Technical Session 7A – e-Navigation and Emerging Technologies
Chair: Mr Jorge Arroyo (USA)
Vice Chair Mr Christian Lagerwall (Sweden)
Virtual Aid to Navigation - What are we waiting for??, Mr Michael Skov, Danish Maritime Safety Administration
Presented by Mr Michael Skov.
‘Denmark replaces all traditional Aids to Navigation with Virtual Aids to Navigation!’
This statement is a provocation, I know, and it is not likely to be true in the near future. We have a lot of unsolved challenges such as integrated bridge system ability to display virtual AIS as an AtoN symbol. Furthermore it is important to realise that shipping, as modern as it seems to be, is very conservative and changes are not implemented over night.
The presentation showed examples where virtual AtoN were used for submerged wrecks. Although safety messages were used, several vessels passed quite close to the wreck position. This showed that virtual AtoN were not as successful, in these cases, as was expected.
Virtual waypoints have also been used in an attempt to get ships to alter course at a particular waypoint in a new traffic separation scheme. However, this was discontinued after a few weeks as vessels were not altering and going aground.
Virtual AIS was used on a buoy in the Drogden Channel. However, one ship did hit the buoy in spite of this.
Virtual AIS as an AtoN is just another tool in our AtoN toolbox and it can be used by itself successfully in some cases and together with other aids in other cases such as marking of fairways in certain areas. It is important to take up the challenge with the gaps in display requirements, symbology and recognition by mariners and to use virtual AIS in combination with safety related messages for emergency response purposes. Virtual Aids will not yet replace the conventional ones although they are very useful in emergency response cases.
The key points of the presentation were:
1 Virtual AIS as emergency response.
2 Virtual AIS waypoints.
3 Virtual AIS as an Aid to Navigation.
4 Synthetic AIS on offshore structures.
5 Future use and challenges.
Navigating eLoran: challenges and the way forward, Dr Sally Basker and Mr Paul Williams, General Lighthouse Authorities of the United Kingdom and Ireland
Presented by Dr Nick Ward (GLA of UK and Ireland).
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS - e.g. GPS, GLONASS, Galileo) underpin much of our critical infrastructure, are already tightly integrated into ship-borne and shore-based systems, and will underpin the International Maritime Organization's e-Navigations system. However, GNSS are fragile and subject to intentional and unintentional interference.
The requirement is for resilient positioning, navigation and timing: it needs to be inherently reliable, secured against obvious external threats and capable of withstanding some degree of damage.
A single, cross-sector solution that augments GNSS with an independent, dissimilar and complementary system is best for users: they will benefit from economies of scale to keep equipment costs low; existing networks - user, technology, business and regulatory - can be exploited; and all this will lead to lower long-term average costs than any other approach.
eLoran is the only candidate that can be deployed in a timely fashion.
The presentation gave an overview of eLoran before discussing the drivers and requirements for eLoran. eLoran technology was then described. The GLAs’ eLoran trials in the Orkneys were summarised and the presentation concluded by summarising future challenges.
The General Lighthouse Authorities have held two sets of GPS jamming trials in 2008 and 2009 to
understand the impact of a loss of GPS on the safety of navigation. The following are some of the conclusions which were drawn from the trials;
• The precise impact of GPS jamming on a vessel depends on the bridge fit, configuration and level of system integration.
• DGPS – this alarmed when the GPS positioning input was lost and had a knock-on effect on the position reporting on the ECDIS and the AIS.
• AIS – this alarmed when the GPS positioning input was lost. AIS lost its ability to identify the bearing and distance of other ships and AIS AtoNs. Other ships and the vessel traffic services perceive the jammed ship to be in the wrong place.
• GPS receivers – one was affected to such an extent that it would not track GPS satellites automatically. The solution was to turn off the receiver for about an hour to force a cold start.
The key points of the presentation were:
1 Increasing reliance on GNSS.
2 Vulnerability of GNSS to interference.
3 Need for a back-up; eLoran is the best option.
4 eLoran performance demonstrated.
