Lesson 11

Operational use of AIS

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

 Explain a basic description of AIS at a systems level;

 Explain the AIS objectives of the Organization System concepts Comparison of AIS
with radar Detailed description of AIS data at a user level including safety/security
related messages, AIS Aids to Navigation and AIS Binary Messages. AIS ship
installations AIS configuration description, including:
a) Carriage requirements
b) MKD based configuration Radar/ECDIS configuration
 Overview of operational problems caused by installation issues The safe use of AIS at
sea which includes:
a) Bridge procedures Data input and checking UN/LOCODES
b) Use of safety and security related messages Use of AIS Binary Messages Use of
AIS in areas with security or piracy implications Use of AIS in oil terminals AIS
alarms Cautions of use of AIS
c) Use of ATS to increase situational awareness in for both MKD only and
radar/ECDIS installations
d) Implications of COLREGS
e) Use of AIS AtoN data
f) Manual setting of regional operating settings

Guide Questions

1) What is an AIS?
2) What is the objective of the organization in creating the AIS?
3) What are the problems caused by installation?
The objectives of AIS:

The organization has defined the objectives of the shipborne Automatic Identification System
(AIS), namely:

AIS is intended to enhance:

 Safety of life at sea.

 The safety and efficiency of navigation.
 The protection of the marine environment.
It also states that the purpose of AIS is to:

 Help identify vessels.

 Assist in target tracking.
 Simplify information exchange (e.g. reduce verbal mandatory ship reporting).
 Provide additional information to assist situation awareness.
The “top-level” functional requirements for AIS are stated as:

The AIS should improve the safety of navigation by assisting in the efficient navigation of ships,
protection of the environment and the operation of the Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), by
satisfying the following functional requirements:

 In a ship-to-ship mode for collision avoidance (but see the discussion below).
 As a means for littoral States (coastal States) to obtain information about a ship and
its cargo.
 As a VTS tool, i.e. ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship (traffic management).

Some comments should be made on the use of AIS for collision avoidance. Importantly, some
reference does not use the term “collision avoidance” when stating the purpose of AIS but uses
“situational awareness”. This emphasis in improving situational awareness should be reinforced
continually; it is not safe to use AIS as the sole information for collision avoidance decisions.

The concepts of AIS

AIS is based on automatic communication between “stations” using very high frequency (VHF)
radio communications. The information communicated is primarily concerned with safe
navigation of vessels and also includes information of use to authorities, such as hazardous
cargo identification. Communication stations include ships (and in the future small craft), shore
stations (such as VTS centres), search and rescue (SAR) aircraft, and in the future AIS aids-to-
navigation (AIS AtoNs), which will give position and other data concerning navigational marks.

Ships using AIS automatically and continually transmit up-to-date navigational data. This
includes:

 Non-changing data such as ship’s name and length (called “static” data).
 “Dynamic” data such as current position, speed and course over ground (SOG and
COG).
 “Voyage-related” data, which includes destination, estimated time of arrival (ETA)
and draught.

The dynamic data is taken from the ship’s own data being used for navigation. Position, SOG
and COG are normally taken from the ship’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as
GPS or GLONASS.

The transmitted data is received by all stations in range of transmitting ship station. Therefore
data about that ship is available to these other stations, including VTS stations, other vessels
and SAR aircraft. This data can be displayed on ships or onshore in a number of ways. In
particular it can be shown as additional information on a radar display or ECDIS. In this way
ships can be shown by symbols indicating their AIS transmitted position, heading, course and
speed. Other information, such as ship’s name, can sometimes also be displayed near to the
target position. By selecting an individual target further detailed information concerning the
target can be displayed in a text box.

Transmissions comprise of bursts of data from each station according to an automatically

determined time-ordered sequence. This avoids two stations transmitting at the same time and
therefore, in principle, all transmissions could be on the same VHF channel. In practice this
would overload a single channel in some busy areas and so two VHF channels are used,
doubling the number of stations that could use a single channel system.

The VHF channels used are known as AIS1 and AIS2. Consecutive transmissions from each
station normally alternate between the AIS1 and AIS2 frequencies. In most waters Channels
87B (161.975 MHz) and 88B (162.025 MHz) are used for AIS1 and AIS2. Some states have
adopted other channels to avoid interference with pre-existing non-AIS services. Shore station
commands automatically instruct ship stations on the frequencies to use for AIS1 and AIS2,
removing any normal need for channel adjustment by the operator.

Class A and Class B AIS

There are two types of AIS, named Class A and Class B. AIS Class A is the one described fully in
this course. The organization has mandated that larger ships, as defined in Section 3.1 below,
carry and use Class A AIS.

