IoT Aboard Coastal Vessels: A Case Study in the Fishing Industry

摘要

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies provide promising opportunities to organizations through connecting and enabling collaborations among physical objects, devices, systems, platforms and applications. However, there is a lack of sufficient research exploring IoT in the fishing industry, especially in smaller fishing vessels operating in remote and rural areas. Hence, through a case study, this paper investigates the benefits and challenges of an Internet-based refrigerated sea water (RSW) system aboard the fishing vessel Storegg in Norway. RSW systems ensure keeping the catch cooled in certain temperatures until it is delivered to the consumer. Several factors affect the catch quality and price, and one of them is how the fish was chilled during the whole supply-chain operations. Our findings illustrate how a 450 MHz band can provide an inexpensive and low-latency Internet connection to fishing vessels, which enables IoT technologies in remote areas such as the Norwegian coastline. In addition, the results show that virtual private networks (VPNs) can be used to secure access in IoT, and can improve existing RSW-systems' security. After implementing the RSW-system, Storegg gained timely remote vendor support, which in turn increased the systems' uptime, and dwindled the risk of losing fish quality and revenues, however, also the case study suggests that security is a critical factor for fishery with serious consequences. Our findings also insinuate that there is currently a significant focus on extending Internet connections and coverage at the Norwegian coast, and that digitalization is at the top of the agenda in the Norwegian fishing industry.