Portable Pilot Unit: A challenging e-Navigation application for Germanys most frequented port approach River Elbe, Captain Dietmar Seidel, German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration
Presented by Mr Jan-Hendrik Oltmann.
The river Elbe is Germanys most frequented fairway. Approximate 80.000 vessels p.a., among them a significant number of Container Megacarriers and deep draught bulkers, use this fairway to reach ports like Hamburg, Brunsbüttel, Cuxhaven and Stade.
The continuous rise in number of vessels as well as the increase of size of vessels made the anticipation of additional e-Navigation tools necessary to grant safe and efficient traffic flow. Portable Pilot Units were considered to be the adequate tool.
The PPU for river Elbe is designed to fit pilots and VTS requirements.
STEP 1: since the Elbe is an estuary with high morphological activity and sedimentation, continuously
updated sounding plans are displayed within an ENC chart, converting the ENC to a bathymetric ENC (bENC).
STEP 2: up-to-date tidal information will be integrated to enable shipping to be continuously aware of available water level.
STEP 3: The Under-keel-clearance-management (UKC) module combines the sounding and tidal
information with vessels specific (squatting) characteristics.
STEP 4: the last module will integrate a logistic port planning tool. Passage of vessels shall be optimized not only in nautical but as well in commercial parameters.
The presentation discussed several attempts at providing the pilot with a picture, which was not cluttered with an overload of bathymetric data. Tidal windows were also introduced to assist the pilot during the waterway transit.
Portable Pilot Units and their design are no secret science. They only have to reflect state-of-the-art of science and technology and be embedded into proper seamanship. Proper seamanship is the basis, which will never be unnecessary. Insofar, Portable Pilot Units are just another tool. A fascinating one that opens up a multitude of additional chances. We should take them.
The key points of the presentation were:
1 Portable Pilot Unit (PPU) for the Elbe estuary and approaches to Hamburg.
2 Optimization of safety and easiness of traffic in limited fairway.
3 Implementation of current bathymetric data into an ENC.
4 Field trials and tasks.
5 Further steps in PPU development.
National Aids to Navigation Authorities Acting as a ‘Trusted Third-Party Marine Information Provider’, Mr Christian Forst, German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration and Professor Jens Froese, Technische Universitaet Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH), Germany
Intelligent information and communication technologies show a great potential, in increasing the effectiveness of the infrastructure if they cover the entire logistics process, including: on board navigation, waterways and harbour management, terminal management as well as other logistic services provided in the maritime environment.
Value-added services should be defined and implemented globally. However, developing one global integrated system cannot be the aim, there needs to be freedom for individual solutions, but effective interoperability of existing and emerging systems allowing for a maximum of freedom concerning information format and content.
Main prerequisites to implement proper value-added services are the willingness of all stakeholders to comprehensively exchange all relevant information throughout the entire logistics process chain and to develop a coherent process “landscape” to allow easy and consistent allocation of all issues of relevance.
A major obstacle is the variety in combination of tasks, roles and responsibilities throughout the stakeholders. To overcome this heterogeneity a strict process-oriented approach has to be followed.
The use of Portnet in different parts of the world was discussed as a data connectivity backbone. The goals are safety and security of shipping, protection of the environment, improving knowledge and facilitate business networking. The pros and cons of data sharing were also discussed.
Traffic data is the main trigger. It is important to identify the functionality first and then specify the appropriate software. The CIMOSA process capturing scheme allows to mirror existing systems. In case of system design or reengineering structured modelling is required to define processes optimised to achieve specified goals. CIMOSA also provides a usable approach.
National Aids-to-Navigation Authorities are major stakeholders in the entire (maritime) logistic process.
Mostly being responsible for the safety and efficiency of maritime traffic they are authorised to collect and process all relevant data from shipping. Mandatory ship-reporting systems, VTS based on radar, AIS and VHF communication are established and operated, in general following relevant recommendations and guideline issued by IALA.
