ADVANTAGES OF AIS

1. FREE UP VHF CHANNELS.

2. AUTOMATIC AND FAST COMMUNICATION
3. SAFE NAVIGATION: AIS CAN ALSO BE INSTALLED ON BUOYS,
BEACONS AND NAVAIDS.THIS MAY ALSO REPLACE RACONS.
4. COLLISION AVOIDANCE: IT CAN BE USED FOR TRACKING VESSELS
WITHIN AREAS WITH BAD RADAR COVERAGE LIKE NARROW
CHANNEL BENDS, SHADOW AREAS IN ARCHIPELAGOES AND
SOLID, CONTINUOUS CLUTTER CAUSED BY HEAVY RAINS. IT IS
ALSO NOT AFFECTED BY PROBLEMS OF TARGET SWAPPING AS IN
ARPA.
5. SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS: IT WILL ALLOW SAR
COORDINATORS TO MONITOR THE MOVEMENTS OF ALL SURFACE
SHIPS, AIRCRAFT AND HELICOPTERS INVOLVED IN THE RESCUE
EFFORT.
6. POLLUTION PREVENTION.
7. INTEGRATION WITH VDR (INVESTIGATION).
8. INTEGRATION WITH RADAR TO ENHANCE CAPABILITIES IN BOTH
VTS AND SHIPBOARD SYSTEM: COMBINED RADAR-AIS TRACK IS
MORE ACCURATE AND RELIABLE THAN A RADAR TRACK ALONE.
IT PROVIDES A POWERFUL TOOL FOR MONITORING AND
CONTROLLING MOVEMENT OF VESSELS THROUGH RESTRICTED
WATERS, HARBOURS AND NARROW CHANNELS.
9. VESSEL UPTIME, AND RELATED BUSINRSS BENEFITS: AIS
CHANNELS CAN BE USED TO TRANSMIT PORT DATA, PILOTAGE,
AND BERTH ASSIGNMENTS, SHIPPING AGENCY INFORMATION,
TIDES, AND CURRENTS ETC REPORTS.
10. SHORT MESSAGE SERVICES: AIS HAS FACILITY FOR
TRANSMITTING A SAFETY RELATED MESSAGE LIMITED TO A
MAXIMUM OF 121 CHARACTERS AT A TIME TO AN INDIVIDUAL
USER, USER GROUP OR VTS CENTRE. IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE TO
AUTOMATICALLY FORWARD THIS INFORMATION AS AN EMAIL VIA LAN/WAN
TO SHIP OWNER/AGENT.

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 PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR AIS

AIS SHALL:
1. PROVIDE AUTOMATICALLY TO APPROPRIATELY
EQUIPPED SHORE STATIONS, OTHER SHIPS AND AIRCRAFT
INFORMATION, INCLUDING THE SHIP’S IDENTITY, TYPE,
POSITION, COURSE, SPEED, NAVIGATION STATUS AND
OTHER SAFETY RELATED INFORMATION.
2. RECEIVE AUTOMATICALLY SUCH INFORMATION FROM
SIMILARLY FITTED SHIPS
MONITOR AND TRACK SHIPS.
3. EXCHANGE DATA WITH SHORE BASED FACILITIES
4. THE SYSTEM SHOULD BE ABLE TO HANDLE A MINIMUM
OF 2000 REPORTS PER MINUTE TO ADEQUATELY PROVIDE
FOR ALL OPERATIONAL SCENARIOS ENVISIONED.
5. THE INSTALLATION SHOULD BE OPERATIONAL WITHIN 2
MINUTES OF SWITCHING ON.
THE AIS AND ASSOCIATED SENSORS SHOULD BE
POWERED FROM THE SHIP’S MAIN SOURCE OF
ELECTRICAL ENERGY.IN ADDITION, IT SHOULD BE
POSSIBLE TO OPERATE THE AIS AND ASSOCIATED
SENSORS FROM AN ALTERNATIVE SOURCE OF POWER. 

CAUTION WHILE USING AIS:

1. CERTAIN ELEMENTS OF THE DYNAMIC INFORMATION
TRANSMITTED BY AIS MAY BE PROVIDED FROM SENSORS
WHICH LACK COMPREHENSIVE INTEGRITY MONITORING
AND WHOSE ACCURACY HAS NOT BEEN TESTED.
MARINERS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS LIMITATION
WHEN VIEWING INFORMATION ON SHIP BORNE
NAVIGATIONAL DISPLAY.
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 2. OVER RELIANCE ON AIS INFORMATION FOR
NAVIGATIONAL SAFETY SHOULD BE AVOIDED UNTIL
STEPS CAN BE TAKEN TO ENSURE THAT ALL
TRANSMITTING SHIPS PROVIDE THE NECESSARY DEGREE
OF DATA ACCURACY AND INTEGRITY FOR ALL
CONNECTED SENSORS. 
3. POSITION(S) OF SHIPS RECEIVED ON AIS DISPLAY MAY
NOT BE REFERENCED TO WGS 84 DATUM.

AIS AS A COLLISION AVOIDANCE TOOL:

1. AIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE USED AS AN ANTI-
COLLISION TOOL.
2. AIS CAN BE USED AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL IN MAKING
COLLISION AVOIDANCE DECISIONS. BUT WHEN USING AIS,
THE FOLLOWING SHOULD BE KEPT IN MIND:
a. AIS IS AN ADDITIONAL SOURCE OF NAVIGATIONAL
INFORMATION, IT SUPPORTS BUT DOES NOT REPLACE
OTHER NAVIGATIONAL EQUIPMENTS SUCH AS RADAR
ETC.
b. IT DOES NOT NEGATE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE
OOW TO COMPLY WITH COLREGS AT ALL TIMES.
3. THE OOW SHOULD NOT SOLELY RELY ON THE
INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE AIS BUT SHOULD USE IT
ALONG WITH THE INFORMATION PROVIDED BY OTHER
NAVIGATIONAL EQUIPMENTS TO DEVELOP THE BEST
IDEA OF THE SITUATION AND MAKE BEST COLLISION
AVOIDANCE DECISIONS.
4. THE USE OF AIS DOES NOT HAVE ANY IMPACT ON THE
COMPOSITION OF THE NAVIGATIONAL WATCH, IT
SHOULD BE CARRIED OUT IN ACCORDANCE WITH STCW
CONVENTION.
5. ONCE THE AIS HAS ACQUIRED A SHIP AS A TARGET AND
STARTED TRACKING IT. INFORMATION SUCH AS NAME OF

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 THE VESSEL, CALL SIGN, IMO NUMBER, HEADING,
CHANGES IN HEADING, SPEED, RATE OF TURN, SHIP TYPE
ETC ARE READILY AVAILABLE. THE COMMON PROBLEM
ASSOCIATED WITH THE RADAR SUCH AS TARGET
SWAPPING, CLUTTER, LOSS OF TARGET DURING FAST
MANOEUVER ETC ARE NOT THERE IN THE AIS.

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