AIS Class B is designed for other vessels, such as leisure and fishing vessels. It is not a
mandatory fit. It is designed to co-operate with Class A units but not to provide a burden on the
available timeslots so as to interfere with the proper operation of Class A. At the time of writing
this model course the technical standard for Class B equipment was being prepared by the
International Electrotechnical Commission.

AIS and radar compared

AIS compared radar and use of the two together is of great benefit in improving situation
awareness. However, it should always be remembered that AIS is fundamentally a ground
stabilised system while radar information is fundamentally relative to the motion of own ship,
including sea motion. Systems can automatically convert between the motion states but
sometimes this conversion cannot be totally accurate. This can sometimes lead to a real target
appearing in somewhat different positions depending on whether its positional data is based on
radar or AIS.

The main advantages of radar are as follows:

 Radar is able to “see” a vast range of targets, all of which can be “passive” and need
no electronic devices on them to generate a “return”.
 All received data is relative to own-ship and its effective use does not fundamentally
require any knowledge of own-ship’s geodetic position.

The main disadvantages of radar are:

 Targets of interest are easily obscured in clutter and by line-of-sight shielding.

 Information on targets, apart from their present position and past (relative) track is
sparse and open to confusion with other targets. (Is that the buoy I am looking for or
is it a stationary small vessel?)
 Movement of targets has to be inferred (even by a tracking radar such as ARPA) from
consecutive returns. When a target is turning this causes time delays in the
presentation of data. Additionally, the effective center of the radar return from a
large target can also change with target orientation, causing speed and course errors
as the target turns.
 Target heading is not strictly given by radar. In some situations the displayed course
of a target may not be reflected by its actual relative to own-ship. This may give
 different interpretations of the collision regulations depending on whether radar or
visual data is being used to assess heading.

On the other hand the main advantages of AIS are:

 Cooperative targets can give a vast amount of useful data about themselves,
including absolute positional, velocity and heading data potentially far superior to that
obtainable by radar.
 AIS does not suffer from clutter problems and is relatively capable under conditions
where the radar “line-of-sight”) is compromised (shielding by headlands and islands,
etc).

Conversely AIS has these main disadvantages:

 It relies on the co-operation of targets to respond. That is, the target must be fitted
with an AIS transponder and it must be switched on.
 It relies on the target to provide accurate data.

It relies on all targets and own-ship continuing to have accurate positional data referenced to a
common geodetic datum (WGS84). GNSS failures at a system level, e.g. satellite failure,
intentional or unintentional jamming of GNSS signals or a global failure in GNSS, will have
varying degrees of severity, including the total failure of AIS.

AIS data

At a basic system level AIS communicates between stations by means of standard (digital)
message types. These message types have been internationally agreed within the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) and those interested in this detail are referred to Reference
T2. Many of these messages are not directly relevant to the operation of commercial vessel and
deal with such aspects as:

 Allocation of operating frequencies and powers.

 Management of the assigned and polled modes.
 Search and rescue operations.

Other messages contain information of specific interest to the mariner, such as the name,
position, course and speed of nearby vessels. Fortunately, the structure and content of the
standard message format does not need to be understood by the operator because the AIS
shipborne equipment turns relevant received data into understandable and ordered information.
Similarly, the organization of operator input information into the correct message type is
automatically accomplished by the ship’s AIS equipment, prior to transmission.

For this reason it is best to consider information to be organized into five “user-relevant”
groups:
  Static data (ship-related information which rarely changes, such as ship’s name).
 Dynamic data (data which is continually changing, such as position and speed over
ground).
 Voyage-related data ( data which is specific to the voyage, such as destination port
and estimated time of arrival)
 Safety and security related messages.
 Other user-relevant AIS messages (AIS has a vast future potential in dealing with
other maritime information).

Each group is looked at in more detail in the following sub-sections. It should be understood
that not all manufacturers have divided up their operating menus exactly into the categories
defined here. However, this categorization is based around the functional use of AIS and
follows that caused by the organization.

Static data

This data normally has to be entered only once into the AIS system as it consists of data which
remains generally constant (i.e. static). It consists of the following entries:

 Maritime Mobile Services Identity Number (MMSI).

 Ship’s name.
 Call sign.
 IMO number.
 Type of vessel.
 Length and beam.
 Location of the position fixing antenna (referred to bow and cetreline).
 Height over keel (not a requirement of the Organization and is not included on all
systems).

In the normal autonomous and continuous mode this data is broadcast once every six minutes
by each ship. It will be seen that this is relatively infrequent, compared to dynamic data (see
Section 2.2 overleaf).

