SALEM ALI BIN GHULAITA OBAID (AE)
MOHAMMAD KHALFAN ABDULLA (AE)
AHMED AL MAAZMI KHALED (AE)
SALEH AL HAJJ ABDULRAHMAN (AE)
ABRAR MOHAMMED HASSAN (AE)
ABDULKARIM SALMAN TARIQ (AE)
AHMED MOHAMMED MOHAMMAD (AE)
JUMA ALI HESSA (AE)
EMILE AL SHANABLEH JEHAD (AE)
ABDOLRAZAQ MORTAZAVI KHALED (AE)
| KR100738259B1 | 2007-07-12 | |||
| KR101749839B1 | 2017-06-22 | |||
| US20120007750A1 | 2012-01-12 | |||
| KR102230050B1 | 2021-03-19 | |||
| US20190295428A1 | 2019-09-26 |
| Claims: 1. A maritime field tracking device which includes: a GPS receiver; a VHF transceiver; and a tracking device computer module that is implemented using customised assembly language, the GPS receiver being in operative communication with the VHF transceiver via the tracking device computer module that is implemented using customised assembly language, and the maritime field tracking device being operable to transmit a geographic location of the device to an operations centre. 2. A maritime field tracking device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tracking device computer module includes a microprocessor having installed thereon a tracking device (client-side) software application. 3. A maritime radio tracking system which includes: one or more maritime field tracking devices as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2; and an operations centre, the operations centre having installed thereat one or more VHF transceivers and a Location -based Service (LBS) (server side) software application being in operative communication with the one or more VHF transceivers via an operations centre computer module using customised assembly language source code, the one or more VHF transceivers of the operations centre being in operative communication with the VHF transceiver of the one or more maritime field tracking devices and the Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application being operable to map and display the geographic location of the field tracking device in substantially realtime. 4. A maritime radio tracking system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the one or more maritime field tracking devices are installed on a maritime vehicle. A maritime radio tracking system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the one or more maritime field tracking devices is a portable maritime field tracking device. A method of tracking maritime vehicles which includes: establishing geographic locations of one or more maritime field tracking devices via a GPS receiver of the one or more devices; communicating the geographic locations to a VHF transceiver of the one or more field tracking devices via a tracking device computer module that is implemented using customised assembly language source code; transmitting the geographic locations from the VHF transceiver of the one or more field tracking devices to one or more VHF transceivers of an operations centre; communicating the geographic locations to a Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application via an operations centre computer module that is implemented using customised assembly language source code; and mapping and displaying the geographic locations at the Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) customised software application in substantially real-time for the operations centre’s operative tracking of the geographic locations of the one or more field tracking devices. A method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the one or more maritime field tracking devices is installed on a maritime police vehicle. A method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the one or more maritime field tracking devices is installed on a mobile handset. A computer program product for a maritime radio tracking system, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored computer-readable program code, the computer-readable program code executable by processing circuit to perform the steps in the method of establishing geographic locations of one or more maritime field tracking devices via a GPS receiver of the one or more devices; communicating the geographic locations to a VHF transceiver of the one or more field tracking devices via a tracking device computer module using customised assembly language source code; transmitting the geographic locations from the VHF transceiver of the one or more field tracking devices to one or more VHF transceivers of an operations centre; communicating the geographic locations to a Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application via an operations centre computer module using customised assembly language source code; and mapping and displaying the geographic locations at the Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) customised software application in substantially real-time for the operations centre’s operative tracking of the geographic locations of the one or more field tracking devices. |
This invention relates to a method of tracking maritime vehicles and a maritime radio tracking system. The invention also relates to a customised maritime field tracking device and a customised maritime location-based service software application.
The invention is expected to be advantageously applicable to the tracking of police and rescue vehicles at sea, for example police boats and helicopters using VHF wireless communication. Accordingly, such applications should particularly, but not exclusively, be borne in mind when considering this specification.
In this specification, the tracking of maritime vehicles extends to the tracking of maritime personnel.
