Over the next several years, commercial vessels world-wide, operating on the high seas and in coastal and inland waterways, will begin to carry new technology, known as automatic identification systems (AIS), that promises to enhance the safety of navigation and allow traffic managers to do their jobs more safely and effectively. AIS is essentially a communications medium that automatically provides vessel position and other data to other vessels and shore stations and facilitates the communication of vessel traffic management and navigational safety data from designated shore stations to vessels. The onboard “AIS unit” (which consists of a VHF-FM transceiver, an assembly unit, and a communications transceiver) continuously and automatically broadcasts identification, location, and other vessel voyage data, and receives messages from other ships and shore stations. Three functions have been identified by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for AIS: (a) to serve as a collision-avoidance tool while the system is operating in the vessel-to-vessel mode, (b) to provide information about a vessel and its cargo to local authorities who oversee waterborne trade, and (c) to assist those authorities engaged in vessel traffic management. As AIS technology and its applications evolve, additional useful and beneficial functions of AIS will most likely also evolve. (Author/publisher)
Abstract