Portable IoT solution for enhancing communication and security on fishing vessels

Abstract

Small-scale fishing vessels continue to use outdated radio systems and one-way GPS systems for communication, which puts the crews at a greater risk of sea accidents, piracy, and prolonged seclusion. The presented investigation proposes a compact, affordable Internet-of-Things (IoT) system that is designed to increase the safety and situational awareness of operations through real-time communication and environmental monitoring. The prototype has been designed around two ESP32 microcontrollers integrated with GPS, temperature and humidity sensors, gas and motion sensors, and LoRa SX1278 transceivers to provide long-range and low-power communications. A priority interrupt mechanism ensures that the most important chat messages are prioritised over sensor telemetry, and the two streams of data are sent via Wi-Fi to a Firebase Realtime Database to generate near-real-time dashboards accessible to both port authority officers and vessel families. By the conclusion of field trials, the system was found to perform reliably up to a line-of-sight of 5 km with a chat accuracy exceeding 95%, packet delivery over 95%, and an average chat latency of 0.8 s, which validated the reliability of the system in supporting mission-critical communication. Comparison of sensor outputs with handheld references showed temperature accuracy within ±0.5◦C, humidity accuracy within ±2%, and GPS resolution within approximately 5 m, which is adequate for monitoring near-shore vessels. Fall detection was implemented using a dual-threshold approach, in which an acceleration magnitude of a = 2.5g and a tilt angle over 180◦ consistently triggered accident alerts. Solar panels provided power autonomy even during daytime operations, with minimal packet loss at the edges of coverage. Taken together, these findings support the idea that the proposed system is a compact, energy-efficient, and cost-effective alternative to large satellite-based systems, providing instant distress signalling, reliable environmental measurements, and stronger emergency response coordination for small-scale fisheries. The design also contributes to bridging the digital divide among coastal communities, and future upgrades will focus on optimising antennas, implementing mesh relay communication, and adopting adaptive interference mitigation to extend coverage and enhance resilience.