Background of the invention
Marine radios are a traditional means for ships to keep in touch with other ships and shores. Marine Very High Frequency (VHF) radio sets are generally installed on ships and most sea-going craft and employ two-way radio transceivers on ships and watercraft for bi-directional voice communication from ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore, and ship-to-aircraft. Such VHF radios are either fixed or portable VHF radio sets, with fixed radio sets having the advantage of a more reliable power source, higher transmit power, and a larger and more effective antenna.
Unrelated to bi-directional radio communication, a Location-based Service (LBS) generally refers to a software information service that provide geographic data and information to users, such as tracking systems and navigation software. Most Location-based Services rely on Global Positioning System (GPS) enabled cellular handsets and cellular networks for the reporting and tracking of handset location. The inventors have identified a need for a location-based service for use in maritime applications but have found cellular network-based location services lacking in this respect due to the unreliable coverage of cellular networks at sea.
The present invention aims to provide a maritime radio tracking system using maritime VHF wireless communication radios and location-based service to overcome the drawback of poor cellular network coverage associated with known location -based services.
Summary of the invention
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a maritime field tracking device which includes: a GPS receiver; a VHF transceiver; and a tracking device computer module, the GPS receiver being in operative communication with the VHF transceiver via the tracking device computer module, and the maritime field tracking device being operable to transmit a geographic location of the device to an operations centre.
The tracking device computer module may include a microprocessor having installed thereon a tracking device (client-side) software application that is implemented using customised assembly language.
In one embodiment of the invention, the maritime field tracking device may be installed on a maritime vehicle. In another embodiment, the maritime field tracking device may be a portable maritime field tracking device, for example a mobile handset.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a maritime radio tracking system which includes: a maritime field tracking device as hereinbefore described; and an operations centre, the operations centre having installed thereat: one or more VHF transceivers, and a Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application being in operative communication with the one or more VHF transceivers via an operations centre computer module that is implemented using customised assembly language, the one or more VHF transceivers of the operations centre being in operative communication with the VHF transceiver of the maritime field tracking device and the Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application being operable to map and display the geographic location of the field tracking device in substantially real-time.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of tracking maritime vehicles which includes: establishing a geographic location of a maritime field tracking device via a GPS receiver of the device; communicating the geographic location to a VHF transceiver of the field tracking device via a tracking device computer module that is implemented using customised assembly language; transmitting the geographic location from the VHF transceiver of the field tracking device to one or more VHF transceivers of an operations centre; communicating the geographic location to a Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application via an operations centre computer module that is implemented using customised assembly language; and mapping and displaying the geographic location at the Location -based Service (LBS) (server side) software application in substantially real-time for the operations centre’s operative tracking of the geographic location of the field tracking device.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program product for a maritime radio tracking system, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored computer- readable program code, the computer-readable program code executable by processing circuit to perform the steps in the method of tracking maritime vehicles as hereinbefore described.
The invention is now described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.
Drawings
In the drawings,
Figure 1 illustrates, schematically, a maritime field tracking device and a maritime radio tracking system in accordance with one aspect of the invention.
Figure 2 illustrates, schematically, a method of tracking maritime vehicles being implemented by the system and device of figure 1 in accordance with another aspect of the invention.
Figure 3 illustrates, schematically, a maritime field tracking device and a maritime radio tracking system according to yet another embodiment of the invention being implemented by Dubai Police rescue boats.
Detailed Description of the Invention
With reference to figure 1 , reference numeral (10) denotes, generally, maritime radio tracking system according to one embodiment of the invention.
