Maritime IT & Electronics (April/May 2011)

April/May 2011

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© Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology (2011). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (includingphotocopying, storing in any medium by electronic means or transmitting) without the written permission o f the copyright owner except in accordance with theprovisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 6-10 Kirby Street, London, England,EC1N 8TS, website: www.cla.co.uk email: [email protected]. Applications for the copyright owner's written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should beaddressed to the publisher.

Information published in MARITIME IT & ELECTRONICS does not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. Whilst effort is made to ensure that the information is accurate the publisher makesno representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or correctness of such information. It accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any loss damage or other liabilityarising from any use of this publication or the information which it contains.

CONTENTSEditor: Kevin [email protected]

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APRIL/MAY 2011

OSV focus8 Beemar buzzes onlinewith broadbandSmall footprint, highavailability and guaranteeddata rates were the perfectcombination for Beemar whenit selected VSAT for its fleetrenewal

Satcoms12 Virtual sea trials for newKu-band dishA new test and simulationfacility could help Thrane &

Thraneʼs forthcoming Ku-bandantenna deliver the reliabilitydemanded by VSAT users

Crew welfare16 A mission to relieve thestress of life at seaThe conditions under whichcrew are expected to live andwork at sea examined

Radar18 Breaking cloud-coverThe ʻrain-cloakingʼ tactic usedby modern pirates is notenough to fool contemporaryradar systems22 Racons will continue toshineFears that solid-state NT radarwould make racons redundantare unfounded. Rather, theymay grow in importance

Navigation21 IMO warning systemreaches Arctic watersSome 30 years after it was firstestablished, the WorldwideNavigational Warning Systemhas finally expanded into Arcticwaters

Safety26 Give officers Facebookand improve safety?Rather than forcing OOWs toact like automatons, newresearch suggests a certainlevel of distractions actuallyimproves concentration28 Coastguards gamble onMonte Carlo tacticsSARIS uses innovative tech-niques to improve the chancesof Search and Rescue agenciesfinding stricken vessels andmen overboard30 GMDSS hardwarerewired for networksEthernet connections are thelatest innovation to emergefrom GMDSS suppliers in a bidto boost system connectivity

34 In case of fire, moreredundancy neededNew guidelines call for passen-ger vessels to become theirown lifeboats in an emergency.Fire safety systems haveevolved to meet the challenge

E-commerce37 Engendering trustTrust is foremost in any busi-ness relationship, but commu-nicating it electronically is noteasy. ShipServ thinks it has thesolution.

COMMENTNEWSSATCOMS UPDATEMARKETPLACE

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COMMENT

2 MITE April/May 2011

with L-band services, such as In-marsat, with published airtimerates of over $10/Mb.

Therefore when Inmarsat an-nounced its decision last sum-mer to launch a super-high-speedKa-band VSAT service, many ex-isting Ku-band players regardedthis as capitulation. From theiradmittedly biased perspective, L-band Inmarsat was dead in thewater. But if it can pull off Glob-alXpress, it will be very muchresurgent.

How does it intend toachieve this with somewhat lim-ited VSAT experience? The an-swer became clear in February.It has called on the help of twomajor VSAT players – iDirect andCobham Sea Tel. The former wasawarded a US$60M contract toprovide ground network infra-structure and core technology forthe shipboard terminals, whilethe latter has been tasked withdeveloping a new antenna forthe Ka-band service.

GlobalXpress project man-ager Leo Mondale says the agree-ments ‘unite Inmarsat with thestrongest suppliers in the mar-itime VSAT supply chain.’ Havingsat through many a presentationon FleetBroadband from thecompany’s über-enthusiasticsales team, until now, such anutterance was virtually unthink-able. But taking my tongue out ofmy cheek, getting heavyweightslike iDirect and Sea Tel onboardis a very logical move, especiallyin light of Inmarsat’s ambitious2013 target launch date.

Surprisingly the fact thatmaritime Ka-band is visible onthe horizon has not forestalledactivity in the Ku-band arena. Onthe contrary it seems to be in-creasing. Already this year threebig players have launched or re-

When Inmarsatlaunched its Fleet-Broadband service in2008, it probably an-

ticipated smooth sailing for agood ten years or so. Given thelongevity of its earlier Fleet 77and other legacy narrowbandservices combined with therenowned conservativeness ofthe shipping industry, this wasprobably a fair assumption tomake. Yet the reality turned outto be very different.

The ubiquity of the Internetin society as a whole accelerateddemand for decent connectivityfaster than Inmarsat could haveanticipated. Despite ostensiblybeing a pay-as-you-go service,FleetBroadband’s competitivepricing effectively forced downthe price of rival all-you-can-eatVSAT services. Unfortunately forInmarsat, this happened at thesame time as Ku-band coverageexpanded to cover most of theworld’s major sea lanes and thetechnology and infrastructureunderlying VSAT became in-creasingly robust.

In turn, Inmarsat was forcedto play VSAT providers at theirown game, introducing contractswith bundled data allowances.This also opened up the door forpotential shipowner customers tonegotiate a better package beforesigning any contract. MITE un-derstands a certain major Danishship operator secured a very agood deal on its boxships.

The latest new twist fromKVH Industries is to offer VSATcapabilities on a pay-as-you-gobasis. With affordability a fore-most objective, Internet accesson its TracPhone V3 service ischarged at $0.99/Mb with voicecalls at $0.49/min. The companywas eager to draw a comparison

vamped their Ku-band offerings:Vizada, Stratos Global andThrane & Thrane. What is imme-diately noticeable is that all threeare leading distributors of In-marsat’s FleetBroadband andother L-band offerings.

Stratos is taking the middleground by offering a cappedVSAT service. That said it is arather generous 25Gb/monthlimit. The company has alreadysecured a big contract with con-tainership operator Hapag-Lloyd,which will deploy the system on40 vessels, approximately a thirdof its total fleet. What again is in-teresting is that this a 5-year con-tract, which, by currentforecasts, would take it comfort-ably into when GlobalXpress isavailable.

Thrane & Thrane’s approachis also notable in that it hasploughed considerable resourcesinto developing and testing itsown antenna. This is counter tothe more common – and proba-bly less expensive – strategy ofsourcing an existing antenna andmodem, negotiating some air-time and then selling the inte-grated package to shipownersand operators – the tactic whichseems to have been taken byVizada.

However, Thrane & Thrane’sinvestment could pay-off if theSailor 900 lives up to expecta-tions in terms of improved relia-bility, an issue that has longbeen held up by detractors ofVSAT, though it is more oftendown to poor installation and set-up rather than hardware design(as discussed in MITE Feb/Mar2011).

Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi

Kevin TesterEditor

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NEWS

Inmarsat has awarded iDirect aUS$60m contract to provide theʻground network infrastructureʼand ʻcore moduleʼ technologyfor satellite terminals for In-marsatʼs forthcoming GlobalXpress Ka-band VSAT service.

iDirect will design, develop,manufacture, test and commis-sion the Global Xpress groundnetwork infrastructure. Meetingthe specification of the In-marsatʼs recently announcednew service will require iDirectto utilise advancements in mo-bility, quality of service and net-work management.

iDirect also plans to pro-duce a range of core modulesspecifically designed for themaritime, aeronautical and gov-ernment sectors. Inmarsatstates these will be ʻfully consis-tentʼ with the Global Xpress ob-jective of delivering up to50Mbps downlink speeds to60cm aperture terminals.

Managing director of theprogramme Leo Mondale saysthe agreement allows Inmarsatto ʻdraw on the very best thatVSAT technology has to offerand combine it with our long-standing commitment to qual-ity, global coverage and

seamless mobility.ʼ The satcoms incumbent

later disclosed its selection ofSea Tel to develop, manufac-ture, test and distribute termi-nals for the new service. TheCobham subsidiary will engi-neer a unit specifically for Ka-band operation.

Mondale says the agree-ments unite Inmarsat with thestrongest suppliers in the mar-itime VSAT supply chain.

Sea Tel is naturally over themoon with the selection. Thecompany has a long history ofdesigning and building mar-itime antenna systems andpedestals for L, C, Ku and Xband. General manager RickPearson says: ʻWe are workingclosely with Inmarsat on thespecifications for the new 60cmKa-band unit. Global Xpress willuse the latest technologyacross all components of thesystem.ʼ

STOP-PRESS: Inmarsat hasfurther announced that, to-gether with Boeing, it has com-pleted a joint design review forthe trio of satellites which willdeliver Global Xpress. More-over this was done threemonths ahead of schedule.

Inmarsat calls in iDirect and Sea Telfor Ka-band project

The Seagull 5000i has become the latest addition to Thurayaʼsportfolio of maritime satcoms products. The specialised marineterminal manufactured by Singapore-based Addvalue Communi-cations is designed for small vessels or fishing boats and providesvoice, data, SMS and fax services. It works exclusively over Thu-rayaʼs satellite network.

A built-in GPS tracking system means the unit can also functionas a long-range identification and tracking (LRIT) transponder. Itshould be stressed that the 5000i is not a ʻbroadbandʼ modem. Packetdata connectivity is limited to 60Kbps/15Kbps for downstream/up-stream respectively, which is just about faster than a 2G mobilephone delivering Internet over GPRS.

Thurayaʼs satellite network covers the ports and harbours in Eu-rope, Middle East, Asia and Australia, as well as the seas, oceans andinternational waters in those localities.

New Thuraya terminal will getyou online, just about

BNWAS BW-800Bridge Navigational Watch Alarm System

Bridge Watch – Greater Safety at SeaBW-800 is a bridge navigational watch alarm system (BNWAS) complying with new regulations from IMO and IEC standards. The purpose of a BNWAS Bridge Navigational Watch Alarm System is to monitor bridge activity and detect operator disability which could lead to accidents.

Amager Strandvej 124 · DK-2300 Copenhagen STel: +45 3286 0525 · Fax: +45 3258 [email protected] · www.unielec.dk

Key features BW-800:• DNV Type Approval• High quality and easy installation• Dual motion sensor with infrared and microwave detection• VDR NMEA data output built-in (no interface box needed)• Back-up offi cer selector unit• Emergency call facility• Automatic dimmer control

Deadlines for installation:1 July 2011: New ships > 150 GT and all new passenger ships1 July 2012: Existing ships > 3.000 GT and all existing passsenger ships1 July 2013: Existing ships > 500 GT1 July 2014: Existing ships > 150 GT

BNWAS BW-800 fl ush mounting

ResetUnit

AlarmUnit

SelectorUnit

MotionSensor

See us at

Stand no B01-28C

Typeapproved

Controller application via nar-rowband, highly-latent networkssuch as Iridium. This allows trou-bleshooting and configurationaccess of the Intellian VSAT thatpreviously could only be at-tained with a site visit.

Separately, the company hasthe taken the covers off its DualVSAT Mediator, a new piece ofkit designed to monitor andcontrol two VSAT systems simul-taneously. The Mediator auto-matically switches to thesecondary antenna if the pri-mary unit goes offline or isblocked in a signal shadow.

Intended for redundant an-tenna environments, switchovercan be achieved within 60 mil-liseconds. Notably, the Mediatoralso supports iDirectʼs Ope-nAMIP protocol

In a bid to increase uptime andreduce maintenance costs forusers, Korean antenna manufac-turer Intellian has teamed upwith Uplogix, a network technol-ogy specialist, to improve the re-mote access and managementof its maritime VSAT antennas

The Uplogix platform sup-ports Intellian satellite antennacontrol units and arbitrators, in-cluding the v-Series models. Ad-vanced features include theability for Uplogix to recogniseoperational states in an antennaand take pre-determined actionssuch as notifying serviceproviders with status informa-tion, switching to an alternatecommunication method, or tar-geting another satellite.

Uplogix can also provide re-mote access to the v-Series PC

Intellian ups its game with Uplogix, then unveils Mediator

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NEWS

Raytheon Anschütz has intro-duced a new series of radar,ECDIS and conning systems. Thenew kit is built on the Germanmanufacturerʼs Synapsis archi-tecture, in line with the recentlylaunched Synapsis Bridge Con-trol series.

The new generation ofwide-screen, task-orientatedSynapsis workstations use stan-dard hardware and software toensure scalability. A standard-ised PC with solid-state disk andpassive cooling instead of fanwas designed to increase relia-bility and lifetime.

Possible configurationsrange from a stand-alone radaror ECDIS to a fully integratedmulti-functional workstation.Relevant navigation data such ascharts, routes and sensor infor-

mation are stored independ-ently on each system.

Both the new Synapsis(Chart-) Radar and SynapsisECDIS come with data quality

management that includes asensor status display as well asmanual or automatic sensorselection. This ensures that allworkstations consistently use

the best available sensor infor-mation.

The Synapsis ECDIS can han-dle weather data and weatherforecast symbols for route opti-misation and voyage planning.The new system architecturealso allows it to interface with aDP system, for example, to sharewaypoints of a planned route.

The Synapsis (Chart-) Radarcomes with a video mergingmode to improve detection ca-pabilities when using differentradar sensors. In combinationwith the SeaScout collisionavoidance function, this con-tributes to greater situationawareness and increased safety.

Synapsis-generation radar and ECDIS introduced

Inmarsat has reported a healthyset of results for 2010, but itfaces a tough year ahead asvoice services continue to besubstituted for lower cost meth-ods of digital communicationand as competition from VSATservices intensifies.