Considering the potential benefits of a world-wide harmonized information- and communication-system it is recommended that:
• IALA should prepare a guideline on how to carry out a process analysis, to make sure that identical or almost identical processes world-wide are identified and evaluated based on a common method and standards.
• IALA should develop a web-based tool providing generic processes as a basis for the individual analysis to be carried out under the lead of National A-to-N Authorities.
• IALA may consider to act as a registrar for a domain map to represent coherent application areas on a world-wide basis.
• IALA set up a recommendation to encourage National Members to act as “Trusted Third Party Marine Information Providers” and give guidance on how to develop and implement “Value-added” services to the maritime logistic industry
The key points of the presentation were:
1 Value-added services.
2 Logistics process chain.
3 Interoperability.
4 Process-oriented approachs for data exchange.
5 Recommendations for IALA.
Intelligent information systems in e-Navigation, Dr Nick Ward, General Lighthouse Authorities of the United Kingdom and Ireland
Presented by Dr Nick Ward.
Providing the mariner with the right information at the right time will be a key element of e-Navigation. Overloading the user with unnecessary information is almost as bad as providing wrong information – it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to extract the right information. In many situations the navigator does not have time to go and look up the information they need in a book and downloading it from a database or a website could be a dangerous distraction. Can systems be designed so that they ‘know’ what information is needed in a particular situation and location, and can go and find it, presenting it in an easily identifiable and understandable format?
IALA’s work on AtoN Information, simulation, GIS and the Universal Data Model aligns well with several of the identified future directions of e-Navigation, and will form a good foundation for the continuation of
IALA’s work in support of e-Navigation.
The exchange of AtoN information between any parties in a digital environment will require internationally agreed standards so that information can be automatically compiled for sending and automatically understood by systems that receive it.
Once standards are in use, with suitable security measures, administrations will be able to coordinate management of AtoN information in a digital environment and this will in turn facilitate sharing of information with:
• mariners in real-time or near real-time;
• shore-based operators;
• hydrographic authorities (for inclusion in official navigational products);
• Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for inclusion in non-official chart systems such as Electronic Chart Systems (ECS), chart radars and “AIS radars” and other equipment databases.
This presentation showed ways in which intelligent information systems might be achieved and the benefits they could offer. In particular the use of software agents to locate and retrieve relevant information, linked to location will be reported. Methods of displaying the information in a comprehensible manner and exchanging data in standardised formats will be also be proposed. Finally ways of ensuring the integrity and authenticity of data will be considered and conclusions will be drawn as to how and when such developments might be achieved.
The key points of the presentation were:
1 Information management is fundamental to e-Navigation.
2 Providing the mariner with the right information at the right time.
3 Easily identifiable and understandable format.
4 Ensuring the integrity and authenticity of data.
Discussion – Technical Session 7a (papers 7 - 11)
The question was asked ‘Do you think the further development of e-loran will eventually become global?’, to which Nick Ward replied that he could not speak for the US, as discussions are still ongoing in north America. At the moment efforts are being made to try to influence the European nations which are not yet using it. There is now interest from the Far East but an agreement is required before actually pursuing this.
In response to the question ‘How many shipboard systems are there available for e-loran?’, Nick Ward said that there are very few at present, as the system is not yet widespread, only potential. Hopefully by 2013 e-loran will have better coverage and usage. There is the possibility of integrating e-loran into GNSS chips but this is at an early stage at the moment.
Next Nick Ward was asked if e-loran is at a national/regional or a global level, to which he replied that e-loran is certainly regional with some areas being larger than others. It is more practical to merge regional areas at present.
When asked whether the acronym bENC is a standard one, Jan-Hendrik Oltmann said that it is one used to describe the bathymetric data on the ENC.
This prompted the question as to whether the ENC picture provided on the PPU are the same one as the VTS? Jan-Hendrik Oltmann responded that yes it is the same bathymetric data and same picture.
When asked if the e-maritime concept will be open in connection and interface globally, Jens Froese said that he was not in a position to speak for the EU Commission but the core concept has been agreed. The ship itself is no longer the issue but the steel surrounding the cargo, in other words all commercial related activities.
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