The MMSI is used by the AIS system to identify all messages transmitted by a particular ship.
This means that every time a ship transmits data the data is “headed” by the MMSI. This is
important to understand since the user tends to identify ships by name. Since the name is
broadcast only once every six minutes and dynamic data is typically broadcast several times a
minute there will be a period when the on-board system cannot assign a name (and other static
data) to the dynamic information being received. This data can initially only be referenced to
the MMSI. In this instance the MMSI is displayed on many systems in the position that the
ship’s name normally occupies.
The location of the position-fixing GNSS antenna is needed to ensure accuracy in close quarter
situations, when the system is perhaps being used to aid collision avoidance decisions. If the
external position-fix system fails the AIS will use its internal system to generate position. It is
therefore necessary to provide the position of both the AIS and external position fix antennas.

Height over the keel is included on some AIS units. It is implemented using a special message
facility known as international Format Message (IFM). Not all AIS shipborne units have facilities
to transmit this message and so it may not be included as a parameter in the menu structure of
a particular AIS unit. (IFMs are covered in more detail in Section 2.6)

Dynamic data

Dynamic data comprises information that is normally changing according to the ship’s motion.
Most of it is automatically supplied by the ship’s navigation system directly to the AIS unit
through the digital interface (cable connection) with the ship’s navigation equipment, and
consists of:

 Ship’s position (with accuracy indication and integrity status, available).

 Time in UTC.
 Course over ground (COG).
 Speed over ground (SOG).
 Heading.
 Rate of Turn (where available).

In addition, a manual input has to be made concerning the navigational status of the ship, such
as at anchor, underway using engine, etc.

The accuracy of the positional data is indicated as either high or low. High means that the
positional accuracy is better than 10 meters, having been obtained by a differential GNSS
receiver. Low accuracy indicates accuracy worse than 10 meters, using the autonomous
(normal) mode of a GNSS receiver or a terrestrial Electronic Position Fixing Device.

If Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) is in use by the GNSS for the position fix
an indication will be given. RAIM is a system which is internal to a GNSS receiver that can
determine whether the position fix has been compromised by one or more faulty satellites.

Dynamic data needs to be transmitted at regular time intervals that depend on the dynamics of
the vessel, as tabulated below.

Ship dynamics Reporting interval (secs)

At anchor or moored and not moving faster than 3

knots 180
 At anchor or moored and moving faster than 3 knots 10

With a speed of between 0-14 knots 10

With a speed of between 0-14 knots and changing

course 3.33

With a speed of between 14-23 knots 6

With a speed of between 14-23 knots and changing

course 2

With a speed of greater than 23 knots 2

With a speed of greater than 23 knots and changing

course 2

This table slightly differs from the table in Reference R1 but is the one within Reference T2,
which is used by AIS manufacturers for design requirements and by Administrators for type
approval of AIS equipment. The modified table recognizes that many users are negligent in
correctly entering the navigational status of then vessel, particularly with regards to stating that
a vessel is at anchor or underway. This is why the modified table includes “At anchor or moored
and moving faster than 3 knots”.

Voyage related data

This data must be manually entered at the start of the voyage and kept updated during the
voyage as details change. It consists of the following entries:

 Ship’s (static) draught.

 Destination.
 Estimated time of arrival.
 Type of ship.
 Hazardous cargo type.
 Number of persons on-board (not a requirement of the Organization and is not
included on all systems)
The type of ship and hazardous cargo type are entered from a list of options prescribed by the
Organization (see Tables A to C of Section 4.3 below).

Many shipborne AIS units have also implemented the “Number of persons on-board”
International Function Message, see Section 2.6)

Voyage related data is broadcast from the ship once every 6 minutes

Safety and security related messages

All AIS shipborne equipment is capable of receiving and transmitting safety and security related
messages. These may be sent to an individual station (e.g. another ship), or broadcast to all
stations. The message length is restricted to about 160 characters.

For a message to an individual station (addressed message) there is an automatic response

given from that station stating whether the message was fully received or if there was a
problem. This is ideally made evident to the sender; although not all AIS equipment does this.
For a broadcast message (to all stations) there is no automatic response.

AIS aids to navigation

AIS may increasingly be used to mark the positions of and supply additional data about AtoNs,
such as buoys and landmarks. This can be in conjunction with racons or they could be used as
the sole “electronic marker”. This use of AIS is in its infancy and is only briefly covered here
since some details may change. Instructors should access the website of the International
Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) to ascertain the
latest position on the use of AIS AtoNs (www.iala-aism.org).

An AIS AtoN has an AIS transponder associated with it. This transmits a special AIS AtoN
message that includes its position and other data about the AtoN using the normal TDMA
transmission modes of AIS.

