TouchThink Custom Industrial All-in-One PC: Transformed into Fishery Early Warning Terminal for Fishing Vessel Safety

Industry Overview

After the marine closed fishing period in August and September, fishing vessels in various area will successively resume operations. At this time, fishing boats are densely moving around. Coupled with the changeable maritime weather, heavy frog and narrow waterways often leads to frequent collision accidents, which not only easily cause economic losses, but also threaten the lives of fishermen.

Fishery safety is related to the development of people’s livehood. Therefore, there is an urgent need to use digital methods to enhance the active safety protection of fishing vessels and comprehensively promote disaster reduction and efficiency improment in the marine economy.

Industry Requirements

An intelligent maritime navigation support enterprise approached TouchThink, hoping to customize and develop a comprehensive early warning display and control terminal for fishing vessels. Leveraging the hardware capabilities of industrial all-in-one computers and combining the client’s core technology of “marine big data”, this terminal aims to integrate navigation, collision avoidance, supervision, and communication, thereby enhancing the perception capability and early warning efficiency of fishing vessels.

The client’s performance requirements for the industrial all-in-one computer are as follows:

• It must be able to withstand harsh maritime challenges such as high salt, high humidity, vibration, and large temperature differences.
• The screen of the all-in-one computer must remain clearly visible around the clock, even in strong maritime light or dim environments.
• Sufficient computing power is required to process multi-source information (radar, AIS, electronic charts, etc.) in real-time.
• Rich I/O interfaces and wireless WiFi/4G connectivity are needed to achieve integrated access of multiple devices and information.
• It must fulfill the client’s customized ideas regarding appearance, buttons, and installation methods.
• It must obtain the IEC 60945 certification for marine navigation electronic equipment.
• It must be robust and durable, meeting the needs of long-term operations and cost control.

Recommended TouchThink IPC Products

Based on its embedded all-in-one computer model TPC173-W2, TouchThink, leveraging its in-depth understanding of application scenarios and strong hardware design capabilities, has tailor-made a new generation of fully customized comprehensive early warning display and control terminal for fishing vessels:

▶ The intuitive and user-friendly interactive interface

TPC173-W2 supports a full HD resolution of 1920*1080, a 170° wide viewing angle, and 10-point capacitive touch. It is easy to observe, operable even with wet hands, and reduces the burden of terminal operation. A customized brightness adjustment knob on the front panel is designed to adapt to day and night light changes, conforming to fishermen’s operating habits and demands for simple use. Equipped with a 17.3-inch 16:9 touchscreen, it can overlay and display radar ARPA, electronic charts, AIS, and other heading and speed information, and supports split-screen display of video streams. This facilitates navigation observation and reminders of crew violations, thereby reducing the probability of dangers.

▶ The high-performance hardware architecture

TPC173-W2 to be equipped with an Intel® Core™ i3 processor, 8GB of memory, and a 128GB SSD. It supports Windows/Linux operating systems, allowing for in-depth integration of various navigation and auxiliary navigation system software. With fast running speed and large storage capacity, it ensures that tasks such as radar signal processing, AIS target tracking, chart rendering, and video monitoring are performed quickly and smoothly, guaranteeing zero delay for critical early warning information.

In this case, the TPC173-W2 features dual Gigabit Ethernet, an upgrade to 4 COM ports, and an industrial terminal module, enabling simultaneous connection to sensors and collectors such as Beidou, GPS, radar, electronic charts, AIS, video cameras, and meteorological instruments. The built-in miniPCIe allows expansion of multiple network communication methods including WiFi, 4G, Bluetooth, and satellite, truly realizing ship-shore interaction and emergency communication. This significantly enhances the perception capability and response speed of fishing vessels, and strengthens navigation safety.

▶ Comprehensive customization support

Relying on rich experience in project customization and strong technical resources, TouchThink provides TPC173-W2 with full customization services according to customer needs, including the overall machine structure, function buttons, logo silk-screen printing, mounting base, and certification design (meeting the IEC 60945 standards for marine navigation electronic equipment through safety and reliability design). These services can highly meet customers’ personalized functional requirements and the needs of maritime application scenarios, maximizing product value.

▶ Powerful environmental adaptability and cost advantages

TPC173-W2 boasts strict industrial-grade safety performance. Its front panel features an IP65 dustproof and waterproof enclosure, and can be upgraded with full lamination to prevent dust and moisture erosion. The casing is made of aluminum alloy, and the motherboard is protected by a three-proof coating, making it resistant to seawater and salt corrosion. The entire machine has passed reliability tests such as wide temperature range (-10℃~60℃), wide voltage input (DC12-36V), high-intensity shock resistance, anti-electromagnetic interference, anti-static, overvoltage, overcurrent and short-circuit protection. With 360° comprehensive protection from the inside out, it can adapt to harsh maritime operating environments, is sturdy and durable, reduces maintenance frequency and costs, and brings excellent economic benefits to customers.

TouchThink Industrial Touchscreen Panel PC Achievements

This project represents a successful practice of the intelligent upgrading of TouchThink’s industrial display and control device in the field of fishery safety. It provides reliable hardware support for the construction of smart fishing ports and digital fisheries, and has become an important part of reducing maritime safety accidents and boosting the high-quality development of port and shipping economy.