The system (10) comprises a first maritime field tracking device (12) having a first GPS receiver (20), a first VHF transceiver (16), and a first tracking device computer module (18) having installed thereon a tracking device (client-side) software application, the first GPS receiver (20) being in operative communication with the first VHF transceiver (16) via the first tracking device computer module (18) that is implemented using customised assembly language, the first maritime field tracking device (12) being installed on a maritime vehicle in the form of a police rescue boat (32) and being operable to transmit a geographic location of the device (12) to an operations centre (30) via an antenna (36). In this particular embodiment of the invention, the system includes a second maritime field tracking device (14) having a second GPS receiver (20.1 ), a second VHF transceiver (16.1 ), and a second tracking device computer module (18.1) having installed thereon the tracking device (client-side) software application, the second GPS receiver (20.1 ) being in operative communication with the second VHF transceiver (16.1 ) via the second tracking device computer module (18.1 ) that is implemented using customised assembly language, the second maritime field tracking device (14) being installed on a maritime vehicle in the form of a police rescue helicopter (34) and being operable to transmit a geographic location of the device (14) to the operations centre (30) via an antenna (38).
With reference to the operations centre (30) of the system (10), the operations centre (30) has installed thereat a VHF transceiver (22) and a Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application (28) being in operative communication with the VHF transceiver (22) via an operations centre computer module (24), the VHF transceiver (22) of the operations centre (30) being in operative communication with the first VHF transceiver (16) of the first maritime field tracking device (12) and the second VHF transceiver (16.1 ) of the second maritime field tracking device (14), and the Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application (28) being operable to map and display the geographic location (20) of the first field tracking device (12) installed on the police rescue boat (32) and the geographic location (20.1 ) of the second field tracking device (14) installed on the police rescue helicopter (34) in real-time as will become more apparent with reference to figure 2.
Turning to figure 2, reference numeral (200) denotes generally method of tracking maritime vehicles comprising the steps of:
At step (201 ), the geographic location of the first maritime field tracking device (12) is established via the first GPS receiver (20) of the device (12). Next at step (202), the geographic location of the first maritime field tracking device (12) is communicated to the first VHF transceiver (16) of the field tracking device (12) via the tracking device computer module (18) that is implemented using customised assembly language and having installed thereon the tracking device (client-side) software application. Next at step (203), the geographic location of the first maritime field tracking device (12) is transmitted from the first VHF transceiver (16) to the VHF transceiver (22) of the operations centre (30) via the antenna (36).
Likewise, at step (201.1 ), the geographic location of the second maritime field tracking device (14) is established via the second GPS receiver (20.1 ) of the device (14). Next at step (202.1 ), the geographic location of the second maritime field tracking device (14) is communicated to the second VHF transceiver (16.1 ) of the field tracking device (14) via the tracking device computer module (18.1 ) having installed thereon the tracking device (client-side) customised software application. Next at step (203.1 ), the geographic location of the second maritime field tracking device (14) is transmitted from the second VHF transceiver (16.1 ) to the VHF transceiver (22) of the operations centre (30) via the antenna (38).
Next at step (204), the geographic locations of the first and second filed tracking devices (12) and (14) are communicated to the Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application (28) via the operations centre computer module (24) that is implemented using customised assembly language via a communications interface in the form of an RS232 port (26), and at step (206), the geographic locations of the police rescue boat (32) and the police rescue helicopter (34) are mapped and displayed by the Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) customised software application (28) in real-time for the operations centre’s tracking of the geographic locations of the vehicles.
With reference to figure 3, reference numeral (300) denotes, generally, maritime radio tracking system according to another embodiment of the invention.
The system (300) comprises a first maritime field tracking device (12) having a first GPS receiver (20), a first VHF transceiver (16), and a first tracking device computer module (18) having installed thereon a tracking device (client-side) software application, the first GPS receiver (20) being in operative communication with the first VHF transceiver (16) via the first tracking device computer module (18), the first maritime field tracking device (12) and being operable to transmit a geographic location of the device (12) to an operations centre (30) via an antenna (36).
With reference to the operations centre (30) of the system (10), the operations centre (30) has installed thereat a VHF transceiver (22) and a Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application (28) being in operative communication with the VHF transceiver (22) via an operations centre computer module (24), the VHF transceiver (22) of the operations centre (30) being in operative communication with the first VHF transceiver (16) of the first maritime field tracking device (12) and the second VHF transceiver (16.1 ) of the second maritime field tracking device (14), and the Location-based Service (LBS) (server side) software application (28) being operable to map and display the geographic location (20) of the first field tracking device (12).