Method and system for vessel authentication and location validation

A system comprising:

• two or more land based remote receiver stations linked to a central station, each remote receiver station including a respective directional radio receiver, said central station including a computer comprising a processor, an address/data bus coupled to said processor, and a computer-readable memory unit coupled to communicate with said processor, said memory unit containing instructions that when executed by the processor implement a method for authenticating vessel identity and location in a vessel control area;
• detecting a radio transmission from a target vessel in a vessel control area by said radio direction receivers of said two or more land based remote receiver stations, and
• after said detecting, said computer executing the computer implemented steps of:
• determining a time and date of a radio transmission from a target vessel in a vessel control area;
• generating a triangulated geographical location of said radio transmission based only on bearings of said radio transmission from said two or more directional radio receivers;
• extracting and storing a maritime mobile service identity from said radio transmission;
• extracting from said radio transmission a frequency, a power level and a waveform of said radio transmission;
• and
• authenticating or not authenticating said target vessel based on said triangulated geographical location and one or more of said frequency of said radio transmission, said power level of said radio transmission and said waveform of said radio transmission.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a computer useable storage medium having a computer readable program therein, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:
• receive information about a radio transmission from a target vessel in a vessel control area from two or more linked land based directional radio receivers detecting said transmission from said target vessel;
• determine a time and date of said radio transmission from said information;
• generate a triangulated geographical location of said radio transmission based only on bearings of said radio transmission received from said two or more directional radio receivers;
• extract and store a maritime mobile service identity from said information;
• extract from said information a frequency, a power level and a waveform of said radio transmission;
• and
• authenticate or not authenticate said target vessel based on said triangulated geographical location and one or more of said frequency of said radio transmission, said power level of said radio transmission and said waveform of said radio transmission.