Although demand for Fleet-Broadband terminals remainedstrong throughout the lasttwelve months with over 10,000terminals added, overall mar-itime revenue growth under-performed expectations.

Inmarsat profits are up, but challenges lie ahead

Inmarsat chief executiveAndrew Sukawaty attributesdownward pressure on revenuegrowth ‒ especially in the lastquarter ‒ to the fact that Fleet-Broadband pricing is typicallylower than the legacy servicesbeing replaced.

He said: ʻOver time we ex-pect to offset this effect asusage grows in response to theincreased service capability. Inaddition to challenging eco-nomic conditions in the ship-ping industry, we are also

seeing contraction in demandfor voice services due to emailsubstitution and greater com-petition from other providers.ʼ

Although a lesser factor, henoted that competition fromKu-band VSAT service offeringsalso increased since the com-pany announced its own Ka-band VSAT service.

Nonetheless, Sukawaty re-mains upbeat. He believes thatnewly introduced pricing pack-ages will help FleetBroadbandretain its ʻmarket leadingʼ posi-

tion. He also reasons thatstrong market awareness ofGlobal Xpress will encouragecustomers to stay with thecompany, holding fire on anyupgrades (and new contracts)in the period until GlobalXpress becomes available.

Total revenue for 2010 wasup 12.9% year-on-year to$1.17Bn, with $727m derivedfrom its core global mobilesatellite services business. Profitbefore tax was some $333m, up69.4% on 2009.


NEWS

monitoring and optimisationtools, and a load management,condition monitoring, andemergency response packagefor offshore vessels and struc-tures. The latter product will beintegrated into a Rapid Re-sponse and Damage Assess-ment (RRDA) service to beoffered by ABS to the offshoreindustry.

ʻThe integration betweenHECʼs and ABSʼ software pro-grams bridges the design, classi-fication and operationalmanagement aspects of vesselsand offshore units,ʼ says ABSchief operating office Christo-pher Wiernicki.

Meanwhile, chairman ofHerbert Engineering KeithMichel notes that the twocompanies have, over theyears, enjoyed a ʻrich and suc-cessful historyʼ of cooperationon numerous research proj-ects. ʻWe look forward to tak-ing this cooperative spirit to anew level,ʼ he adds.

In a move aimed at overcomingthe increasing logistical hurdlesof getting officers trained up onECDIS before the systems startbecoming mandatory nextsummer Transas Marine is es-tablishing a worldwide networkof endorsed training providers.

The ECDIS manufacturer ac-knowledges that one of themajor bottlenecks in trainingprovision is the lack of local fa-cilities.

Ever cost-conscious ship-owners are reluctant to spendcash on sending their staff to at-tend courses at faraway desti-nations, with all the other coststhat incurs.

Therefore the main driverbehind Transasʼ Global ECDISTraining Network (which thecompany abbreviates to GET-Net) is to ensure high qualityand standardised bridge train-ing is available closer to whereshipping companies congre-gate.

The first training organisa-tions to enter the partnershipare Interschalt (in Hamburg andManila), COSMOS Training Cen-tre (in Athens), eIM TrainingCentre (in Piraeus) and MSGMarineServe (in Hamburg).

Partner organisations re-ceive detailed instructor train-ing and must pass a qualityaudit. The Germanisher Lloyd-certified training courses followIMO Model Course 1.27 and al-ready take into account the re-quirements of the ManilaAmendments to STCW.

Transasʼ manager of train-ing Bjoern Roehlich states thatGET-Net is an answer to the in-creased responsibility for ECDIStraining put on the manufactur-ers by Flag States and marineadministrations, as most re-cently exemplified by MIN 405,the somewhat controversial in-formation notice issued by theUKʼs Maritime & Coastguard Au-thority.

Transas brings training home

Through a new joint venture,Herbert Engineering and classsociety ABS hope to bridge thegap between design, classifica-tion and operational manage-ment aspects of vessels andoffshore units.

The newly created business‒ Herbert-ABS Software Solu-tions ‒ will offer loading and sal-vage analysis software packagesas well as software design toolsto the maritime and offshore in-dustries.

Herbert-ABS will own, marketand support the existing suite ofHerbert software products in-cluding its shipboard loadingsoftware (CargoMax), salvage re-sponse software (HECSALV), andload management software foroffshore structures (LMP).

In addition to enhancing ex-isting products, the venture willallow the development of newsoftware on an acceleratedschedule. Plans this year includean enhanced containershipstowage module, performance

ABS and Herbert bridge the gap


OFFSHORE SUPPORT VESSELS


While Hughes is the heavy-weight player in the high-speedsatellite Internet market in theU.S., it is a relative newcomer tothe maritime market, launchingits VSAT-based service early in2009. The company has a closeworking relationship with ESSI, apartner that deals with installa-tion, ongoing maintenance, andprovides tier-1 and tier-2 supportand value-added applications suchas vessel tracking, customisedbilling, equipment leasing, andengine monitoring. For this rea-son, the Beemar project marks animportant milestone. ‘They have avery modern fleet with a sophisti-cated kit onboard and they oper-ate worldwide. It counts for a lotand we are proud to have satisfiedtheir requirements,’ says Vinod

Shukla, senior vice presi-dent, international divi-sion at Hughes.

Committed strategy‘We realised very early onthat we would have to dif-ferentiate ourselves fromthe multitude of VSAT

to transmit real-time data to thecustomer’s headquarters for analy-sis, greatly reducing remotestaffing and travel costs. In addi-tion, the company is able to per-form remote diagnostics on criticalsystem electronics that keep thevessels operational at sea.

The installation and on ongo-ing support is carried out by spe-cialist maritime systemsintegrator, Environmental SafetySystems International (ESSI). Todate, it has installed VSAT gyro-stabilised satellite antennas oneight vessels in the fleet, withfour more ships under construc-tion. According to ESSI presidentKim Adams, the vessels are fittedwith either 60cm or 1m antennasand different service plans andnetwork designs, dependingupon their specific requirements.ESSI also provides 24x7 customersupport and online vessel track-ing services.

When the global off-shore vessel serviceprovider, Beemar,rolled out a fleet of

sophisticated platform supplyvessels (PSVs), it knew the shipswould need to have broadbandaccess to the outside world.

‘Our vessels support every-thing from deepwater oil produc-tion, deep shelf exploration,offshore and sub-sea construc-tion, to seismic and special wellservice support. In all cases, fastInternet and reliable phone serv-ice are required to coordinate re-sources and personnel. Theconnectivity also serves a crewretention role by enabling work-ers to keep in touch with theirfamilies,’ explains Darrel Plai-sance, Beemar vice presidentand chief operating officer.

