Luddites in the Coast Guard?

CABINET Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth, who uses video conferencing to keep in touch with officials throughout the country on serious issues, conducted such a session on coastal security with Coast Guard chief Anil Chopra and other officials in July. The Coast Guard gave a full-fledged presentation about the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology that will be used to monitor vessel movement in coastal regions. This technology uses radio waves to transfer data from an electronic tag – the RFID tag or label – attached to an object, through a reader. The object is thus identified and tracked.

 

But the Coast Guard did not mention other options, to the surprise of experts in this field. The point is that RFID technology is useful only in maintaining an inventory in the vicinity of a small campus or compound. It cannot be used for monitoring vessels in coastal areas spread over 100 kilometres. The appropriate technology for this would be Global Positioning System (GPS), a space-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that provides location and time data in all weather conditions anywhere on or near the Earth, wherever there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. It is cheaper and more effective than RFID. These are crucial considerations, especially as the government is planning to spend Rs 6500 crore to bolster coastal security.