Technical Session 6 – e-Navigation – Part 2

Technical Session 6 – e-Navigation – Part 2

e-Navigation and future AtoN development planning, Jin Shengli, China Maritime Safety Administration

Presented by Wenhua Li (China MSA).
e-Navigation represents an effective means and inevitable trend in promotion of navigational safety and prevention of disastrous pollution in the days to come.  The planning and construction of aids to navigation, a vital part of shore-based e-Navigation system, is a pressing task for all coastal state governments.  This presentation, based on the experience of AtoN construction in China and utilization of risk management tools, analyzes the requirements of e-Navigation for the shore-based AtoN system, and discusses the direction for navigational service along the coast in the next 5 to 10 years in China and puts forth the objective of a development program.  It can also be used as a reference for other AtoN authorities in the planning and construction of their aids to navigation systems.
The key points of the presentation were:
1    Aids to Navigation, Hydrography and electronic navigation charts constitute an essential part of a future e-Navigation system.  AtoN and hydrographic authorities play an important role in the construction, promotion and implementation of IMO’s e-Navigation strategy.
2    Making a systematic developing program, through needs identification, risk assessment, aimed to identify the gap between the present situation and the future e-Navigation requirements.  Further to clarify the investment area, i.e. what we shall research and what we shall construct.
3    China MSA ’target to implement the e-Navigation in 2020: to provide high accuracy positioning system based on GPS and Compass (Bei Dou) satellite, to build up an ENC-based integrated information platform collecting and broadcasting to users the meteorological, tidal, current information and information regarding AtoN condition; to construct a national AIS data centre providing dynamic monitoring of ships within 60nm from the coast.
4    User need is important, and the technology development is also crucial.  Government co-operation in developing the core technology and is vital to promote the implementation of the e-Navigation strategy.

Radionavigation and Communications - The building blocks of e-Navigation, Mr Peter Douglas and Mr Alan Stewart, Northern Lighthouse Board, Mr Bill Kautz, United States Coast Guard

Presented by Mr Peter Douglas and Mr Bill Kautz.
At a relatively early stage of the development of e-Navigation, the three key components of the concept were identified as:
•    Electronic Navigation Chart (ENC) coverage of navigational areas;
•    a robust electronic position, navigation and timing system (with redundancy); and
•    an agreed infrastructure of communications to link ship and shore.
Of these components, the first is considered to be outwith the control of IALA members; however the latter two will be contributed to by IALA members, either during the specification phase, or by ongoing operation of the relevant technologies.  Both were addressed in the presentation, which summarised the work of the Technology for e-Navigation (WG2) and the Communications (WG4) Working Groups of the e-Navigation Committee.
The key points of the presentation were:
1    Criticality of robust, redundant PNT information within e-Navigation.
2    Criticality of agreed and internationally available communications bands to support e-Navigation.

The Notion of the Universal Maritime Data Model and its Implications, Mr Jan-Hendrik Oltmann, German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration

Presented by Mr Jan-Hendrik Oltmann.
Before the advent of IMO's e-Navigation concept there were several attempts to harmonize and standardize some kinds of electronic and digital information exchange between ships and shore, such as ENC data exchange or radio communication systems like DSC, MF, DGNSS, and AIS.
However, the ship-side and the shore-side were mostly considered separate ‘worlds’ in terms of electronic data exchange and data handling until recently.  This situation was fostered by the missing integration of different systems both onboard and ashore, and by the broad distribution of proprietary manufacturer solutions, which focused on a single system alone.  The outcome was a variety of solutions which work fine as stand-alone but did not work together.
Global digital data exchange systems such as the GMDSS/DSC can be construed as an early vanguard of the need for a universal harmonization regarding both electronic and digital data exchange.  But only the advent and implementation of the universal and now maturing concepts and systems like the INS, ECDIS and the AIS as well as the increased and still increasing demand for national, supra-national and even global shore-based data exchange constitute fresh and powerful driving forces for more harmonization regarding the data exchange by electronic means digitally:  With the growing information exchange the need for harmonization has grown as well.
Therefore, harmonization of electronic, digital information exchange rightly features prominently within IMO's definition of e-Navigation.  For the same reason, IMO identified a ‘Common Maritime Information/Data Structure’ as a ‘high-level user need’ within their e-Navigation strategy.
IMO invited IALA to participate in the development and implementation of their e-Navigation strategy.  Hence, in fulfilment of IMO's above stated user requirement, IALA developed the notion of the Universal Maritime Data Model (UMDM) and the concept of the Universal Data Object Identifier (UDOI).
The UMDM will contain a universal and harmonized description of information/data relevant for the maritime community, i.e. a so-called "data model" in IT parlance.  Each information/data object would be identifiable by a unique identifier, hence Universal Data Object Identifier.  Using these universally harmonized data modelling on the abstract plane, the e-Navigation architecture and also the individual systems within the scope of e-Navigation both onboard and ashore could benefit.
The presentation outlined the state of development of the UMDM and its benefits.
The key points of the presentation were:
1    Proposed IALA e-Navigation stack.
2    IALA Universal Maritime Data Model (UMDM).
3    IALA Maritime Data Exchange Format (MDEF).
4    Universal Data Object Identifier (UDOI).
5    IALA Common Shore Based System Architecture (CSSA).

