Maritime Electronics and

Communications

Safety at Sea
Why Do We Want to Communicate?
What Types of Communications?

• Emergency
• Personal
• Business
 ISAF Required Equipment
VHF radio

VHF hand held

SSB transceiver or satellite phone

Suggestions Before You Depart

Locate communications equipment

Find out how to activate

Determine if there is a communications protocol

Be prepared for an emergency

 If You Have Iridium Satellite Phone

Iridium does not have Operator Assistance.

Before departing, program into your Iridium critical

telephone numbers: Coast Guard station at point of
departure; Coast Guard in any intermediate points;
Coast Guard at destination point; medical assistance
numbers if you have assistance contracts; other
medical emergency numbers you might require.
A Few Other Words Before We Start
On February 1, 1999 all merchant vessels worldwide
were required to have GMDSS (Global Marine
Distress Safety System) installed aboard. This system
Automatically monitors VHF DSC (Digital Selective
Calling) channel 70 plus high frequency DSC channels.

Many private vessels also have installed at least VHF

DSC equipped radios. This is important in case of
emergency
 GMDSS Continued:
• You must register your vessel and receive a free
MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identifier) number.
These Vessels can be Your Friends
in Case of Emergency
Let’s Talk Emergencies
MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY…
Life, limb or ship in imminent danger.

PAN PAN PAN…

Houston, I’ve got a problem.

SECURITE SECURITE SECURITE…

Anyone around me, I’m going to do something.
Communications Options
VHF….. Close by

SSB….. World wide (maybe)

SATELLITE….. World wide, instant

Ship Emergency – Imminent Disaster

• If you think there is help nearby, initiate VHF DSC

call (press the red button). It should wake up the
watch at the other end. Standby on Channel 16.

• If no reply, pick up microphone and call Mayday on

Channel 16.

• If still no reply, use Iridium or use EPIRB.

Satellite GMDSS Procedure
• If you have not received an answer on your VHF
calls:

• If you are equipped with a satellite GMDSS certified

system (Inmarsat C), activate the red button.

• Stand by for answer.

If No GMDSS Response
• GMDSS satellite system is worldwide but it could be
possible that you do not receive a response because
your own equipment is inoperative.
• If you have an Iridium telephone, call
preprogrammed emergency numbers (USCG, etc)
• Activate your 406 Mhz EPIRB, hopefully equipped
with GPS.
• Wait patiently.
Enough Emergencies Already…

On to Part Two:
Routine Personal Communications

• We’ve been out for a week and I want to let my

family know our location and condition.

• I want to check in with the daily ham radio network

and give location, weather and condition.

• I just want to yack with other sailors.

• I want to check in to a ship-to-ship network.

Business Communications
• We need some replacement parts when we get
ashore.

• Something has broken down and I have to speak

with a shore side technician.

• Be aware of restrictions on business

communications.
So, How Do We Do This?
What Kind of Communications?
• Voice
• Data (e-mail)
• Fax
• Internet Access
• Emergency
Portable or Fixed Mounted?
• Portables:
Independent from ship’s systems
Convenient

• Fixed mounted units:

May have better antenna installations
Higher power
Now Let’s Communicate
• VHF
• Single Side Band (a misnomer)
• Ham Radio
• Email (commercial – ham)
• Portable Satellite (Iridium)
• Fixed Satellite (Inmarsat C - M)
• EPIRB
Handheld
VHF Radios
Handheld VHF
Range: 3 miles (another boat) to 20 miles (CG
tower)
Cost: $100 to $300

Limitations: Some uses are illegal but handy, short

range, few channels
Fixed Mount
VHF Radios
Fixed Mount VHF
Range: 20-60 miles
Cost: $100 to $500
Best Uses: General boat to boat communications
Coast Guard; most cost-effective safety
item on board if within range
Probably Digital Selective Calling
Limitations: Marine only, line of sight range
VHF Antenna Considerations

