Analysis of Active Radio Frequency Identification Systems For Maritime Vessel Security and Registration Operations

Abstract

Abstract

There are approximately 13 million recreational vessels in the US. To operate legally,these vessels must be registered either in their home state or documented with the U.S. Coast Guard. Registration and documentation typically involves the annual or biannual reissue of a small sticker to be affixed on an external location of the vessel hull. Due to the large number of recreational vessels and the difficulty in visually observing the presence of an unexpired vessel registration tag, many states cannot economically maintain an ongoing registration enforcement operation.

This paper describes the design and analysis of an RFID system for marine vessel registration. With this type of system, for the first time, law enforcement and regulatory organizations such as state fish and game agencies can efficiently and economically determine the existence and currency of vessel registration. Analysis indicates that RFID systems can determine the validity of vessel registration 374% faster and 300% more accurately than visual inspection methods. This allows previously unrealized fees and fines to be more easily recovered from expired vessels. In addition, the system also lends itself to the recovery of stolen marine vessels and the tracking of vessels used in illegal activities.