Journal of Communication Systems, Networks, and Security (JCSNS)
Vol. 1 No. 1 (2026): April

GPS-Based Proximity Detection System Between Ship and Buoy for Marine Navigation

Muhammad Edo Listiawan (Politeknik Elektronika Negeri Surabaya)
Nihayatus Sa'adah (Politeknik Elektronika Negeri Surabaya)
Nailul Muna (Politeknik Elektronika Negeri Surabaya)
Karimatun Nisa' (Politeknik Elektronika Negeri Surabaya)
Faridatun Nadziroh (Politeknik Elektronika Negeri Surabaya)



Article Info

Publish Date
20 Jul 2026

Abstract

Maritime navigation safety remains a major concern, especially for small vessels that lack advanced navigation aids such as radar or AIS. This study proposes a proximity detection system between a ship and a buoy using GPS data, LoRa communication, and ThingsBoard visualization. The ship node periodically transmits its coordinates through LoRa. In contrast, the buoy node receives the ship position, reads its own GPS coordinates, calculates the separation distance using the Haversine formula, and determines the system status as SAFE or ALERT based on a 50 m threshold. The processed telemetry is then forwarded to a gateway and visualized in real time on ThingsBoard. Experiments were conducted at distances of 10-100 m under two scenarios, with and without an obstacle. In the open-area condition, the system achieved an average percentage error of 3.42%, a mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.82 m, and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.47 m. Under obstacle conditions, the average percentage error increased to 24.07%, with MAE and RMSE values of 6.36 m and 6.93 m, respectively. Communication performance remained stable, with a 200-230 ms delay, RSSI values in the good category, and packet loss between 0% and 10%. These results show that the proposed system can provide an affordable early-warning solution for ship-buoy proximity monitoring.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

jcsns

Publisher

Subject

Description

JCSNS publishes original research articles, review papers, and applied studies covering, but not limited to, the following topics: 1. Telecommunications and Communication Systems Wireless and mobile communication systems Mobile Communications 5G, beyond-5G, and 6G technologies MIMO, OFDM, massive ...