Knowing the whereabouts of a commercial ship in real time has always been an elusive goal of the maritime industry until recently. In 2004, the quest became a whole lot easier with the introduction of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) system internationally. Originally designed as a pure collision avoidance tool, AIS has quickly become a key tool in the location of commercial ships around the world.
which pick up data from up to 2,500 ports in more than 100 countries. These stations pick up data from up to 27,000 commercial ships per day.
It works by having an AIS transponder fitted to the vessel which is connected to the ships GPS unit. Every 2 to 10 seconds the transponder broadcasts out a message over VHF with a variety of information including latitude and longitude, course, heading and speed and then every 6 minutes the transponder sends out the static data for the vessel such as the name, IMO number (the unique ID for the vessel issued by Lloyd’s Register Fairplay on behalf of the IMO) and the main dimensions of the vessel.
Taking the AIS technology a step further, it is now possible to remotely monitor any location in the world where sub sea cables come to land (for example) by using a simple AIS receiver set up. This consists of a dual channel AIS receiver, an antenna which ideally is tuned for the 2 AIS frequencies, a small TCP/IP converter which we pre-programme with a unique ID and the various cables required to connect over the internet to our servers. All that is required on a local basis is a suitable vantage point for the antenna and an ADSL connection and within seconds of switching on, the area could be monitored. The same technology and standards apply whether the station is in Djibouti or Dublin.
This is invaluable information on a local basis for the vessels that encounter each other in the fog. However the real power of this data comes when you can leverage the data against other sources of data, such as the location of assets like oil rigs, windfarms or of particular interest to this publication, subsea cables. Lloyd’s Register Fairplay through AISLive has been working with cable operators to protect their cables for the last couple of years with a good degree of success. In a typical day….
Real-time Cableship Tracking is Alive! 36
by Ron Crean
On an hourly basis we take a snapshot of all global activity. This works out to be 10 million ship movements per month and as the network grows on a monthly basis so does the amount of ship movements that we store. We have this information going back for up to 4 years. We have around 500 stations around the world
There are a wide variety of uses for the AIS data that we receive. These range from shipowners tracking their own fleets to coast guards monitoring traffic on their coasts and a myriad of other uses in between.
There are a variety of ways to use the AIS data and one company we have worked with a lot over the last 4 years is ICAN Marine who are a Canadian company that specialize in navigation software. They typically install whole country AIS networks and provide consultancy for coastguards for example. To illustrate how we work together for the sub sea cable community, we have a brief overview of how we can tackle a very common problem in a cost effective way. The problem An undersea cable has been cut. The cable’s owners are trying to piece together the probable cause of the cut. The owners did not have access to real-time vessel position data, and now do not have ready access to historical vessel position data in the area of the cut cable.