AIS racons have a number of advantages over a racons but they suffer from a significant
disadvantages. The advantage include:

 Automatic and clear display or precise position on a ground referenced radar and
ECDIS.
 Auxiliary information about the navigational aid.
 Not radar dependent. (Not all new S-band radars after 1 July 2008 will necessarily be
compatible with S-band racons - see Reference R7. This will allow the possible
introduction of New Technology radar that has the potential of superior sea clutter
performance).
 The main disadvantage is that the AIS AtoN transmits its ground referenced position
and therefore its usefulness depends on own-ship also knowing its own precise
position to be of any use. Position of own ship may be lost because of a failure in its
primary and back-up GNSS equipment or it may be lost because of a general failure
in GNSS, perhaps
 Due to intentional or unintentional jamming or a major GNSS system failure. The
latter could perhaps be provoked by a
 Burst of damaging radiation from space affecting GNSS satellite operation.
 Conversely, determination of racon position is entirely a ship-relative procedure and
does not fundamentally rely on a position-fix system. Nevertheless, in normal
circumstances AIS AtoNs have an edge over racons but to cover all situations it is to
be expected that they will normally be collated with racons.
  An AIS AtoN can cause GNSS to determine its position, or use any other position fix
systems, such as Loran-C or Chayka. Alternatively, it can transmit a surveyed
position, which is useful for AtoNs that are truly ground fixed (rather than tethered to
the sea bed).
 From a technology point of view it is not necessary that an AIS AtoN is physically part
of the AtoN. It could be situated some distance away, perhaps on land. This type of
implementation is known as a synthetic AIS AtoN. This is sometimes a more
convenient or economic solution to having the AIS fixed to the AtoN. AtoN position
may perhaps be determined by a position-fix system which communicates to the AIS
by a data link. Alternatively it may be a surveyed position.
 Taking this idea further is a virtual AIS AtoN. This is where there is a conveniently
located AIS that transmits location and purpose data, for a geographical position
which is not marked by a visible physical object. Possible uses for this include the
continued marking of a buoy positions that may be seasonally lifted because of ice.
Another is the rapid electronic marking of a recent wreck in advance of being able to
lay visual markers.

Binary messages

The AIS system design allows many additional uses. Some of these are already built into the
system, such as AIS AtoN messages but also there is a flexible message facility, known as AIS
Binary messages, which allows other applications to be introduced into the future.

This does not mean that AIS shipborne stations have to be continually upgraded. Firstly, the
new messages will not affect existing messages and therefore equipment continues to work
even with new messages being received. Secondly, all messages are available on the digital
interface of the AIS shipborne equipment, allowing other special purpose interconnected
equipment to use these new messages.

The binary messages are designed to be in two categories – international applications and
regional applications. Some international applications have already been agreed on a trials basis
by the Organization in Reference R4.

These consist of seven messages, which will remain unchanged for a trial period until mid of
2008. Some of these messages have already been incorporated in some manufacturer’s AIS
implementations as discussed in Sections 2.1 and 2.3, above, namely messages for indicating
the number of persons on-board and the air-draught (height above the keel) of the ship.

The display capability of AIS binary messages is not part of the mandatory functions of an MKD
and so to the display of most binary messages requires hardware and/or software that is
additional to a standard AIS. Also, the use of these Binary Messages is optional.

The use of binary messages may reduce verbal communications, enhance reliable information
exchange and reduce the operator’s workload. They are not intended to replace other services
such as GMDSS and SART. Since binary messages place an additional load on the VHF data link,
care must be taken not to impair the main functions of AIS and hence long messages should be
avoided.

The seven trial applications are as follows, detailed descriptions of the messages are contained
within Reference R4. The instructor should alert trainees to the existence and the capabilities of
binary messages but there is no requirement to memorize the following applications.

Application 1 – Meteorological and hydrological data (IFM11)

This gives data from shore stations and can include:

 Wind speed and direction (average and gusts).

 Air temperature, humidity, dew point.
 Air pressure and tendency.
 Water level and trend.
 Current speed and direction on surface and at different levels.
 Sea state, wave and swell height, direction, and swell period.
 Water temperature, ice presence and salinity.
 Precipitation type.

Application 2 –Dangerous cargo indication (IFM12)

This message is designed to be used as a response to a request for Dangerous Cargo Indication
from a competent authority. The message content includes the harbour where the necessary
documents can be found, the category of main dangerous goods and their quantity.

Application 3 – Fairway closed (IFM13)

This message is used to inform ships about temporarily closed fairways or sections in ports. It
includes the location and extent of the area and the time period of closure.

Application 4 – Tidal window (IFM14)

This message is used to inform vessels about tidal windows which allow the safe passage of a
fairway. The message includes predictions of current speed and current direction.

Application 5 – Extended ship static and voyage-related data (IFM15)

This message is used to report the height over keel and is already included on some shipborne
AIS implementations.

