Category: AIS

I mentioned SRT’s amazingly miniaturized Class B and SART AIS modules back in May, but seeing is believing. In that aluminum EMI enclosure at left is a Cobalt Class B transponder complete with precision GPS engine and power supply (the board itself is inset)!  What we’re looking at is smart phone technology applied to a very specific marine use, and it shouldn’t be too long before these modules make AIS less expensive, more powerful, and much easier to integrate with other devices.  But I’m also hearing about a dark cloud looming as the marine world rapidly adopts AIS…

DBE! is my new shorthand for “Don’t Blame Electronics!”  And the collision of Ella’s Pink Lady with the Silver Yang off Queensland, Australia, last September is a terrific example (especially as no one got hurt).  I first heard about it in a Panbo comment focused on the “limits in detectability of Class B AIS” that the Australian Safety Board uncovered, which I’ll discuss after the break.  But I sure hope that the Class B naysayers who may jump on this news actually download and read the full report first.  Then they’ll know that the AIS data collected by a shore station and shown on the above chartlets (click for full size) was available on both vessels, and could have easily been used to prevent the accident…

It’s good to get some solid hand’s on time with the Vesper WatchMate AIS plotter, which I admired when it first appeared, then as it got a built-in receiver option, and finally as seen live in Miami.  And, yes, that is the 750 foot deep water drill ship Stena Forth now anchored in Penobscot Bay for an amazing warranty repair, mentioned in comments this week and to be explored further.  But for a really vivid example of why Vesper’s sophisticated AIS alarming is valuable, consider the Bermuda Race fleet crossing the shipping lanes last night…

One of the very first Class B AIS transponder prototypes — the Shine Micro RadarPlus — was a standalone design, and it seemed to make a lot of sense (though for some reason it never came to market).  It’s a little surprising then that EMA’s new BlueAIS is the first truly available standalone Class B, to my knowledge.  Everything is in that 8-inch square waterproof box, and its single cable — which carries power, RS232 and 422 data feeds, and even “silent mode” switching to a little breakout box (with LED indicators) below — can be had in lengths up to 300 feet.  The configuration purportedly performs very well and because EMI already has a lot of experience with similar standalone marine communications designs, there are numerous mounting options now and some interesting possibilities to come…

Turkey is mandating some 25,000 commercial vessels to carry the unusual Class B AIS transponders seen above, which function like conventional ones but with some special added features. Note the extra SRM message buttons which should help nearby boats and SAR authorities to react quickly to collisions, fires, etc.  Also built into these units is a tracking scheme such that the Turkish government can identify vessels trying to avoid taxes by buying fuel in Greece!  Not only are safety, security, and even revenues driving a rapid increase in AIS mandates, but some amazing new AIS technology is just around the corner.  I learned a lot during a recent lunch with a man who may well know more about the worldwide state of AIS than any other…

Click above for a readable image, and see how blithely an anonymous Sailing Anarchy poster spread AIS misinformation, reinforcing a myth that threatens to curtail adoption of Class B transponders.   After first establishing himself as a sailor who uses an AIS receiver, he writes knowingly (but ignorantly) about specific AIS requirements around the world.  And then comes the doozy: “My recollection is that AIS Class A transceivers fitted to commercial
vessels have a big red IGNORE CLASS B Transceivers button to declutter
their displays and concentrate on avoiding vessels that will do more
than smudge their paint in a collision“.  That’s unadulterated BS on all counts — the big red button DOES NOT EXIST, the watch standers who don’t care about small vessels are rare, and this blowhard has probably never seen a ship’s bridge to “recollect” — but the myth continues to spread…