efficiency can be improved by implementing more accurate GPS systems. This system prevents the small scale fishermen on crossing the International waters. In this system the GPS updates the current longitudinal and latitudinal values and is compared with the pre-programmed values in the microcontroller unit and is found whether the device is within the country border or not. This can also be used as a distress alert system to the coast guard section whenever the fishermen face any calamities within the ocean. Also the communication between the nearby ship helps them in the dangerous conditions. This project is mainly a commercial and social concerned project to aid the fishermen, to provide safety to them in the mid-sea. This project can be implemented in any fishing boats being a cost effective and a portable one.[7] The cost of the project can be reduced by producing the device in high level.. In future the project can be further extended to provide full aid by identifying the density of fish in an area. In the ice dense cold areas it can be used to identify the ice bergs in oceans. REFERENCES [1] C. Swaykos, J. Swett, R. Kastler, OCEANS 2010, MTS/IEEE Biloxi - Marine Technology for Our Future: Global and Local Challenges, GPS based navigation 2010.1-5 [2] Nobuhiro, Current Situation of Navigation System for Safety,22nd International Conference on Advanced Information Networking,2009 [3] Yang Yong-wei Shanghai, The Application of Embedded System on Shipping Monitoring and Control,2008,The 2nd International Conference on ICCAE [4] Hamza, G.; Zekry, A.; Motawie, Circuits and Systems Magazine, IEEE 2009, Implementation of a complete GPS receiver using simulink, Volume: 9 Issue:4 On page(s): 43 51 [5] Matsuge, K.; Hiura, S.; Ishida, M.; Kitahara, T.; Yamamoto, Microwave Symposium Digest, 2004 IEEE MTT-S International,On page(s): 629-632 Vol.2, Full RF module with embedded filters for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz dual band WLAN applications [6] Xu Shaoheng. Digitalization- A New Developing Trend of Marine Automation. Ship building 1998.4:51-53 [7] Istanbul, Turkey, GPS receiver design for portable applications, Won Namgoong, Dept. of Electr. Eng. Syst., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, June 05-June 09 64