Application 6 – Number of persons on-board (IFM16)

This message is used to report the number of persons on-board, usually on request by a
competent authority.
Application 7 – Pseudo-AIS targets (IFM17)

This message can be used by shore stations to transmit targets that are tracked by the VTS
station. The maximum number of targets that can be contained in a single message
transmission is seven. In principle a number of messages can be transmitted to cover more
targets but to avoid overloading the AIS VHF link there should be no more than necessary to
provide the necessary level of safety.

Carriage requirements

The requirements for the carriage of AIS have been defined by the Organization in SOLAS
Chapter V (Reference R5), namely AIS shall be fitted to:

 All ships of 300 gross tonnage and upwards engaged on international voyages.
 All ships of 500 gross tonnage and upwards not engage on international voyages.
 Passenger ships irrespective of size.

MKD installation

Connections to ARPA (target tracker – see Reference R7) and ECDIS are optional and are
discussed in the next section.

Reference R14 states that the AIS should ideally be connected via an uninterruptible power
supply (UPS) to the ship’s power supply (as defined in SOLAS Chapter II-1), to ensure
operation through temporary losses of the prime electrical supply.

The example configuration includes:

 A display and keyboard module used for viewing and inputting AIS data. This is the
so-called Minimum Keyboard and Display but as discussed earlier it normally exceeds
the minimum requirement laid down by the Organization.
 An electronics module or RF Unit, which is sometimes called the transponder module.
This interconnects with the display and keyboard module, the AIS VHF and GNSS
antennas, and the navigation systems of the ship.
 VHF and GNSS antennas for the sole use of AIS. These are sometimes combined into
a single antenna module.
 A pilot plug. This is a connector that enables the interconnection of a Personal Pilot
Unit (PPU) to the AIS, allowing pilots to have special operation of the equipment. It is
important that this connector position is accessible from the normal position of the
pilot.
Different configurations are possible. For instance, the display and keyboard module can be
combined with the RF unit. The complete unit may then be termed the transponder. The
confusion with nomenclature should be noted but it is not a serious issue.
The AIS needs to connect with the GNSS being used for the navigation of the ship. In
particular, this feeds the AIS with:

 Position, in latitude and longitude, referenced to the WGS 84 datum

 Speed over ground (SOG)
 Course over ground (COG)
 The time (UTC) that these measurements were made.

In addition, providing the GNSS receiver meets the latest performance standards (for example,
Reference T3) the AIS will also be fed with: information concerning the accuracy of the position
fix, using the inbuilt Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) facility of the GNSS.

The AIS also needs to connect with the heading indicator of the ship. This will normally be from
the gyro-compass, although on smaller vessels (ships less than 500 gross tonnage) this could
be from a transmitting magnetic compass.

If rate of turn (ROT) information is available from the heading device it should be made
available to the AIS. On ships without such a device the direction of turn may optionally be
derived from heading information given by the compass, an external converter unit or the AIS
itself. (ROT indicators are only mandated on ships of 50,000 gross tonnage and upwards.)

AIS units are typically designed to accept all navigation inputs through the digital interface
(plug and cable connection) known as IEC 61162 (Reference T6). (This reference is very
technical and it is not recommended that instructors consult this reference for the purposes of
teaching this model course.)

When such an interface is not available a suitable conversion unit must be fitted. These
conversion boxes, when incorrectly set up, have been the cause of a number of inaccurate AIS
transmissions. This is discussed further in Section 3.4.

Because of the difficulties of inputting manual information on an MKD (mainly because of the
small keyboard) a number of ship installations use a connected Personal Computer (PC) for this
purpose.

AIS data displayed on radar and ECDIS

Although increased situational awareness is obtainable from an MKD based installation, far
better improvements can be made by displaying AIS data on an AIS compatible radar or ECDIS.
Recognising this, the Organization has mandated that from 1 July 2008 all new radar
installations must be able to display AIS targets according to standards laid down by the
organization (reference R7).
Reference R8 contains new standards for navigational displays installed after 1 July 2008, which
include display symbology requirements for radar, ECDIS and any other navigational display
(such as an MKD) when showing AIS graphical data.

The ability to show AIS on radar or ECDIS is entirely due to whether the radar/ECDIS has been
designed or modified for this use. If so, the connection can be readily made by a qualified
installation engineer to any AIS (MKD) unit, as in Figure 3.

