Aerial Remote Radio Frequency Identification System for Small-Vessel Monitoring

Abstract

This MBA Professional Report proves the feasibility of using aircraft-mounted RFID antennas to detect commercially available Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags affixed to small vessels. The project was conducted because monitoring small vessels in US coastal and inland waters is considered a gap in homeland security, as well as problematic for marine resource managers tasked with enforcing sanctuary and fishing regulations. The premises of the project are that 1) RFID tags are less invasive and more cost effective than other current methods of proposed monitoring, 2) airborne platforms can monitor areas of interest faster and more efficiently than surface-based monitoring systems, and 3) small-vessel registration numbers can be electronically associated with the serial number of the affixed RFID tag. The cost of tagging each vessel is low (around $50 per vessel), and the tag number of any vessel could be read remotely from 0.3 to 0.5 nautical miles (nm) away. The agency reading the tag would be able to retrieve the associated vessel registration information from a national database through a back-end data-link system. This system could improve coastal and port security by providing remote monitoring of real-time vessel location information and could enable improvements in resource management methods by enabling correlation of location and identification data for recreational vessels engaged in natural resource use.