Rhode Island Patent of the Month – April 2023
Most modern boats and ships are equipped with multiple on-board operational systems for operation and control. This includes bilge pumps, multiple engines, and location tracking systems. However, these vehicles face harsh environments with high moisture content, salt exposure, and rough weather. With this limiting factor, Siren Marine, Inc. identified a need for the ability to remotely monitor the status of these operational systems.
After identifying the need, Siren Marine developed a data transmission system designed to remotely transmit data from ships. The remote monitoring of operational systems of ships and boats can ensure smooth operation, prevent damage to the boat, and give peace of mind to the boat owner.
Traditional systems, like a cellular Internet of Things (IoT) system designed to handle small but frequent transmissions over a cellular network, have limitations, particularly with the amount of data collected from the operational systems, which generally exceeds the throughput capability of some IoT connections. Siren Marine’s invention overcomes these limitations by dynamically creating data channels based on the plurality of operational systems and performing a volatility assessment to determine when to save the data for transmission to the cloud network and when to transmit the data to the cloud network.
Siren Marine’s method allows for the limit of transmitted data to the minimum necessary to report significant conditions for only those ship systems present. The processor can create new channels in the device and in the cloud network for the plurality of operational systems. Also, the processor can link sensor data to pre-existing channels and create a new channel when unknown operational systems are identified or detected.
Unknown operational systems can be identified when an incoming PGN is not linked to an existing channel. The plurality of operational systems can be selected from a group comprising: engine, fluid tanks, depth finders, bilge sensors, bilge pumps, wind sensors, location tracking and positioning devices, gyroscopic stabilization systems, GPS sensors, security systems, environment sensors, power systems, geo-fence sensors, battery monitoring sensors, engine metrics sensors, security sensors, shore power sensors, temperature sensors, remote switching sensors, and fluid tank sensors.
This invention enables smooth sailing, increased safety and reliability, and improved customer satisfaction. The marine industry can now monitor and transmit sensor data from a plurality of operational systems while creating new channels for unknown systems. Siren Marine’s technology allows for the best possible protection for boats, crew, and cargo in harsh marine environments.
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