Putting the shore-based e-Navigation system architecture to work - a ten years experience report, Mr Dirk Eckhoff, German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration

Presented by Mr Dirk Eckhoff.
The German Waterways and Shipping Administration's mandate is to maintain and enhance safety and efficiency of vessel traffic and to protect the maritime environment.  In order to fulfil this mandate, over the past decades large efforts have been made to provide shipping with Aids-to-Navigation (including VTS), and to provide the VTS operators with a real-time traffic image, mainly based on radar.
About a decade ago most of the systems had to be renewed soon and AIS had to be integrated.  At the same time the operators´ and stakeholders´ needs for more and comprehensive information increased while budgets and personnel resources decreased.
It was recognized, that a completely new approach to the shore-based technical system design and for its technical operation was required (cf. presentations at IALA Conferences 2002 and 2006).
The design process was launched about eight years ago with an holistic approach.  Based on information flow derived from user requirements one system was designed integrating all AtoN including VTS also covering maintenance and life-cycle management aspects.
There were amendments necessary to the organisational set-up of the administration, new system functions had to be described, and a new way of thinking was imposed, the object-oriented paradigm.
At the time, the term ‘e-Navigation’ was unknown and IMO's initiative was not foreseen.  However, in hindsight, it turned out that the German administration pioneered a real life implementation of a system with e-Navigation along the lines of the shore-based system architecture.
Due to the application of the new holistic approach the German administration encountered both beneficial and challenging results, some of which with an unforeseen degree of success on one hand and necessary beforehand discussions on the other hand.
This presentation covered issues encountered and potential solutions found in the process.  It gave a report on ‘lessons learned’ which may be helpful for the future implementation of e-Navigation internationally.
The key points of the presentation were:
1    There were various triggers for the development of a system structure: technical, operational, personnel.
2    Therefore the development of a shore-based e-Navigation like system architecture started 10 years ago with a holistic approach.
3    Not only changes in the system structure but also in respect to paradigm, methods, organisation, management were done.
4    Presented are the steps from the idea for one shore based system to the present phase of realisation.
5    The report includes the actions, reactions and lessons learned during the 10 years of implementation.

Discussion – Technical Session 6 – Part 2 (papers 6 – 9)

Asked if e-Loran is part of R-Mode and what is the situation regarding the receivers on board of R-Mode systems.  Peter Douglas answered that e-Loran can indeed be introduced as an R-Mode system and can be used at least for timing of the other R-Mode systems.  At this stage there is no active programme on research on those systems and there is no receiver on test to his best knowledge.
Jan-Hendrik Oltmann, responding to a question, said that the difference contained in the notions of UMDM and of VTM, which both addressed all the information needs, is that the first belongs to the engineering domain as the second belongs to the operational domain.
Lee Alexander was asked if IALA-NET is included in the list of systems he listed as part of e-Navigation and that are potentially available.  He answered that no system should be excluded but his knowledge of that particular system is too little to be more precise at this stage.  On IALA-NET, Omar Frits Eriksson added that IALA-NET, for the time being, is a system for the global exchange of AIS data between administrations, but it is not excluded that in the future the system is expanded to other exchange of data.
Jon-Leon Ervik indicated that during the last IMO COMSAR Sub-Committee, Ukraine submitted a paper which received a lot of support to provide updated information directly to ECDIS, which is an important IHO matter in the development of e-Navigation.
Responding to a question on the responsibility of the master when the pilot is on board in an e-Navigation environment, Neil Trainor said that obviously the Master has to stay in command but, indeed, communications between the pilot, using his pilot unit, and the master, remain to be (re)organised.