The operator eventuallyturned to a fully-managed solutionfrom Hughes Network Systemsand Environmental Safety ServicesInternational (ESSI) that includeshigh-speed Internet access, voice,and email as well as onboard WiFi.Plaisance notes that because thesolution is managed, ‘it’s one lessthing for us to worry about.’

The Hughes solution is provid-ing satellite broadband to Beemar’svessels operating off the coast ofMexico, as well as in theCaribbean. This, for example, al-lows a PSV supporting an offshoresurveying project in the Caribbean

A combination of a small footprintinstallation, high availability,guaranteed data rates, and maritimeexpertise was all that Beemar couldhave asked for when it came toselecting a VSAT broadband service forits fleet renewal

Beemar buzzesonline withbroadband

Committed Information Rates act as a guarantee, which eliminatecustomer uncertainty

BT Shyamakrishnan, Hughes Network Systems

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had paid for. Of course, such con-cerns typically rise to the surfacewhen the link to the satelliteseems to be underperforming. Inthese cases, it is understandablewhy ship owners can sometimesfeel short-changed. CIR acts as aguarantee, which eliminates cus-tomer uncertainty,’ says BT Shya-makrishnan, Hughes businessdevelopment manager for themaritime market segment.

To further enhance trans-parency, ship owners can loginto the Hughes network opera-tions centre (NOC) to accessusage reports and a host of othermetrics detailing service per-formance, such as ping responsetime, antenna signal strength,and up/down throughput. Thisdata also allows trend analysisand thus strategic planning. ‘Ashore-based manager can quicklysee if certain vessels need more– or less – bandwidth to matchtheir typical usage profile,’ sug-gests Shyamakrishnan.

If there are performance is-sues, Hughes can delve moredeeply into this repository inorder to identify possible causesand from there suggest solutions.‘We can determine, for example, ifthere is a rogue PC onboard a ves-sel that is hogging the link withWindows updates, etc. By passingthis information back, the shipowner can then resolve the prob-lem,’ explains Shyamakrishnan.

suppliers in the maritime market-place. Our strategy has been tofocus on high availability and reli-ability with an enterprise-gradesolution,’ continues Shukla. ‘Ourservices are designed to deliverCommitted Information Rates(CIR) and not the more com-monly quoted best-effort/sharedbandwidth rates, thereby assuringthe ship owner of reliable commu-nications in critical situations.’

This approach seems to bepaying dividends, especially withoffshore customers in the Gulf ofMexico. Moreover, honing in onCIRs avoids the confusion (anddissatisfaction) that can arisewith best-effort/shared band-width services being used incrowded waters, whereships are fighting to gettheir share of the avail-able bandwidth.

‘When researchingthe maritime market, wediscovered owners usingVSAT in a shared envi-ronment never reallyknew whether they weregetting the service they

Three-axis stabilisationFor its services, Hughes has as-sessed and qualified antennas invarious sizes from 60cm to 1.5mfrom all leading manufacturers.The company also claims to bethe first to roll-out a three-axisstabilised 60cm design on thecommercial market. Most 60cmantennas designed for the white-boat market and re-purposed forcommercial use have only dou-ble-axis stabilisation.

The different sizes are neces-sary to cater to the different geo-graphic locations in which thevessels are working and the dif-ferent vessel sizes. In the case ofBeemar, 60cm units suffice forvessels based in the Gulf of Mex-ico. ‘To achieve a given perform-ance, the size of antennarequired increases according tohow far away a vessel is locatedfrom the centre of the satellite’scoverage footprint,’ says Shya-makrishnan.

Because the service andhardware is supplied on a leasebasis, Hughes will swap out anexisting antenna for a larger one,if needed, in the event a vesselneeds to leave a region for a dif-ferent project. This approach iswell suited to the project-basednature of the offshore business.

The communications re-quirements of individual vesselswill vary according to the type ofproject in which they are in-

� Hughes isprovidingbroadband toBeemar vesselsoperating off thecoast of Mexicoand in theCaribbean

MITE April/May 2011 9


We realised we would have to differentiateourselves from other VSAT suppliers in the

maritime marketplace. Our strategy has beento focus on high availability and reliability

Vinod Shukla, Hughes Network Systems


� The HX200satellite routerprovides flexibleQuality of Servicefeatures



tomer, typically a major oil com-pany. To save administrativeheadaches, the communicationsbill can be split between the two,thanks to a dual-LAN modemwhich segregates traffic gener-ated by the owner from that ofthe end customer. In the exam-ple above, the oil major mighthave agreed to pay the bill forthe premium service needed forheavy video streaming.

Because it is a fully-managedservice, Hughes, in partnershipwith ESSI, can deliver a wholearray of equipment. This rangesfrom essentials such as the an-tenna and accompanying below-deck boxes, to network switches,VoIP handsets, and other teleph-ony solutions, to a heavy-duty

volved. As hinted above, one ves-sel in the Beemar fleet was doingexploration work, which calledfor intensive video streamingback to the vessel’s customer’sheadquarters in Houston. ‘Videois bandwidth hungry, but thelease model allows flexibility inthe service plan. The user canadjust it depending on theirneeds at the time; in this case,upwards,’ stresses Shyamakrish-nan. ‘Once the exploration andvideo streaming had finished,Beemar sent in a request to re-vert back to the lower rates.There are no hardware changes,as the adjustments are madefrom our NOC.’

Traffic managementMoreover, Hughes recognisesthat there are two types of peo-ple on offshore vessels: person-nel employed by the ship ownerand a team from the end cus-

fax, uninterruptible power sup-ply, and even a GPS compass ifthe ship’s gyrocompass is inac-cessible. (Stabilised antennasneed to know where the ship isheading to continually track thesatellite.) ESSI has developed arack that brings all these ele-ments together in a compact andorganised package.

The high-performanceHughes satellite router incorpo-rates a number of troubleshoot-ing mechanisms to facilitateremote maintenance from theNOC. A particular highlight isthe so-called Ethernet sniffer,which can be used to monitorand analyse data moving aroundthe onboard network. It is usefulin detecting the source of localspikes in traffic, which may beaffecting the performance of thesatellite link.

Finally, the two companiescan help fine-tune existing appli-cations for usage in a maritimesatcoms environment. ‘Manyshipping companies use custom-developed software for managingtheir daily reports, personnel, op-erations, inventory, and other re-sources, which are not necessarilydesigned with satcoms in mind,’says Emil Regard of ESSI. ‘Thereare many things we can imple-ment to optimise and improve theapplications performance overVSAT networks, for example, to re-duce the number of handshakesrequired when talking to a shore-based SAP or SQL database.’

As the demand for always-on, broadband connections at afixed monthly rate has in-creased, more and more com-mercial shipping companies arelooking for services like HughesMaritime Broadband. Whilemost develop business plans toanticipate the value the servicebrings, they often find the usesand applications grow signifi-cantly once the service is in-stalled. It is common for thesecompanies to participate inmonth-long pilot programs to ex-plore the applications and uses.More often than not, the servicestays onboard as the companiesfind the price is well worth theadditional productivity.

