Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses the purpose of the project, its bound and capabilities, as well

as insights on its development. This also contains the presentation of the problem that the

proponents aim to solve.

Background of the Study

How does weather affect the way we live? This is a very important question.

Weather has a tremendous effect on people’s daily lives. As long as we’re on the topic of

weather, we might as well discuss climate too. It is commonly said, climate is what you

expect or predict, and weather is what you get. As cited in www.scienceline.ucsb.edu

(2014), this is another way of saying that weather represents the conditions at a specific

location on a specific day, while climate is the average conditions over many years. Both

have a great impact on how we live, but climate tends to affect lifestyle, social structure,

and culture, whereas weather affects daily choices.

Weather sometimes have less obvious effects on the way we live. For instance,

weather patterns control the ocean as well as the land. During storms, the most affected

persons are the fishermen. In many cases, fishermen get stranded or caught up in the storm

in the middle of the ocean due to an abrupt change of the weather. This causes many

accidents. Weather patterns can also control fish populations in some areas and have a large
effect on fishermen that harvest these fish as discussed in sciencenewsforstudents.org

(2017).

As reported in GMA News, 71 fishermen rescued while two were declared dead in

Tawi- Tawi due to Typhoon Vinta as announced by the Philippine Coast Guard. These

fishermen were caught up in the storm. "They are veteran fishermen. We also don't know

the actual path of the typhoon so maybe they were caught in between. It's possible that it

strayed a bit since they were able to seek shelter. They know how the necessary precautions

but sometimes incidents like this happen, they were caught up in the middle of the

typhoon," Balilo stated. (December, 2017).

According to Weather Philippines Foundation (2017), weather forecast can

sometimes be wrong or suddenly changes. Forecasts are an approximation considering a

multitude of factors. It takes a supercomputer to corroborate all of these with mathematical

models. With all these factors, Lequiron, a meteorologist at WPF describes weather

forecasting as “95 per cent of it is science, and five per cent is art or gut feel.” What is most

difficult to predict is a thunderstorm. Because the weather suddenly changes, models can

only estimate it within an hour or minutes before it happens. However, based on historical

patterns, they usually occur in the late afternoon between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. So if you see

clear skies after weather bureau PAGASA warns of a thunderstorm, know that predicting

the weather still takes guesswork, even with the latest technology.
 People since nineteenth century became able to predict the environmental

conditions. The only difference between the primitive and the modern system is that the

advancement of technology. The measuring instrument has become miniaturized, efficient,

reliable and more accurate to provide instant weather report without manpower. Weather

being a natural phenomenon always change with the change of different atmospheric

parameters. Still, the average or mean condition can be predicted which ultimately gives

the climate of a geographical area for a long time consideration (Laskar et al, 2016).

The main objective of the WEATHER FORECASTING SYSTEM WITH GSM-

BASED NOTIFICATION AND GPS FOR FISHERMEN is to keep track of the weather

condition at sea. The device will send notification of the gathered data to the authority on

land via GSM. Then the authority will interpret the data and send information to the vessel

on sea. The GPS will locate the vessel in case of trouble.

Objective of the Study

The general objective of the study is to keep track of the weather condition at sea.

The device will be equipped with sensors for detecting different parameters placed in the

vessel that will be linked to the authority on land via GSM. The authority will then inform

the fishermen via GSM.

Specifically, this project aims to:

1. Design a monitoring system with the following features:

a. Sensors that will detect certain parameters e.g. humidity, temperature, and

pressure.

b. A GSM- based system that will notify the authority when the sensors detect

changes in the weather.

c. A control system that will monitor the status of the weather.

d. A GPS for monitoring the location of the fishermen at sea.

2. Fabricate a prototype as designed.

3. Develop a program for the Arduino that shall enable the sensors to detect the

weather condition of a certain location, transmission of the obtained data via

GSM unit and notify the fishermen on sea.

4. Test the prototype of its efficiency and functionality through:

a. The capability of the device to detect the weather through sensors being

placed in the vessel.

b. The capability of the device to monitor and gather data of the different

parameters.

c. The capability of the GPS to locate a stranded vessel in case of emergency.

d. The capacity of the device to send SMS with the data gathered back to the

authority when monitored level of the parameters is beyond the onset

values.

e. The capability of the device to be durable and water-resistant.

f. The response time of the GSM Module to send the data gathered by message

notification.
 5. Evaluate the functionality, reliability, marketability, aesthetics and case of

operation and installation.

Scope and Limitations

The study covers the design, fabrication, and testing of the weather monitoring

system. The device is an active device powered by a power bank. The power bank should

be charged first before using. It uses pressure, temperature and humidity sensors to measure

conditions and combine results. It has a GSM Module programmed for sending and

receiving notifications upon reaching the threshold from the sensors. The GSM will only

send notification when the level monitored leads to a possible bad weather condition. Only

the base station can receive the SMS notification and at the same time can send a message

to the device. Once the message is sent to the GSM Module, a LED will turn on alerting

the fishermen on the vessel about the bad weather condition incoming. In case of no

response several hours after alerting the fishermen if there is a bad weather condition, the

GPS will turn on to locate the vessel. Communication between the device and the mobile

phone will only be possible if there is a network signal in the area and having a sufficient

load balance.