Maximizing Situational Awareness: Improving Situational Awareness with Global Positioning System Data in the Maritime Environment

Abstract

U.S. Coast Guard mission is to daily conduct law enforcement in the dynamic and challenging maritime environment. Rapid advances in technology have the potential to dramatically improve the organization's capacity to conduct this mission. The ability to track and monitor suspect vessels, as well as the law enforcement personnel that board them, is a critical next step in the evolution of Maritime Interdiction. With the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and downward trend of GPS receiver costs and their form size, it is now possible to integrate positioning technology with software collaborative tools and wireless networking. The power of collaboration tools and real time positioning data offers the potential to deliver an entirely new and unique level of situational awareness to the law enforcement teams on the water as well as the command and control structure shore side. No longer does VHF radio need to be the sole form of communication between operational personnel and their commands. This thesis discusses the specific methods available for tagging and tracking individuals and vessels and explore the challenger and feasibility of deploying these technologies in the maritime environment.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA496722

Entities

People

  • J. M. Ferebee

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Satellites
  • Command And Control
  • Command And Control Systems
  • Communication Channels
  • Computer Networks
  • Data Links
  • Global Navigation Satellite Systems
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Inertial Navigation
  • Inertial Navigation Systems
  • Mesh Networks
  • Mobile Devices
  • Mobile Phones
  • Navigation
  • Network Protocols
  • Situational Awareness
  • Smartphones

Readers

  • Maritime Security/Maritime Homeland Security
  • Naval Mine Countermeasure Systems Development.
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control
  • Space