MITE October/November 2010 10

SCANA CREATES PROGRESS

Scana Mar-El AS is a leading manufacturer of electronic remote control systems for propulsion and manoeuvring of vessels.The company was founded in 1974, and so far we have delivered a total of nearly 3000 systems world-wide.

Joystick and position keeping system

The Marco-V is an advanced joystick system offering full vessel control from a 3-axis joystick.

The system includes features as automatic heading and automatic position keeping.

Storvegen 48, N-3880 Dalen, Norway • Tlf: +47 35 07 58 00 • Fax: + 47 35 07 58 01 • E-mail: [email protected] • www.scana.no

Scana Mar-El AS


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SATCOMS


that records vessel attitude data inregards to heading, roll, pitch, yaw,acceleration, position, tempera-ture, and random vibrations etc,on different kinds of vessels from20-300m in length. This data is fedinto the multi-axis hydraulic mo-tion testing and simulation plat-form that Thrane & Thrane builtto simulate exactly the movementof any vessel. Using real vesselmotion and conditions, whilst con-nected to a live satellite provided arealistic testing ground, on a long-term basis. Any Sailor antennasystem can be exposed to theseconditions at any time.

Simulated antenna testing isa complicated process, not leastbecause pointing at the satellitefrom inside a building is obvi-ously a challenge. However, theinvestment and effort in settingup the new test and simulationfacility has enabled the team to‘sea-trial’ the antenna using a dif-ferent ship profile at will, result-ing in months of extendedtesting, which is an importantfactor considering the limitationsmany antenna manufacturersface on carrying out live testingduring development. Additionalfacilities in the new test area in-clude a set of vibration equip-ment and a special chamber for‘highly accelerated lifetime test-ing’ (HALT).

‘We can set the vessel profile

itime satcom manager at Thrane& Thrane. ‘With the target interms of quality and perform-ance set, we were determined todevelop an antenna that was100% suited to the environmentit would be used in. This wouldrely on a new level of testing, in-volving the extensive use of realvessel data to ensure that thenew antenna would perform reli-ably aboard any ship, regardlessof the sea state or weather.’

To accommodate this ap-proach, Thrane & Thrane hasbuilt a unique testing and simu-lation facility. The all new testarea is a three storey extensionto the Thrane & Thrane HQbuilding in Lyngby (seven milesnorth of Copenhagen) and wasimplemented solely with thepurpose of improving develop-ment resources for the design ofnew antenna systems. Critical tothe success of the new testing fa-cility and the Sailor 900 VSAT,was obtaining real vessel datathat could be used to simulatereal-life conditions.

Thrane & Thrane deployedspecial measurement equipment

Virtual sea trials fornew Ku-band dish

A new test and simulation facilitycombined with a methodicalapproach to engineering and datacould help Thrane & Thraneʼsforthcoming Ku-band antenna offerthe reliability that VSAT users havebeen crying out for

Thrane & Thrane in-troduced its new entryto the maritime sta-bilised VSAT antenna

market, the Sailor 900 VSAT, atSMM in September last year, and itis expected to start shipping thissummer. With a satcoms founda-tion in the Inmarsat market, whereit has sold over 15 000 FleetBroad-band systems since the servicewent live in November 2007,Thrane & Thrane’s desire to makea similar impact on the expandingworld of VSAT is now starting tobecome apparent. Not least in thedistinctive approach that its engi-neers have taken to the develop-ment of the new antenna andantenna control unit (ACU), espe-cially in terms of testing.

Custom-built facilityHaving closely followed the grad-ual growth of maritime VSAT inrecent years, Thrane & Thranewas well aware of the currentstate-of-play in the market whenit started developing the Sailor900 VSAT. It’s not a well kept se-cret, but those that work withKu-band VSAT systems at seadaily, know that there are inher-ent issues with the current stateof the technology, with connec-tion and reliability being themajor user reported problems.

‘One of our first developmentsteps was to talk to VSAT serviceproviders and end-users and re-view in detail the issues theyfaced. This helped us to build apicture on the current state ofplay,’ says Jens Ewerling, mar-

� The testing facility used two largedomes; under one is the multi-axismotion simulator, the other housesfacilities for calibration and testing

thrane2pp.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 12:41 Page 12

unskilled people to simply re-move modules, and replacethem, therefore, minimising anydowntime should an issue occur.

‘We placed a good deal offocus on enabling remote moni-toring and maintenance as this issomething that the market is re-questing,’ continues Ewerling.‘However, because we under-stand what is going on in the en-

and condition to whatever isneeded and analyse how the an-tenna would track the satelliteusing a live connection, whichwas made possible because of aspecial building constructionusing low loss material. Thismeans that we can create testconditions identical to those atsea, because we have the invalu-able motion data taken from thevarious vessels at the start of theproject,’ explains Ewerling.

‘Of course, this doesn’t meanthat we haven’t carried out rigor-ous real-life sea trials, but theextra data we have gatheredthrough our on land testing com-plements this, giving us a hugeamount of data to work with.’

Virtual shipsWith access to a range of vesselsfor recording seaway and vibra-tion data and the ability to testand refine based on early ad-vanced simulation, Thrane &Thrane believes it has come upwith a stabilised antenna systemthat addresses the current issueswith Ku-band antenna technology.

‘The Sailor 900 is lighter thanother systems and thereforefaster and less expensive to in-stall. Easy and lower cost instal-lation is also down to the singleoff-the-shelf 50Ω antenna cablewhich is the only cable going tothe antenna for RF, DC powerand data. All of this combinedmeans that you don’t have totake off the radome, which basi-cally saves a whole day of prepa-ration and installation, againsaving money for the customer.’

‘It also has BITE – built-in testequipment . It monitors all thehardware and software systemsand data can be accessed by re-mote connection over InmarsatFleetBroadband or via the VSATlink directly,’ says Ewerling.

The internal monitoring andself diagnostics developed for theSailor 900 answer a growing needin the market for a more sophis-ticated approach to fault findingand ensuring antennas are per-forming correctly. The Thrane &Thrane team has even gone asfar as including a special tool inthe dome that enables relatively

vironment, in part down to therigorous testing in our new facil-ity, we are coming to marketwith an antenna that doesn’t re-quire regular maintenance. Frommotor design to belt control andmechanical parts, we have de-signed it for years of 24/7 operat-ing without the need formaintenance. In addition to theoperational uptime this enables,


SATCOMS


SATCOMS

for these. This according to Ewer-ling is in part down to the recog-nised reliability of the hardwareand global coverage of the In-marsat L-band satellite services.

