Abstract: The Maritime Transport industry in the Philippines has been growing through the years and has been a catalyst in the industrial development of the country. Although the maritime transport sector is one of the largest industries in the country, the safety devices and technology used are sluggish phase to change. The natural hazards and human error are main cause of maritime incidents, resulting to multiple casualties and missing persons every year of which this study seek to address the problem of safety in the maritime transport industry. The study aims to design and develop a system that will locate an overboard1 passenger whenever a vessel is in distress. The Floating Overboard Accident Tracking System (FLOATS) was conceptualized by combining the Search Theory, Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Disaster Preparedness, and the increasing availability of tracking device and monitoring technologies and the advancement of communication systems. The system consists of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for location data, Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications for the transmission and reception of emergency messages, Arduino-Nano microcontroller to handle the processing, the used of an inflatable life jacket with signal light and a rescue update display using an organic light emitting diode (OLED) for the search and rescue operations. Tests and surveys established the functionality, reliability, and acceptability of the system, which will greatly benefit maritime incident responders by securing vessel passengers from hazards and reducing the time allotted through speedy search and rescue operations.

Joel I Miano, Ernesto E. Empig, Alexander R. Gaw, Ofelia S. Mendoza, Danilo C. Adlaon, Sheena B. Cañedo, Roan Duval A. Dangcal and Angelie S. Sumalpong, “Microcontroller-based Vessel Passenger Tracker using GSM System: An Aid for Search and Rescue Operations” International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications(IJACSA), 10(9), 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2019.0100933

@article{Miano2019,
title = {Microcontroller-based Vessel Passenger Tracker using GSM System: An Aid for Search and Rescue Operations},
journal = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
doi = {10.14569/IJACSA.2019.0100933},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2019.0100933},
year = {2019},
publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
volume = {10},
number = {9},
author = {Joel I Miano and Ernesto E. Empig and Alexander R. Gaw and Ofelia S. Mendoza and Danilo C. Adlaon and Sheena B. Cañedo and Roan Duval A. Dangcal and Angelie S. Sumalpong}
}