A Low Cost AIS Class B Compliant Small Vessel Tracking and Collision Avoidance System

The goal of this proposed research is to determine the feasibility of developing and commercializing an innovative, low cost, high performance small boat tracking and collision avoidance device. Small boats are defined as being floating craft that fall into the category of port vessels, leisure, un-powered and small fishing craft. The device would be compatible with the Automatic Identification System [AIS] ¿Class B Basic¿ and the full Class A AIS environments. The device would provide similar benefits to the Class A AIS system without overloading the scarce RF resources in high traffic areas where small boats, Vessel Traffic Services, Aids to Navigation services and SOLAS and MTSA vessels co-exist. The device will use the standard AIS message set and is expected to be commercially available to the end user at a cost of or less than $250 each in its basic format. The research and initial tests will include the gathering of user and maritime authority opinions regarding available feature sets and proposed operation that is expected to deliver a device that is expected to be easy to sell to the small boat user group thereby enabling adoption through a value added purchase.