‘The shipping communitywill further embrace broadbandat sea in the coming years.

‘Ku-band coverage at sea hasexpanded significantly over thelast couple of years. But every sin-gle satellite beam is an individualbusiness case and therefore thereare sea areas with low shippingtraffic where there probably willnever be any Ku-band coverage.The fact that we can offer a com-plete maritime communicationsolution including Sailor Fleet-Broadband makes us prettyunique in the market place – wecan provide the backdoor betweenVSAT and Inmarsat, but still allow-ing our partners to create innova-tive solutions for broadband

it can also be offset against theinitial capital expenditure andthe lifetime costs of installingand running a Ku-band solution.’

Thrane & Thrane is develop-ing the Sailor 900 as a universalantenna to work on all technologyplatforms, networks and satellites.It is already prepared to functionwith the iDirect Infiniti 5100 andEvolution X5 VSAT modems, plusComtech 570L SCPC modems forstarters, with more modem com-patibility like STM Satlink 1910and Hughes HX200 being addedprior to launch.

The bigger pictureDespite a recent developmentfocus on the Sailor 900 antenna,Thrane & Thrane is still enjoyinghigh delivery rates for its Sailor-branded Inmarsat FleetBroad-band terminals and continues todevelop advanced new features

management and gateway solu-tions. And behind all this are thetough Sailor systems, ensuring areliable connection wherever thevessel is,’ Ewerling concludes.

A further development atThrane & Thrane is that the latestgeneration Sailor communicationand GMDSS products are actuallyfully IP-enabled offering singlepoint of access for all the Sailorsystems on board. Eventually,Sailor 900 with redundancy fromFleetBroadband is going to be-come the gateway for aThraneLINK integration, whichmeans in the future it will be ableto form part of a much largercommunications and navigationnetwork using the new Light Eth-ernet standard with open proto-cols that Thrane & Thraneengineers helped to definethrough the development ofThraneLINK.

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Typ 02 - 148x210 - FBB.indd 1 2011-03-10 10:57:42



SATCOMS

STRATOS GLOBAL has suddenlygone all VSAT. Intended to bethe first step on a migrationpath towards Inmarsatʼs Glob-alXpress Ka-band service, theStratos team have introduced aKu-band service to augmenttheir current portfolio of L-bandsatcoms services.

FBBPlus is dual-fuel offeringthat brings VSAT and InmarsatʼsFleetBroadband together in asingle package. Targeted pri-marily at global shipping com-panies seeking to customisetheir own network environmentand require greater datathroughput, the new serviceprovides a 25Gb download al-lowance for a fixed monthly fee.This artificially imposed cap is incontrast to the all-you-can-eatVSAT service offerings, whichhave been prevalent in the mar-ket so far.

It is worth noting FBBPlusdiffers again from Stratosʼ ownlong-standing OceanVSAT serv-ice, which can deliver up to0.5Mbps to a global footprint.Operating on C-band, Ocean-VSAT is essentially a re-pack-aged and re-branded version ofIntelsatʼs ʻNetwork BroadbandGlobal Maritime Serviceʼ.

Stratos recently began de-ploying FBBPlus on approxi-mately 40 Hapag-Lloyd vessels,under a five-year contract. Inaddition to being one of theworldʼs largest container oper-ators, Hapag-Lloyd is recog-nised as having developed oneof the shipping industryʼs mostadvanced IT systems.

Stratos is deploying FBB-Plus on the Hapag-Lloyd ships(almost a third of the fleet), to-gether with its AmosConnectapplication to manage all email,fax, SMS and interoffice com-munications, and a number ofʻStratos Advantageʼ value-added services for tweakingperformance, security and costcontrol.

According to Stratos, FBB-Plus is the only service that de-livers a managed MPLSextension network over sepa-

rate L-band and Ku-band net-works. The MPLS network sepa-rates and logically managesbusiness, crew and non-essen-tial traffic ‒ while deliveringhigh-quality voice via In-marsatʼs circuit-switched net-work.

Stratos president and chief

executive Jim Parm says that asthe worldʼs leading FleetBroad-band distributor, the companyunderstands the demand forhigher volumes of data to sup-port business communicationsonboard along with the increas-ing need to support crew withInternet-based services. Headds: ʻFBBPlus is a creative solu-tion for expanding our cus-tomersʼ communicationscapabilities as we prepare forthe availability InmarsatʼsGlobal Xpress services in 2014.ʼ

Stratos launches Ku-band, installs on box-ships

KVH Industries took the coversoff the newest addition to itsTracPhone broadband rangeagainst the backdrop of theMiami International Boat Show.The TracPhone V3 is claimed tobe the smallest ever maritimeantenna, with a radome diame-ter of 37cm and weighing only11kg. Data rates remain as fast asbefore at 2Mbps.

With affordability a foremostobjective, Internet access ischarged on a pay-as-you-gobasis at $0.99/Mb with voice callsat $0.49/min. KVH was eager todraw a comparison with L-band

services, such as Inmarsat, withpublished airtime rates of over$10/Mb.

Company president andchief executive Martin Kits vanHeyningen said: ʻFor years weʼveheard people complain aboutthe high prices charged for sat-coms services. We set out to de-sign a new product that was thesize and cost of an InmarsatFleetBroadband terminal butwith faster data speeds and sig-nificantly lower airtime rates.ʼ

The TracPhone V3 includes afully stabilised antenna, poweredby a ViaSat ArcLight spread spec-

trum modem and a below-decksantenna control unit. ArcLightenables very small antennas likeKVHʼs 60cm TracPhone V7 andnow, the TracPhone V3 to re-ceive satellite transmissions withthe speed and reliability of older1m VSAT antennas that useTDMA transmission schemes.

KVH goes on to state itsRingFire antenna design and di-electric feed rod technologymean the TracPhone V3 per-forms well, even in poor weather,and its rugged design is suitablefor use on tuna towers and com-mercial vessels.

The V3 sits alongside the V7in KVHʼs mini-VSAT Broadbandproduct line. While the V7 isaimed at heavy data users whowant fixed-price airtime plans,the V3 provides the metered rateplans and compact design typi-cal of L-band services but withKu-band speeds.

Both services run over KVHʼsnetwork of 13 satellite transpon-ders and 10 earth stations. In2010, the company reports thesedelivered more than 60Tb ofdata and handled more than 1.5million voice calls to and fromvessels around the globe.

� Kyoto Express is one of thefirst vessels on which FBBPlus hasbeen deployed

KVH bid to undercut Inmarsat with pay-as-you-go V3

sats.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 13:39 Page 15

CREW WELFARE


Foundation in Japan predictsthat by 2020 an additional 32 153officers and 46 881 ratings will beneeded to meet the future needsof the business. Such high figureshave caused some to questionhow seafarers are treated. Othershave alluded to the fact that foodonboard is dull and unappetisingand living accommodation basicand functional rather than en-hancing the onboard environ-ment. When your business istransporting thousands of con-tainers, getting by with the tight-est of accommodation blocksallows the bottom line to expand.

