UWE Bristol Engineering showcase 2015

Patrick Brinson
BEng Robotics
Project Supervisor
Dr. Matthew Studley
An Investigation into Autonomously Identifying and Reporting Illegal
Fishing Vessels.
Introduction
It is estimated that up to $23.5 billion dollars of
fish are caught illegally from protected waters
annually. It takes significant funding from
governments to police protected waters and the
action currently being taken is not currently
sufficient in order to rebuild sufficient fish stocks
for the future. Therefore the investigation was to
investigate an appropriate electronic system that is
capable of autonomously monitoring for evidence
of illegal fishing activities, and have the ability to
communicate sufficient information to the
relevant agencies, in the pursuit of those that
disregard preservation techniques put in place to
rebuild the worlds depleting fish stocks. Not only
would a system of this nature be able to report
illegal fishing activities it shall also act as a
deterrent. Such a system would not only be limited
to that of detecting illegal fishing activities, but
could be further implemented reduce other global
issues such as drug smuggling, and illegal
immigration.
Switching
Charging
Circuit
Switching
Charging
Circuit
Digital Input
Digital Input
USB to UART
UART
Atmega2560
USB
UART
Digital Signal
Processing
Micro PC
ANALOGUE
Hydrophone
Amplifier
To implement such a system, several areas of
investigation had to be made, including but limited
to power harvesting, energy storage,
communications, and positioning. This
investigation focused on the necessary electronic
system needed to implement a device capable of
reporting relevant information to pursue those
that continue to deplete the global fish stocks.
ANALOGUE
Hydrophone
Prototype Circuit Board
The investigation lead on to a prototype design
and build of a printed circuit board, that could be
tested for its operation against the investigations
specification. The testing of the system showed
that:
The use of a voltage proportional charge
controller, is capable of acting as a maximum
power point tracker, in order to increase the
efficiency of energy harvested through
photovoltaic cells.
The implementation of a GPS and digital compass
provide accurate data on the location of the
system and the vessel it could detect.
With the use of a GSM chipset it is possible for the
system to communicate long distance, with the
ability to upgrade the communications to a
satellite transceiver for implementation.
The ability to control configurable options such as
GPS sensitivity, and to turn on the USB-UART
converter only when needed makes best use of
the systems stored electrical energy.
The use of buck/boost converters allows the
system to use as much charge as feasibly possible
over technology such as a linear voltage regulator.
Project summary
In summary the investigation was to design
and implement a system that could harvest its
own electrical energy and communicate
relevant sensor data in the pursuit of
reducing the high rates of illegal fishing
globally.
Project Objectives
The main objectives of the investigation were
to:
Harvest and store electrical energy in an
efficient manor.
Self awareness of system location with use of
GPS and Digital Compass.
Long range communications over GSM
network.
Project Conclusion
In conclusion, this investigation met the
functional and non-functional criterial set out
at the beginning. Indicating that a system of
considerably small size could be implemented
in the reduction of illegal fishing. The
investigation, design and implementation has
resulted in a functional prototype where the
following conclusions can be drawn:
The use of solar panels are capable of
powering and charging the system for
extended periods of time.
UART UART I2C
Communications
Satellite / GSM
GPS
Digital Compass
System communication flow.
Thermal image, showing how the system
does not lose energy through heat.