Vessel Control and Monitoring

I have for some time been thinking and experimenting with the idea of a modern tech solution to vessel control and monitoring. Advances in IoT (Internet of Things) technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy and MQTT have proven sufficiently motivating to put together a high-level specification for a PoC system;

Functional Overview

The VCM is envisaged to be a low cost system to offer the DIY marine enthusiast a modern technology solution to web/app based vessel control and monitoring. Using popular microcontroller/electronics and cloud and mobile application technologies the system requires only a modicum of electrical integration to offer an evaluation level monitoring and control system for further development.

Features;

· Mobile control of vessel solid-state relays for remote activation of lights, heating etc.

· Using direct sensor connection and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) various sensors can be deployed around the vessel for status and alerts such as temperature and humidity.

· Vessel to user alerts for bilge pump activation, geofence, intruder alerts etc.

· Internet of Things (IoT) scalability

VCM is built around the MQTT Protocol – designed for low energy use case telemetry requirements for message publishing and subscribing. Common BLE sensors can be deployed wirelessly alongside directly wired inputs to the system for maximum flexibility. Vessel monitoring information and control messages are integrated with a (custom?) mobile app through Amazon Web Services IoT cloud platform ( AWS IoT).

System Overview

VCM consists of five primary sub-systems;

Microcontroller

· Vessel deployed ESP32

· Receives and publishes MQTT messages from vessel sensors (BLE and direct) to cloud

· Subscribes to app originated MQTT messages for relay control

· Publishes relay status MQTT messages for closed-loop accuracy to cloud (on/off)

· Integrated 3.3v UPS for system continuity - Recommend 4G/5G router has similar UPS protection

Relay board

· Vessel deployed MOSFET

· Solid state relays for robust control of vessel loads

· Low voltage local pushbutton toggle of relay state for vessel on-off override

· Relay status closed-loop feedback to microcontroller

· Local load circuit breaker protection if required, i.e. directly fed from battery

Sensors

· Vessel deployed

· BLE or hard-wired

· Analogue and digital inputs to microcontroller

Mobile app

· User mobile deployed

· Existing MQTT based apps available for PoC/development

· Publish and subscribe MQTT messaging to IoT cloud

· Further development of vessel focused GUI

IoT Cloud

· Cloud deployed, AWS IoT platform

· Broker for all vessel/app MQTT messages

· Certificated TLS for secure microcontroller connection

API/SDK for data process/presentation