Deeper problemsBut, says Peters, the problem isdeeper than that. With tighter se-curity, the constant threat ofpiracy on certain routes and po-tential criminalisation, coupledwith the more traditional prob-lems of loneliness and isolationamong multi-national crews,more needs to be done to ensurethat the onboard welfare of sea-farers is taken into account.

‘There’s no denying that a ca-reer at sea can be a very reward-ing and exciting experience,’ saysKen Peters, director of justiceand welfare at The Mission toSeafarers. ‘But, just as those of uswho work shore side expect a de-cent work/life balance, the im-provement in the quality of lifefor seafarers is an area which theindustry has failed to address formany years.’

A recent study by the Nippon

‘Working nine to five,what a way to make aliving,’ sang DollyParton in the 1980s

hit movie. The song has becomesynonymous with those whospend their working week sittingbehind a computer screen, desk-bound and, dare I say, clock-watching until 5pm when theycan make a quick escape home.

But spare a thought for theworld’s 1.2 million seafarers whocrew the merchant fleet. Forthem, there is no going homewhen the day is done. And if theship is at sea, very often there isno ability to telephone the kidsto find out about their day, or toread them a bedtime story.

Security concerns, additionalwatches and, increasingly, a rangeof duties which the crew need toperform when the ship is in port,has meant that seafarers are find-ing it harder and harder to availthemselves of welfare services andit’s having a negative impact on re-cruiting and retaining young peo-ple to a life on the ocean wave.

Electronic communication is only oneaspect of crew welfare. Ben Bailey ofthe Mission to Seafarers takes a holisticlook at the conditions under whichcrew are expected to work and livewhile at sea

Quality of life for seafarers is an areawhich the industry has failed to addressfor many years

A mission to relieve the stress of life at sea

crew2pp.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 13:25 Page 16

and mobile phones and so weoffer telephone cards and WiFiaccess, as well as the more tradi-tional forms of communication.Many a seafarer has seen hisfirstborn child for the first timebecause of the ability to contacthome via a video link up fromone of our centres.’

The Mission to Seafarers hasbeen at the forefront of develop-ing successful comms productsfor many years. Working withvarious companies it has giveninput into producing reasonablypriced telephone cards and a uni-versal SIM card which allows sea-farers to have one dedicatedlandline-based number so thatfamily members can make con-tact without having to pay exces-sive roaming charges. In thefuture the organisation says thatit will continue to work with thecommunications industry to en-sure that products are created forseafarers that are suitable, afford-able and effective in helping tomake their life more bearable.

But as well as the tech sup-port, seafarers’ centres the worldover are known for their friendlywelcome and access to support.Each of the Mission’s 100-pluscentres have shops where seafar-ers can pick up essential itemsfor the onward journey, ex-change books and DVDs as wellas seek spiritual support or ad-vice from the port chaplain.Some of the larger centres alsooffer recreational facilities sothat a seafarer returns to his shiprefreshed and rejuvenated.

‘Caring for seafarers’ wellbe-ing goes to the heart of our or-ganisation,’ says Peters.‘Therefore we recognise thatsometimes they need more thanjust access to communicationand a shop where they can buy adifferent brand of toothpaste.Our centre in Mombasa, for ex-ample, has a swimming pool,sports hall and facilities for foot-ball and basketball. Here, seafar-ers hold competitions between

‘That’s why ship visiting byMission chaplains is so impor-tant,’ says Peters. ‘The chaplain isusually the only person to visitthe ship who has no interest inits logistical operation. They visitto enquire about the crew, tomake sure that they are workingto international conventions andthat they are taking care of them-selves. If there is a problem, veryoften it is our representativeswho are able to sort them out.’

The sight of a yellow-jack-eted Mission ship visitor is a fa-miliar sight in some 230 portsaround the world. As is the Fly-ing Angel seafarers’ centreswhich are vital in offering serv-ices to seafarers who would oth-erwise dock in a port, on a shortturnaround, with no access totransportation, communicationfacilities or practical assistance.

There aren’t many homecomforts in the modern 21stCentury port. In these days ofheightened security and PortState Control, the Mission hasoften heard of ‘security’ beingthe reason that seafarers are un-able to leave their ship. Imaginethe relief, therefore, when theycatch sight of a Mission flag wav-ing in the sea breeze – theyknow that here they can find ac-cess to a range of facilities andservices which will enable themto bridge the thousands of milesthat separate them from theirloved ones back home.

‘We recognise that a seafarer’stime ashore is very precious andcan often be only a few hours,’says Peters. ‘That’s why we aimto provide a home-from-home ex-perience so that they can max-imise their time ashore and getwhat they need. The biggest serv-ice we provide is the opportunityfor them to contact home viaemail or telephone.

Video-link birth‘Increasingly, we are seeing sea-farers with their own laptops

ships and crewing agents, so thatfor those few hours of shore-leave there is time to let offsteam and reconnect with thetypes of facilities that we takefor granted.’

Improved legislationBut the Mission also knows thatadopting new technologies andservices is not enough to combatthe stresses and strains associ-ated with a seafaring. Govern-ments, Flag states andshipowners must all play theirpart. Currently, the industry ispreparing for the MaritimeLabour Convention, 2006 (MLC).This important piece of legisla-tion consolidates many existingrules and regulations to ensurethat seafarers have proper accesshealthcare, employment oppor-tunities, decent food and cater-ing, accommodation andaccident protection. For Peters,this is seen as a vital tool inkeeping crew welfare at theheart of the agenda.

‘The entry into force of theMLC means that for the firsttime a wider view will be takenwhen inspecting the ship,’ hesays. ‘So not only will theycheck to make sure that the ves-sel is seaworthy, but they willalso look at the dietary contentof the food onboard and that thecrew are getting the requiredhours of rest.’

It is very easy for peoplewho are desk-bound and whohave not been to sea to romanti-cise about what it is like. Thefeeling of freedom and being ‘atone’ with nature may seem likean ideal alternative to the hum-drum of the office, but a life atsea is anything but easy. As oneseafarer said to me recentlywhen we were comparing work-ing on land versus at sea: ‘Every-thing I have given to my familyis from my work as a seafarer.And even though it’s tough, Iwill keep coming back – becausethis is my life.’

� FalmouthChairman PennyPhillips assists aseafarer at aMission centre


CREW WELFARE

More seafarers own laptops and mobile phones, so weoffer telephone cards and WiFi access

Alexandre Arnodin ̶ Anevia

The entry into force of the MLC means thatfor the first time a wider view will be taken when inspecting the ship

crew2pp.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 13:25 Page 17

RADAR


level of overall visible clutter.While this does not help detecttargets masked by stronger sur-rounding clutter, it does help todistinguish strong target sourcesfrom the background clutter.

