Abstract: A new type of multifunctional Emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) based on BeiDou positioning and short message communication technology was designed to overcome the shortcomings of poor positioning accuracy and single function of traditional EPIRB and meet the needs of informatization and intelligence of fishing boats. Firstly, the hardware of EPIRB were carried out. Secondly, the yaw angle simulation experiment of EPIRB in the extreme sea conditions and the message transmission and reception test were performed, and a short message sending mechanism based on the EPIRB attitude under different attitudes are proposed. Finally, experiments are conducted to verify the mechanism, and the experimental results show that the short message sending mechanism based on the EPIRB attitude can improve effectively the short message delivery rate, and the multifunctional BeiDou EPIRB designed in this paper has a good promotion prospect in the application of smart fishing boats.