Sigtech develops system to monitor coastal security

A Kerala-based company has come out with a wireless solution which it claims can help authorities deal with a variety of offshore emergencies.

It is called Comprehensive Vessel Monitoring and Security System (CVMS), developed by Sigtech Wireless Technologies based in Technopark here.

The system is designed to identify the location of incoming ships and warn fishing vessels in proximity, says Vimal Gracian, director, Sigtech.

INTEROPERABLE SYSTEM

It is also interoperable with the ship’s communication system to contact it either from the vessel or through shore station in case of a warning detection.

The warning detection is automatically generated by the software and sent to the concerned vessel, Gracian said.

CVMS supports passport identification process by which a security agency vessel can query the identity of ships in the vicinity and ascertain whether they are authorised to operate in that area.

This helps the agency assess the security threat, if any, from an inbound vessel on its radar system. The system may be integrated with the existing radar system to enhance monitoring.

The command and control can issue directions to a fishing vessel to identify passports of nearby vessels and report it back.

‘GEO FENCING’

This can be done without the intervention of the mobile operator in the fishing vessel. The system supports what Gracian calls ‘geo fencing’ by virtue of which a ship can be warned if it operates in areas not allocated to it.

Geo fencing can work within a group or on an individual vessel. The geo fencing location can also be set dynamically.

These and other facilities can be used to communicate with ships to avoid accidental collisions and other such incidents, Gracian said.

The network administrator is enabled to track vessels. Each vessel can be identified by the unique id supplied by the agency in charge of the network.

The system is designed to generate automatic distress call signalling between vessels and to the shore.

INFAMOUS EPISODES

Vulnerabilities in the country’s coastal security regime have come to be exposed glaringly on more than one occasion in the recent past.

The western seaboard alone witnessed two infamous episodes with distinctly varied implications for life and property in the neighbourhood.

While armed guards on Italian vessel Enrica Lexie shot at and killed two fishermen in the Kerala waters, seaborne terrorists from across the border perpetrated carnage in Mumbai.