Real-Time Fleet Ship Monitoring System Using Satellite Broadband Communications and Google Earth

This work describes the development of a monitoring system for vessels from the Marine Technology Unit (UTM) of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) and draws on the graph capabilities and the potential access to remote data that is offered by Google Earth and the new satellite data transmission capabilities installed on-board. Performance analysis is carried out at several critical points of the system, in terms of data processing and networking. This development is a product of a more ambitious acquisition project that deals with the modeling and acquisition of oceanographic data led by a working group at the UTM and the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya. This system, with minor variations in implementation, can be adopted to monitor a greater number of mobile units while at the same time remain sufficiently flexible to be used as a didactic teaching tool for schools and universities.