ANN Computer System to Support the Decision of Small Yacht Masters in Distress Situations for establish Radio Communication while sailing in Western Caribbean Sea Waters Area

The waters of the western Caribbean Sea are some of the most popular sailing waters in the world. A warm climate almost all year round and many exotic, tourist-attractive ports provide theoretically very good sailing conditions. Many small yachts only have radio communication equipment operating on VHF/MF frequencies. Unfortunately, their effective operating range is limited. This poses a problem if there is a threat to life or property on board such a yacht. In such dangerous situations, it is necessary to call for the assistance of MRCCs nearby. In the absence of range and higher grade radio communication equipment (e.g. HF) such a call may be ineffective. This paper describes the idea of a new radio communication system to support the decision of a small touristic yacht Master sailing in the western Caribbean Sea area, in a distress situation, when it is necessary to urgently call for rescue from the MRCC Marine Rescue Coordination Center. The system is based on the use of the ANN artificial neural network method. The paper describes the ANN computational model and also presents an example of how the new decision-support system works for a yacht Master in a specific situation simulating a distress situation while sailing in the western Caribbean Sea, with the radio communication areas A1, A2, Sea Canal, harbours and at preset position of a small tourist yacht. The result of the calculations was to determine the distance and time required to reach the nearest area to establish radio communication with the MRCC SAR using VHF/MF radio equipment to call for rescue, and to determine the value of the new optimum corrected course for the tourist yacht.