There are a number of advantages of displaying AIS targets on radar, namely:

 Radar is used as the main electronic aid to assist collision avoidance decisions. A
common radar/AIS display enables quick and easy assimilation of both sources of
data.
 Radar screens are “large” and of good quality and normally situated in a prime
position.
 The presentation set-up of radar and AIS targets becomes identical. On an MKD the
AIS may consist of just a list of targets or be displayed on a plan display that may
have a different set-up to that of the radar, e.g. Head-up/North-up, different
maximum range settings, range ring settings, etc.
 All the radars tools used for improved situational awareness (e.g. range and bearing
markers) are available for use on AIS targets and have an identical mode of
operation, reducing mental fatigue.
 Overlaying radar and AIS data enables better operator decisions on whether a radar
observed target and an AIS target are the same object (target association).
 AIS target filtering according to the rule of the Organization can be applied to reduce
screen clutter. This is discussed further in Section 4.12.
 Automatic target correlation may be implemented. In the future this could be useful
in reducing a confusing excess dat. (At present such techniques are unproven and
care should be taken in using them.)

Providing facilities are also available for displaying “raw” radar and radar target tracks on an
ECDIS, many of the above benefits are equally applicable to the display of AIS targets on
ECDIS. This is further discussed in Section 4.12 below.

Installation issues

It is clearly stated in the Organization’s AIS installation guidelines that “the functionality of the
MKD should be available to the mariner at the position from which the ship is normally
operated. (It is useful for trainees to be aware of this reference but they do not need a detailed
knowledge of its contents). Regrettably, this guideline has not always been followed by
installers, with the excuse that there is insufficient room to fit the equipment in such a position.

Poor positioning of the display unit leads to the following issues:

  Situational awareness is compromised because the effort involved in keeping the
OOW updated will reduce the use of AIS derived information.
 Safety and security – related messages may be missed.
 If the equipment develops a fault it will not be quickly spotted and may transmit
misleading data for an extended length of time.
 If the “pilot tug” is also located on the display equipment this too is likely to be in an
unsuitable location, causing difficulties in interfacing to a pilot’s portable equipment.

Consideration should be given to the repositioning of poorly sited MKDs, which should always
be performed by a qualified installation engineer.

When AIS was first introduced there were many technical problems caused by faulty
installations of AIS shipborne equipment. Users should be aware of the type of faults that can
arise from poor initial installation or refit, in order to initiate corrective action by the installer. It
should be noted that some faults can be caused by the installation or edit of other navigation or
radio communication systems subsequent to the fitment of AIS.

Typical faults, together with their likely causes are listed in the Table 1. It is not an exhaustive
list but covers many common examples.

Use of AIS at sea

It is impressive that the user of an AIS system at sea should be familiarized with the operation
of the actual equipment that is installed on the ship before use at sea. This is necessary to
comply with the Organization’s Standards, Training, Certification and Watch keeping Code
(STCW) and the relevant parts of the International Safety Management Code (ISM).

Because of the differences in operation between different manufacturer’s AIS units and AIS
overlay facilities on radar and ECDIS these guidance notes are not able to cover details of
operation of specific implementations. Instructors should be fully familiar with the detailed
operation of the AIS units or simulators used on their specific courses.

AIS should always be in operation when ships are underway or at anchor. SOLAS Chapter V
states that the “Ships fitted with AIS shall maintain AIS in operation at all times except where
international agreements, rules or standards provide for the protection of navigational
information”.

If the master believes that the continual operation of AIS might compromise safety or security
of the ship or where security incidents are imminent, the AIS may be switched off. This is
further covered in Section 4.7. In ports AIS operation should be in accordance with port
requirements. Oil terminals, in particular, may have special requirements; see Section 4.8.

Bridge procedures
It is important that the use of AIS is covered in the ship’s bridge procedures. These should
cover at least the following aspects:

 Frequency of checks of own ship data accuracy, including static, voyage-related and
dynamic data.
 Procedures for the update of voyage-related and navigation status data.
 Cautions concerning the making of critical decisions (such as collision avoidance)
based solely on AIS data.

TABLE 1

Observed symptoms Likely causes

1 I am hearing repetitive a) A VHF radio antenna is too close to the AIS VHF
clicks or noises when antenna. If the VHF radio is being affected it is likely
using VHF radio. that AIS reception is also being degraded leading to
some loss of target data.

b) The AIS antenna has been connected with inferior

cable. Because of the digital nature of the signal the
Organization recommends a high quality cable, defined
in Reference R6.

2 Ships often appear This is normal and does not signify a fault.
without a ship’s name
or with the MMSI
number in the name
position. The name
appears after a few
minutes.

3 As symptom 2 above This indicates that the AIS receiver has been
but the fault tends to desensitized, often because of the causes in 1a) or b)
persist. above or because the AIS VHF antenna is too close to
a radar or satellite communications antenna. It could
also indicate an AIS receiver fault.

4 I have noticed or I Retrofit of AIS on ships with older heading indicators

have been told by requires a digital converter to be fitted to the heading
shore stations or other device. This requires a fixed offset to be set-up at the
vessels that my converter. Sometimes this is incorrectly set by the
heading transmissions installation engineer or has been inadvertently
are in error. changed by bridge staff. The normal display on the
 heading device continues to read correctly and so it
appears to the user that everything is working
normally.

