Geographically Selective Maritime Messaging

Abstract

A process for initiating maritime radio communication, directed toward the recipient vessel's location, and exclusive of all other vessels outside the geographically-defined box. An airborne electro-optical or infrared sensor detects the presence of vessels in the maritime domain. Established geolocation techniques are employed to determine the approximate geographical location (latitude and longitude) of the target vessel. The derived geographical location of the target vessel is used to encode a Digital Selective Calling (DSC) Geographical Area Call, in the Very High Frequency (VHF) band, for the purpose of establishing radio communications. The process allows for geographically selective communications without previous knowledge of the target vessel's Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) and without the target vessel's assistance in determining its geographical location.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.