USCG BUOY POSITION MONITOR

THE OBJECT OF THIS WORK IS TO DEVELOP A PROOF OF CONCEPT PROTOTYPE BUOY POSITION MONITORING SYSTEM DESIGN WHICH WILL BE A PART OF A SINGLE UNIT INSTALLED ON A BUOY'S STRUCTURE. THIS SYSTEM INTERFACES WITH A STATUS MONITORING SYSTEM FOR COMMUNICATION OF SYSTEM PARAMETERS AND ALARMS TO REMOTE MONITORING STATIONS. THIS EFFORT WILL EVALUATE LORAN AND GPS POSITIONING SYSTEMS TO DETERMINE WHICH IS MOST SUITABLE FOR APPLICATION TO BUOY POSITIONING. A DESIGN WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR A PROCESSING AND INTERFACE SYSTEM WHICH WILL NOTIFY REMOTE STATIONS OF AN OUT OF POSITION CONDITION. THESYSTEM WILL INTERFACE TO THE BUOY STATUS MONITOR AND REPORTING SYSTEM FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND PROVIDE EASY INITIALIZATION OF LOCATION PARAMETERS UPON BUOY DEPLOYMENT. THE SYSTEM IS HIGHLY ACCURATE AND RELIABLE, MINIMIZING THE FALSE ALARM RATE. THERE ARE NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS OF THIS WORK IN BOTH THE GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE SECTORS. USERS OF THIS TECHNOLOGY ARE PRESENTLY IN THE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY, BUT USES ARE BEING FOUND FOR THESE SYSTEMS IN AREAS SUCH AS PUBLIC SAFETY, RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, CONSTRUCTION, FISHING AND AGRICULTURE AND OTHER INDUSTRIES WHICH NEED TO TRACK VEHICLES, VESSELS OR AIRCRAFT. THE INCREASED CAPABILITIES OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM COULD MAKE PREVIOUSLY IMPRACTICAL SYSTEM CONCEPTS AVAILABLE FOR USE.