5 I have noticed or I These may not have been correctly set on installation.
have been told by Refer to the manufacturer’s handbook to edit these
shore stations or other parameters. To change static parameters may need a
vessels that there are password. The parameters should only be modified
errors in my static with the Master’s permission.
data.

6 Since having AIS It is likely that the installation engineer has made a
installed some of my wiring or set-up error. If the fault is significantly try
other navigation alleviating the situation by switching off the AIS and/or
instruments are other navigation.
malfunctioning.

7 I get permanent or This indicates a possible poor installation of the

occasional AIS error internet GNSS antenna or an antenna cable fault or a
message saying “AIS: malfunctioning of the internal GNSS receiver.
UTC clock lost”.

8 I have noticed that I This indicates an AIS VHF antenna sitting problem. It
rarely see AIS targets is being obscured by the ship’s superstructure in some
beyond a range rather or most directions. A qualified installer needs to resite
less than 20 miles, (in the antenna to have a clear line-of-sight in all
all or certain directions directions.
relative to the ship’s
heading).

 Procedures covering the abnormal operation, or failure of AIS and cautions

concerning the impact such failures might have on navigational safety.

 Any special requirements concerning the receipt, transmission or data content for AIS
binary messages.

Users of AIS should familiarize themselves with the ship’s bridge procedures before use of the
system at sea and comply with their requirements.

The transmission of erroneous information implies a risk to other ships as well as own-ship and
therefore great care should be taken in checking for errors.
Input and checking of static data

Static data consists of the following:

 Maritime Mobile Services Identity Number (MMSI).

 Ship’s name.
 IMO number (where available).
 Call sign.
 Type of vessel.
 Length and beam.
 Location of the GNSS antennas (external and internal).
 Height of keel (if facility exists).

These parameters are sometimes protected from being inappropriately changed by means of
password access. When not protected by a password it is more likely that inappropriate changes
could occur. For this reason it is recommended that the static data on unprotected systems are
checked by the OOW at the start of every watch. On a password-protected system checks need
occur rather less frequently, provided the password remains secure. In this case it is
recommended that checks are made at least once per voyage or once per month, whatever is
shorter.

It is recommended that checks of static data are made by comparison with a master list, kept
close to the display/keyboard used for AIS control, e.g. the MKD. If a change appears to be
necessary the Master should informed and appropriate permission obtained.

The ship’s name should be entered without a prefix such as MV, unless advised by the flag state
of the ship. This is to ensure that the vessel lists of shore stations are easily searched
alphabetically by shore station and VTS operators.

The data entry of the antenna positions and the ship dimensions are interrelated.

Input and checking of voyage-related data

Voyage-related data consists of:

 Destination and ETA at master’s discretion.

 Ship’s draught.
 Ship type.
 Hazardous cargo type, if required by competent body.
 Total number of persons on-board (optional – not all AIS equipment has this capability).

This data can be input and checked by entering the appropriate menu structure on the AIS
display. The OOW should input data at the start of the voyage and update the data whenever
changes occur. It is recommended that voyage-related data is checked for validity by the OOW
at the start of a new watch.
It is essential that the master gives clear guidance concerning both the hazardous cargo type and
the requirement for destination and ETA and that these are followed. Disobeying these rules
could compromise the security of the ship or contravene port or flag State requirements.

The AIS field for destination allows for free text of up to 20 characters. This results in numerous
variations in the spelling of the same port, making it difficult for other ships and shore authorities
to identify the port uniquely.

The organization therefore recommends the use of the destination filed for entering both the port
of departure and the next port of call using the United Nations code for ports known as
UN/LOCODE.

UN/LOCODE

The recommended format is to indicate the port of departure at the first six positions of the data
field followed by a separator and then the code for the next port of call.

In order to identify that it is a LOCODE, to separate the locations and to indicate the “from” and
“to” ports, a “>” symbol should be used as a separator. As an example:

A ship is leaving Dubai bound for Rotterdam. Use of the UN/LOCODE would represent this voyage
as:

AE DXB>NL RTM

If the next port of call is unknown, “?? ???” should be entered instead of the UN?LOCODE in the
corresponding place in the data field. For example:

AE DXB>?? ???

If the port of departure does not have a designated UN/LOCODE the “XX XXX” should be entered
instead of the UN/LOCODE in the corresponding place in the data field. For example:

XX XXX >US PBI

If the next port of call does not have a designated UN/LOCODE the commonly accepted English
name of the destination port should be entered, preceded by “= = =” (3”equals” signs). If no
such name is known the locally used name should be entered. In this case there may be
enough space available to indicate the port of departure. For example:

= = = Orrviken.

If only the general area of destination on the United States West Coast.