• Antenna height largely controls transmit range

• Higher gain antennas can focus signal to increase

punch or power

• Boats which roll require a wider transmission angle

to avoid “clipping”
 VHF Antenna Considerations

Stable boats may be Boats which heel or roll

able to use a narrow- may be better off with a
beam high-gain antenna wide-beam low-gain
antenna
A Word About Digital Selective Calling

• New safety requirement

• Free registration
• Unique vessel identifier
• Part of GMDSS (Global Marine Distress Safety
System)
• Currently supplied on fixed VHF and some other
communications equipment
• Not yet monitored by Coast Guard
Iridium 9555
Iridium
Range: Worldwide
Cost: $1500-$2500 plus $1.49 per minute plus
$20 per month Also rental
Best Uses: Portable voice communications where
there is no cellular, or where phone calls
are expensive
Limitations: Hard to know if they can afford to replace
LEO satellites
2400 baud for data,
9600 with compression
Icom 710 SSB Transceiver
Inmarsat C
Standard C/Inmarsat C
Range: Worldwide
Cost: $2,500 plus $0.25 for 32 characters
Best Uses: Reliable messages worldwide
Emergency position reporting
Free text weather 4X per day for free
Small antenna, relatively simple
installation
Limitations: Expensive if brevity is not your forte
Inmarsat Mini-M
Inmarsat Mini-M
Range: Nearly worldwide
Cost: $3,000 (non-stabilized to $6,000
stabilized)
$2.50 per minute
Best Usages: Reliable voice, fax and data
Foolproof
Limitations: Expensive
EPIRBs
• 406 MHz Beacons
Category 1 (hydrostatic release)
Category 2 (manual release)
• Unique encoding for each unit
• World wide coverage
• Available with GPS signal transmission potential
• Waterproof, reliable, buoyant

West Marine
Automatic Identification System (AIS)

ü Why?
ü What is it?
ü Who has to have it?
ü How does it work and used?
 What is AIS?
• Automatic Identification System (AIS)
• Vessel Identification and Tracking System –
Based on GPS and VHF Broadcasting
• Required on all Vessels over 300 GT
• (1) Provides Situational Awareness in Real
Time (collision avoidance etc
etc..)
• (2) Collected data produces a historical
archive of Vessel Traffic for the Entire Coast
Coast..
 AIS Vessel Requirements
As of December 31st, 2004,
2004, the following must have a
properly installed, operational, type
type--approved AIS

n On international voyage:
ü Tankers, Passenger > 150 GT, all others ships > 300 GT
q Per SOLAS Regulation V/
V/19
19..2.4
ü Self--propelled commercial vessels > 65 feet
Self
q Except fishing and passenger vessels (<150
(<150 passengers)
n Within a VTS area:
ü Self--propelled commercial vessels > 65 feet
Self
q Except fishing and passenger vessels (<150
(<150 passengers)
ü Towing vessel > 26 feet and > 600 hp
ü Vessel certificated to carry > 150 passengers
NAIS Overview
Shipboard AIS
Shipboard AIS
AIS

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is

designed for improving safety and efficiency of
navigation in the open sea and coastal waters
through the automatic exchange of
navigational, statistic and voyage information
between the ships and coastal stations.

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 Functions of AIS
AIS

Functional MSG Safety MSG

Static DATA Voyage Related

DATA

Dynamic DATA
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How AIS Work?
l A Broadcast system that acts like a
transponder, operating in the VHF
maritime band, that is capable of
handling well over 4,500 reports per
minute and updates as often as every
two seconds. It uses Self-Organizing
Time Division Multiple Access
(SOTDMA) technology to meet this high
broadcast rate and ensure reliable ship-
to-ship cooperation. 48
Components of AIS?
AIS consists of :
l VHF Transceiver
l Display and Sensor System
l GPS/DGPS
l Interface with VTS (vessel traffic
service)

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Communication links
l To establish link between different VTS
stations.
l Required for transfer of VTS related
data from Remote Sensor site to Master
control station and vice versa.
l Can be Microwave Or Optical fiber link
l For communicating with a vessel
entering VTS area a separate VHF
channel is used.
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