We are excited to share a groundbreaking development in marine safety, showcasing the integration of Thinger.io in a new research project by the Department of Marine Science and Technology at IPB University, Indonesia. This innovative project involves the development of a LoRa-based long-range traceable life jacket system aimed at enhancing the safety of small-scale fishermen.
This innovative project involves the development of a LoRa-based long-range traceable life jacket system aimed at enhancing the safety of small-scale fishermen.
Study
What Does It Solve?
The system addresses a critical need for tracking the locations of fishermen during sea emergencies. By leveraging LoRa technology, which facilitates long-distance communication up to 15 km, the system ensures that the coordinates of fishermen are reliably transmitted and monitored.
Research Utility
- Fishermen Safety🦺: Provides an effective tracking solution to swiftly locate fishermen during emergencies, significantly reducing mortality rates associated with fishing accidents
- Remote Monitoring📡: Thinger.io platform transmits and displays coordinates in real-time, accessible from any internet-connected device.
- Efficient and Durable 💪: The life jacket system boasts impressive battery life and signal reliability, maintaining performance over long distances and under challenging conditions.
Key Results
- Operational Range 📶: Achieved effective transmission up to 12.983 km with consistent RSSI values.
- Battery Life 🔋: Ensured up to 5.99 hours of continuous operation for the transmitter, providing ample time for rescue operations.
- Real-Time Data Visualization 🖥️: The Thinger.io platform facilitates live map views and data logging, enhancing the monitoring process.
Here´s how Thinger.io is utilized
The IOT Thinger.io platform plays a crucial role in this research by providing a robust and user-friendly interface for real-time data visualization and monitoring.
- Real-Time Data Transmission 📍: The life jackets GPS module transmits the coordinates via the LoRa module to the receiving station. An ESP32 microcontroller connected to the internet via WiFi uploads the data to the Thinger.io cloud platform.
- Data Buckets ➡️ : All raw data recorded by the life jacket is displayed and stored in data buckets on Thinger.io. Additionally, This allows researchers to download the data in .csv format for detailed analysis.
- Live Mapping 🗺️: Thinger.io live map feature displays the real-time location of the life jackets. Tracking the life jacket’s movement live is crucial during rescue operations, as long as it transmits data.
- Dashboard Customization 🎨: Researchers can customize dashboards to present data in various formats, making the information easily interpretable. This includes graphical representations and real-time updates, enhancing decision-making during emergencies.
This research shows that combining LoRa and thinger.io can greatly enhance marine safety for small-scale fishermen.
Conclusions
This study utilized a LoRa-based long-range tracked life jacket instrument with a GPS module to obtain and subsequently transmit coordinate positions. The results show that RSSI weakens with distance and obstructions like trees, suggesting LoRa suits marine areas without surface obstacles. The LoRa module successfully reached a maximum distance of 12,983 meters, while future research aims to develop smaller instruments with custom antennas to maintain transmission capabilities.
This research demonstrates the potential of combining LoRa technology with the robust capabilities of thinger.io to significantly improve marine safety for small-scale fishermen.
