Aids to Navigation

Aids to Navigation
 Aids to Navigation
Aids to Navigation are placed along coasts and navigable waters as guides to mark safe
water and to assist mariners in determining their position in relation to land and hidden
dangers. Each aid to navigation is used to provide specific information. An aid to
navigation (AToN) is any sort of marker which aids the vessels in navigation; the term is
most commonly used to refer to nautical or aviation travel. Common types of such aids
include lighthouses, buoys, light vessels and beacons.

According to the glossary of terms in the US Coast Guard Light list, an Aid to Navigation is
any device external to a vessel or aircraft specifically intended to assist navigators in
determining their position or safe course, or to warn them of dangers or obstructions to
navigation. Several aids to navigation are usually used together to form a local aid to
navigation system that helps the mariner follow safe channels. Such aids to navigation
also provide a continuous system of charted marks for coastal piloting.
Aids to Navigation
Types of Aids to Navigation :
The term "aids to navigation" encompasses a wide range of floating and fixed objects (fixed meaning
attached to the bottom or shore), and consist primarily of :
 
•Buoys - floating objects that are anchored to the bottom. Their distinctive shapes and colors indicate
their purpose and how to navigate around them
 
•Beacons -Which are structures that are permanently fixed to the sea-bed or land. They range from
structures such as light houses, to single-pile poles. Most beacons have lateral or non-lateral aids
attached to them.
 
Lighted beacons are called "LIGHTS", unlighted beacons are "DAY BEACONS" .Both Buoys and Beacons
may have lights attached, and may have a sound making device such as a bell or horn. Both Buoys and
Beacons may be called "marks”
Light House
• A lighthouse is a tower, building, or another
type of structure designed to emit light
from a system of lamps and lenses and to
serve as aids to navigation for navigators at
sea or on inland waterways.
• Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines,
hazardous shoals, reefs , rocks, and safe
entries to harbors; they also assist in aerial
navigation . Once widely used, the number
of operational lighthouses has declined due
to the expense of maintenance and has
become uneconomical since the advent of
cheaper and often much more effective
electronic navigational systems.
Fixing position with two bearings from Light
houses
Fixing position with two distances
Fixing position with one bearing & range
Light Vessel
Large Automated Navigational Buoy
(LANBY)
RADAR Buoy : RACON
RADAR Buoy : RAMARK
Navigational Buoys
Buoys on Charts
AIS : Automatic Identification System
AIS : Automatic Identification System
The AIS System : The AIS system works with VHF system. The AIS antenna are situated on the Monkey Island of a
vessel and data are exchanged within vessels and all data will be displayed on the monitor.
 
Data Exchanged by AIS system
 
• IMO number
• Name and Call Sign
• Length and Beam
• Type of ship
• Ship’s position
• Present time
• Course Over Ground (COG)
• Ship’s draught
• Type of cargo
• Destination and Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA)
 AIS
• Technology allows aids to navigation to be in the form of an electronic
layer on a nautical chart - an Automatic Identification System (AIS) mark.

• Background to AIS aids to navigation AIS aids to navigation can be used to

mark hazards or channels. They will appear as symbols on the vessel’s AIS
receiver and can be displayed on a vessel’s AIS, RADAR & ECDIS. The
attributes associated with the symbols give the details of the hazards that
are being marked. There are three types of AIS aids to navigation: Real,
Synthetic and Virtual AIS.
Synthetic & Virtual AIS
The Synthetic AIS : The Buoy is physically present but the AIS signal is transmitted from
Shore AIS tower and this will show the buoy with all AIS information on ship’s AIS ,
RADAR or ECDIS.

The Virtual AIS

• A land transmitter will transmit signal for virtual AtoN
• This virtual AtoN will appear on AIS, RADAR and ECDIS screen and mark the position of
AtoN.
• Vessels can safely navigate using this AtoN displayed on AIS, RADAR or ECDIS.
• Onshore or Offshore Virtual AIS Beacons (Transmitter) will transmit multiple signals and
it can create many AtoN.
• One transmitter can create up to 65 AtoN.
• The minimum required antenna height is only 7 meters.
The Virtual AIS
Navigations with Conventional Buoys
Navigation with Virtual Buoys
Advantages of Virtual Buoys

• No danger of being damaged or drifted out of position.

• If AIS system is fixed on conventional buoys and if the buoy is
damaged or drifted out of position then AIS will be useless.
• THE VIRTUAL AIS SYSTEM is very special .Vessels will receive accurate
AIS information. But there will be no buoys in that place.
Advantages of Virtual Buoys
• Very easy to install & maintain
• Very cost effective. Only 1 Ground transmitter can replace 65 buoys.
• No danger of being washed away by the tide, flood or Cyclones.
• No danger of being damaged by vessels or theft.
• AtoN can be added, removed, shifted or repositioned easily.
• No need for special vessel, workers, workshop. (All these are needed to
repair and maintain the conventional buoys.)
• Both AIS and Virtual AIS signals can be received by Android and iphones.
• One transmitter can provide coverage up to 50/60 miles.