This paper was presented at ETT99/SATNAV99 Conference, held by DGON/NIN in Potsdam, Germany on 9th November 1999.

In the foreseeable future, Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) will be installed aboard all sea-going ships larger than 300 g.r.t. These new devices broadcast data at regular and short intervals, by means of which the ship can be identified and tracked. Further data can be transmitted to provide additional information on the ship's motion, navigational status, intended voyage and cargo. The transmissions can be received by every interested party having an appropriate receiver both at sea and ashore. With these capabilities, AIS adds a new information quality to maritime traffic, which is relevant not only for ship/ship but also for VTS/ship interaction. This paper describes the genesis of the new systems and their operational and technical aspects. It continues with a discussion of their standard and extended applications and their – so far – unexploited potential. Where relevant, the results of R&D work and practical tests are mentioned.

Several military and commercial platforms are currently installing GPS and inertial navigation sensors concurrently with the introduction of high-quality visual capabilities and digital mapping/imagery databases. This enables autonomous geo-registration of sensor imagery using GPS/inertial position and attitude data, and also permits data from digital mapping products to be overlaid automatically on the sensor imagery. This paper describes the system architecture for a Navigation/Electro-Optic Sensor Integration Technology (NEOSIT) software application. The design is highly modular and based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) tools to facilitate integration with sensors, navigation and digital data sources already installed on different host platforms.

The potential benefit of predictive information for navigation support was investigated in a simulator study. Twelve participants had to guide a medium-size vessel across a traffic separation scheme. In the simulator, critical vessel traffic scenarios were created, where participants were provided with: (i) baseline Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA) information, and (ii) baseline ARPA information supplemented with capability prediction information. This is information that shows the predicted manoeuvring margins of the vessel, indicating the predicted boundaries of safe operation. Results of the experiment indicate that capability prediction allows better anticipation by the navigator, significantly improving ship navigation performance.

The objective of this paper is to study the possible use of meteo-marine forecasts for correct management of ships' ballast water, in order to improve the safety of navigation, having due consideration to the economical costs (wrong load/unload of water) and the possible performance impacts that could be generated. The analysis has been carried out verifying the operative forecasts used for crew training in the Italian yacht Consorzio Prada for the America's Cup 2000 and issued in the period April–July 1999. Studying the forecasts' quality, situations of potential incorrect load of ballast water have been examined together with the potential negative effects. It has been demonstrated that an accurate weather forecast is of paramount importance to safe navigation without economic loss while recognising the related performance aspects.

This paper concerns the derivation of a formula to follow geographically fixed turns in a homogeneous current or tidal stream. Until now, various well-founded but limited approximations have been used. In principle, all these approximations are based on the formula v = ω × R. One result of this research is the development and use of a fast-time simulation program. The initial aim was to illustrate to trainees the consequences and, in particular, the possible dangers of these approximations. The fast-time simulation program can be used in support of real-time simulation. Comparisons with real-time simulations carried out by the Dutch Pilots' Corporation (STODEL) indicate that the fast-time simulations generate turning-circle diameters that differ by a maximum 4 percent. The relationship with path-prediction is also dealt with. The possibility of applying the developed formulae in practice and for passage planning is currently under investigation. The fast-time simulation program has not been developed for one specific ship: apart from the use of an assumed position of the pivoting point at 1/3 of the ship's length from the bow, it does not take hydrodynamic effects into account.

This paper offers a precise and almost final solution to one of the most debated problems connected with the astrogeodetic ‘fix’ by azimuth differences. The rectangular and linear solution on the gnomonic plane, tangent to the celestial globe and the dead reckoning position, enables the use of azimuth differences and is connected to Pothenot's solution. Thus this problem may be solved with simple linear algorithms that require neither differential modes, nor the introduction of the unknown origin error.

Bridge design has undergone changes in the last few decades resulting in increased awareness of the need for safety while maintaining the minimum of personnel. The concept of the one-person bridge has been studied fairly extensively with respect to military and large merchant vessels, but much of this work has been ignored by those designing for smaller ships, particularly fishing vessels. This paper derives principles for positioning the electronic fishing aids of ‘single ticket’ fishing vessels while applying, where applicable practically, the ergonomic principles developed from the wider community. The paper then applies the principles to the wheelhouses of two fishing vessels and suggests modifications for greater compliance. A conceptual wheelhouse design is given that satisfies all the principles while including the usual suite of electronic aids typically carried by such fishing vessels.

This paper was first published in Astronomy and Geophysics (December 1998, Vol. 39) by the Royal Astronomical Society and the Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd and is reproduced here, with minor amendments, by kind permission of the Editor, Dr Sue Bowler.

William Wales (1734–1798) contributed to astronomy through his observations of the 1769 transit of Venus, and his studies of latitude and longitude on Captain James Cook's second voyage to the South Seas. During this voyage, Wales was responsible for monitoring the performance of the chronometers. After returning from the Pacific, Wales took charge of the Royal Mathematical School at Christ's Hospital in London and, over the next two decades, he taught a succession of budding officers the principles of navigation.

Phil Steele's prècis of Dries Bulstra's paper on flight planning prompts me to recall flight planning procedures on the North and South Atlantic in the days of RAF Ferry Command. The sparsity of radio-navigation aids, coupled with few weather reports and even fewer diversion airfields made flight planning and en-route navigation an interesting challenge. RAF Ferry Command rose to the challenge, aided by volunteer captains from American civilian airlines. The catalyst for this success lay in decisions taken in 1935.

Controlling a ship in a berthing operation is carried out mainly by the change of state, such as velocity and yaw rate (turn rate), although the value of the change of state is very small at berthing. Very high precision is, therefore, required to determine the velocity and angular velocity. A sensor that has an accuracy of ±0.02°/s (1 σ) is sought for determination of turn rate in a berthing system. Three-dimensional angular velocity can directly be determined, with 2 independent baselines of 3 GPS antennas, using instantaneous Doppler measurements or phase rate (temporal difference of phase) observations. This paper discusses the mathematical model for direct determination of angular velocity using GPS, and the comparison of the results of the angular velocity determination using the Doppler and phase rate. The precision of angular velocity determination is estimated using temporal difference of the attitude sensors (TSS and gyrocompass) on board a hydrographic sounding ship. The RMS values of the difference of yaw rate determination between the two systems were: ±0.16°/s using phase rate and ±0.31°/s using Doppler measurements with the separation of onboard antennas of ca. 1·34 m. 10 m baselines could satisfy the sensor requirements for angular velocity determination during berthing maneuvers.

This paper develops a quantitative model for evaluating the difficulty of ship-handling caused by a restricted manoeuvring area or by traffic congestion or by a combination of both. It includes acceptance criteria based on the mariner's perception of safety. An attempt is made to evaluate the model by applying it to the specific environmental conditions of major ports in Japan. The model can provide information on the degree of ship-handling difficulty and so enable better design of infrastructure for waterways.

Following on from an earlier paper, the authors have analysed some of the options available to mariners who are faced with taking avoiding action in multiple encounters and have considered the effect of these options on manoeuvre distance.

This paper compares the differences between the rhumbline courses and distances calculated by three methods: the classical formula, precise formula and by software contained in a typical GPS receiver. It concludes that, while the calculations made by the GPS receiver are generally more accurate than the classical method, navigators must use Tables of Latitude Parts to calculate rhumbline distances accurately.