Usage of a Microcontroller in Security Access Control Onboard Ships

Abstract

Security onboard vessels has always been an important part of life at sea. This has been made more so in the events of 11 September 2001 in New York City, New York, USA. The aim for this paper is to show that with simple electronics like PIC16F84A microcontroller, and a little bit of coding knowhow, the access to sensitive areas onboard a vessel will be closely monitored and controlled by the vessel’s officer in charge of security. Of course, this system doesn’t fully replace basic human intervention. This paper will show a highly simplified system, designed and simulated using the software Proteus, and its designed code that can be expanded, written in PIC C Compiler. This paper does not, however, show a fully working physical model, as the availability of components and time to build up a working physical model is scarce. However, this simulated system can be scaled up and tested first in simulator software, before it can be built up physically and tested on a bench, before installed onboard a real vessel.