Marine vessel detection comparing GPRS and satellite images for security applications

Unauthorized and unregistered sea going fishing vessels are being used for criminal activities in the coastal areas. The issue of piracy against merchant ships using illegal fishing vessels poses a significant threat to world shipping. Unfortunately counter piracy efforts and maritime security of our own and other nation enforcement often affects the innocent fishermen who conduct the trans-border fishing. Hence a proper vessel monitoring system is required to protect the maritime security without tampering the routine fishing activity of the sea going fishermen. This paper discusses about the feasibility of a system for the detection of registered marine fishing vessels comparing the satellite images and GPRS signal information. A review on various algorithms for identifying marine boats from satellite images is also conducted in this paper.