Wireless temperature logging technology for the fishing industry

Abstract

A system for autonomous temperature logging of fish catches is described. The system is completely wireless and is comprised of a number of loggers, in individual fish boxes, and a base station, assigned to a particular trawler. The temperature of the fish is monitored by the loggers, which contain a thermistor and RF transmitter circuitry. The data is sent at fixed intervals (usually 5 minutes) to the base station. Through a GSM modem, the base station communicates the collected data to the shore where a server uploads the temperature-time information to a database. The database and controlling software are completely Web-based and can be accessed by an Internet-enabled PC, laptop or PDA. This allows remote initiation and control of the system, in addition to querying of the database. To date, successful trials have been conducted for salmon, mackerel and whelk fishing off the Irish coast.