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1. Introduction
Since the beginning of the exploration and the economic exploitation of the oceans the risk of falling of a boat has existed. And even though huge catastrophes such as the sinking of the Titanic have been prepared for with use of lifeboats and other highly developed search and rescue devices. For this reason people travelling or working on large and medium size vessels are unlikely to end up in a Man over Board situation. And indeed statistics and interviews have shown that on these ships experience very little emergencies in the category related to people falling overboard. The majority of personnel injuries and accidents come from collisions with objects at sea, on board crime and equipment malfunction. [1]
Figure 1 - A graph showing the distribution of UK registered fishing vessel accidents from 1992 to 2006
[2]
It is clear from this graph that person overboard has been the biggest contributor to fatalities at sea in comparison to others. Also, it shows that the number of accidents caused by this is two thirds more likely to occur on boats smaller than 24 metres in size. This would directly point to smaller marine fishing and private boats as our target market for our product. The statistics are typical of small fishing and private ships. On these small vessels it is still very likely that a person might fall over board. The biggest trouble with a Man Over Board (MOB) situation is that the crew may not have realised there is a member missing immediately, in which case the vessel might travel a considerable distance from the place of the incident. As a result it can be very hard to locate the person in distress and in most cases by the time this person is located it would be too late if located at all. This is where an MOB safety device would come in. The system sends an alarm to the vessel when someone falls over board, alerting the crew that one of them has fallen over the edge into the water. There are many systems already in place of a variety of different designs and specifications Page 3
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The idea is that there is no physical connection to the boat, instead we have a sensor attached to the person via a self-inflating lifejacket which detects whether they are underwater. We would integrate a switch into the pressure sensor itself that will be triggered send a signal to the boat to alert it of a person that has fallen into the water. This device would be resistant to heavy rain and would only need to be submerged 10 centimeters under water to be triggered[9]. The disadvantage of this exact method is that it might prove to be quite difficult to modify the pressure sensor to add the switch triggering system. The cost of this device would be far too high because it would require the user to replace the entire pressure sensing device each time it is used which has ruled out using this method as it is.
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Pressure Sensor
Emitter Activation
Receiver Antenna
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Battery Contacts
For our receiver we shall use a directional antenna attached to an EVK board mounted upon a rotating platform. It will work in a similar fashion to most widely used animal tracking systems. The reason for the rotating platform is that if the antenna were static and not pointing in the direction of the person overboard it would only detect a weak signal and the entire boat would have to turn in order to find the exact direction. The antenna would initially be immobile and when a signal is detected (whether the antenna is pointing in the correct direction or not it will still detect a signal although it may be weak) the platform will begin to turn until it has found the direction in which the signal strength is at its maximum. It will simultaneously relay a message to the boats central navigation system to log the GPS location and alert the driver that a person has fallen over board. It shall be connected using a simple USB cable that will be attached directly to the antenna base[14]. The antenna will not require any special adaptations to the boat. It will be mounted to the highest, most appropriate position on the boat to maximise the detectable range, and it shall be powered directly from the boats battery ensuring a reliable constant source. Furthermore, for the device to inform the crew of whether they are getting closer there will be a small speaker and LED (Light Emitting Diode) attached to the receiver located in the cabin that will beep and flash, becoming more frequent as the signal strength from the emitter increases indicating that they are nearing the MOB.
5. Pricings
The cost of this device is split into 3 main areas: the emitter, the receiver, and the life jacket clip. The emitter pricing can then be split further into two parts: the float and the emitter itself. Below is a table of pricings for the components needed in the manufacturing process. Page 10
Specification
434MHz chirp beacon Ball float with antenna attachment Directional scanner with AVK board
The bulk of the cost from this device is clearly from the antenna[14]. This would make the initial set up cost high however they are still lower than those of other devices on the market by upwards of 100. Also the individual units for attaching to the lifejacket are cheaper than the cheapest of its competitors which come in at around 50 for the cheapest one if you wish to buy an extra individual device.
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, we have investigated the importance of improved safety on board commercial fishing craft and private boats and it is clear that something drastic needs to be done to lower the rate of fatalities as a result of a person overboard. Probably, the most effective way for this to happen is for much better methods of personnel safety apparatus and some form of regulating the way in which these incidents are detected. The only way to convince fishing companies and private boat owners to invest in MOB protection systems is to find a way to make them more cost effective and less of an irritation for people whilst on the boat. Having lots of extra devices for people to carry or wear clearly isnt working effectively. There are already many different devices that can are in use but none of which are used universally for the safety of the crew on board. Because of this we believe that our method is ideally suited to enter the market and fill the gap in safety equipment which it is evident there is.
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