Other voyage-related data

The ship’s draught should be entered in meters and is defined as the maximum present static
draught. This means that the entry needs to be updated according to the water salinity and any
loading changes during the voyage. In particular, it is necessary to update this parameter when
a seagoing ship enters or leaves a freshwater canal or river system.

Although ship type could be taken to be static information it is normally included in voyage-
related data as it is defined according to a table issued by the Organization that covers both
ship type and cargo.

Table A is used for most commercial vessels not engaged in special operations. Table B is used
for other vessels engaged in special activities, such as fishing, leisure, military and towing.
Table C is for special craft engaged in official activities, such as law enforcement, search and
rescue and port operations. These table do not to be memorized.

Table A – Commercial vessels not engaged in special activities

1st Meaning of 1st digit 2nd Meaning of 2nd digit

Digit Digit

0 Not used 0 All ships of this type

1 Reserved for future use 1 Carrying DG, HS, or MP IMO

hazard or pollutant category A

2 WIG (Wing-In-Ground) 2 Carrying DG, HS, or MP IMO

hazard or pollutant category B

3 Other ships (See table B) 3 Carrying DG, HS, or MP IMO

hazard or pollutant category C

4 HSC (High Speed Craft) 4 Carrying DG, HS, or MP IMO

hazard or pollutant category D

5 Special Craft (See table C) 5 Reserved for future use

6 Passenger ships 6 Reserved for future use

7 Cargo ships 7 Reserved for future use

8 Tanker(s) 8 Reserved for future use

9 Other types of ship 9 No additional information

Table B –Other ships engaged in special activities

1st 2nd Meaning of 2nd digit

Digit Digit
 3 0 Fishing

3 1 Towing

3 2 Towing and length of the tow exceeds 200m or breadth exceeds

25m

3 3 Engaged in dredging or underwater operations

3 4 Engaged in diving operations

3 5 Engaged in military operations

3 6 Sailing

3 7 Pleasure craft

3 8 Reserved for future use

3 9 Reserved for future use

Table C – Special craft engaged in official activities

5 0 Pilot vessel

5 1 Tug

5 2 Search and rescue

5 3 Port tender

5 4 Vessel with anti- pollution facilities or equipment

5 5 Law enforcement vessel

5 6 Spare- for assignments to local vessels

5 7 Spare- for assignments to local vessels

5 8 Medical transport (as defined in the 1949 Geneva Convention and

additional protocols)

5 9 Ships according to Resolution 18 (Mob-83)

The total number of persons on-board is often required when passing through waters subject to
Mandatory Ship Reporting. It is therefore a useful addition to have available on AIS. IF
available, this is transmitted in the form of an International Function binary message in
response to an AIS transmitted request. No special action has to be taken by the operator as
the transmission is performed automatically.

On some ship’s installations it may become possible for the route plan of the ship to be
transmitted by the AIS. This may become typical on a ship where the AIS is configured as part
of an Integrated Navigation System (INS) and the route plan can be automatically extracted
from the INS stored data into the AIS.

The transmission of route plans is an International Function binary message. It can be

addressed to one station (typically shore-based) or broadcast to all stations. To use this facility
the operating manual of the AIS (or the INS) should be consulted. It is possible that in the
future some coastal states may require vessels to use this facility when entering their ports or
waters.

Input and checking of dynamic data

Most dynamic data is automatically fed into the AIS from the ship’s navigational
instrumentation, with the exception of the navigation status of the ship. (On some AIS
equipment the navigational status is treated as if voyage-related data.) Dynamic data consists
of the following:

 Ship’s position (with accuracy and integrity, if available).

 Time in UTC.
 Course over ground (COG).
 Speed over ground (SOG).
 Heading.
 Rate of turn (where available).
 Navigation status.
Although the automatic inputs (all except navigation status) require no operator action the data
being transmitted should be regularly checked to see that it replicates the data being used to
navigate the ship. This is performed ideally at least once during a watch. In practice this can be
difficult on some MKDs as it involves entering password protected area. This protected area can
the same as that used for changing static data hence care must be taken when using such
systems not to change any static parameter.

The navigational status of a ship needs to be entered from a fixed list of possibilities, which is
normally offered to the user as a drop-down list. The options are as follows, although more
may be added by the Organization in the future:

 Underway using engine.

 At anchor.
 Not under command.
 Restricted in ability to maneuver.
  Constrained by draught.
 Moored.
 Aground.
 Engaged in fishing.
 Underway by sail.

Changes in navigational status should be made concurrently with any necessary changes in
exhibited lights and shapes.

Model Course 1.34 (Automatic Identification System) 2006 Edition

Supplemental Videos

What is AIS – Automatic Identification System: https://youtu.be/Rby4SCQvDEA