In the past, radar gain waselectronically controlled and af-fected all the received information.In some more advanced radars thisAGC has became software con-trolled, and generates a map to setthe detection sensitivity of specificcells in the radar returns.

Pirate activityDespite these significant improve-ments, it can still be possible tolose a small target in heavy rain.And, unfortunately, today it is pi-rates operating from small skiffsthat are taking advantage of ‘raincloaking’. It is maybe not a coinci-dence then that the areas of theworld where pirates are mostrampant correlate with tropicalweather systems: Indonesia, thePhillipines and West Africa.

The value of being able to de-tect small vessels approaching in

inated. Sea clutter can be re-duced by using horizontal polari-sation, while rain is reduced withcircular polarisation. (Meteoro-logical radars do the oppositeand use linear polarisation thebetter to detect precipitation).

To provide optimum targetdetection, advanced systems useConstant False Alarm Rate(CFAR) processing – a form ofautomatic gain control (AGC).This is a technique relying onthe fact that clutter returns faroutnumber echoes from targetsof interest. To achieve this, thereceiver’s gain is automaticallyadjusted to maintain a constant

Following the inven-tion and early de-ployment of radar onwarships in WWII, it

wasn’t long before switched-onnaval officers discovered a sim-ple hack to circumvent this newdetection tool.

As readers of MITE will well-know, radar works by transmit-ting pulses of radio waves whichbounce off any object in theirpath. The reflections received bythe antenna are then processedto form an image. What those of-ficers realised is that these radiowaves also bounce off rain, re-sulting in image clutter makingit harder to detect real obstacles– or targets. To become invisible,all they needed to do was movein concert with rain clouds.

Of course, in the decadessince, engineers have had timeto devise techniques aimed atneutralising clutter and reducingthe impact of precipitation.Many of these methods rely onthe fact that clutter tends to ap-pear static between radar scans.Therefore, when comparing sub-sequent scans echoes, desirabletargets will appear to move andall stationary echoes can be elim-

Modern pirates operating from smallskiffs have cottoned on to the fact thatconventional radar offers limitedforesight in wet weather. However,ʻrain cloakingʼ is not enough to foolcontemporary solid-state systems

Breaking cloud-cover� Solid-state architecture improvesreliability and reduces maintenance

Thick low clouds and rain may provide ahiding place for pirates

CHIRP Maritime Feedback

any weather conditions, and au-tomatically identify potentiallyhostile behaviour, was recentlyhighlighted by the UK’s Confi-dential Hazardous Incident Re-porting Programme (CHIRP), inits most recent Maritime Feed-back bulletin (No. 28).

‘Thick low clouds and rainmay provide a hiding place for pi-rate craft,’ warns CHIRP in a re-port on an incident in the SouthChina Sea. ‘While passing theAnamabas Archipeligo in themiddle of the night, an officer ofthe watch noticed two smallunidentified targets on the radar,and thick low clouds forming anddeveloping in their direction. Thetargets became lost in rain clut-ter. Some time later he received adistress call from a tanker in thevicinity advising that it had beenboarded by pirates.’

The ‘lesson learned’ was thata careful radar watch should bekept on areas of thick low cloudsand rain, adjusting range andrain clutter accordingly, thewatchkeeper concluded. But,Kelvin Hughes’ commercial busi-ness director Spike Hughes con-tends this may not be enough:‘While it is good advice, the truthis that, in these conditions, mostcommercial marine radars willstruggle to detect the type ofsmall craft favoured by pirates.’

Hughes is keen to stress thatnot all radars are created equal.‘Our SharpEye solid-state technol-ogy is particularly effective in de-tecting small targets, especially inhigh levels of rain and sea clutterand can prove invaluable in theearly detection of pirates. It canhelp take the strain off radarwatchkeepers by automaticallyalerting them to craft displayinghostile behaviour patterns. Pi-rates typically use boats with verysmall radar cross-sections and ap-proach their intended victims ona direct track, most often fromastern and frequently at night.’


RADAR

SharpEye can take the strain off radarwatchkeepers by alerting them to craftdisplaying hostile behaviour patterns

Spike Hughes, Kelvin Hughes

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RADAR


when it came to replacing theirexisting radar hardware ontheir research vessel RRS ErnestShackleton.

The organisation was also at-tracted by the promise of re-duced maintenance. Unlikeconventional radar, SharpEyedoes not operate with a mag-netron and so does not incur thecost of parts and the need to callin an engineer every 8-10,000hours to replace it.

‘These costs can quickly addup and the replacement can bea great inconvenience if the ves-sel is in a remote location when

Doppler detection‘SharpEye’s optional Dopplerprocessing means it can extracttargets showing certain velocitycharacteristics. The detectionprocess is completely au-tonomous of the display systemand can be used to drive a sec-ond PPI. All targets meeting thevelocity filter characteristics willbe displayed, with awarning/alarm if required.’

‘The Doppler processed En-hanced Target Detection (ETD)mode was originally developedfor detecting ice but we’ve foundit is equally useful for detectingsmall targets, such as buoys,which might otherwise have onlybe seen intermittently or not atall,’ says Hughes.

‘Navigators appreciate theclarity provided by removingunwanted clutter and by paint-ing moving targets in a differ-ent colour. The overall effecton the screen is almost a 3D orembossed view of details suchas waves, vessel wakes andcoastlines while still maintain-ing an exceptionally clear pic-ture. One customer, a bargeoperator on the Rhine, wasamazed that he could even spotdogs running on the riverbanks!’

Controls are provided to en-able the operator to change theweightings between fixed andmoving targets to achieve thebest possible display in varyingconditions. ETD mode is avail-able as a software upgrade to thestandard MantaDigital Radar orChart Radar products. No addi-tional hardware is required.

When SharpEye is used incombination with ETD, smalltarget detection performance ap-proaches that of multi-million-dollar military systems, assertsHughes. ‘More importantly, aspart of anti-piracy strategy, is itgives a ship time to take appro-priate countermeasures.’

Reliability bonusThe use of the enhanced ice-de-tection capabilities of ETD, to-gether with SharpEye madeManta Digital an appealing op-tion for British Antarctic Survey

the magnetron does fail,’ Hughesexplains. In this respect, theBAS is the perfect referenceclient. ‘If something goes wrongwhen you’re operating in theAntarctic, you can't just snapyour fingers and magic up a re-placement.’

Since its commercial launchthree and half yeas ago, KelvinHughes has installed almost 300SharpEye units in a surprisinglydiverse range of vessels – fromcruise ships and luxury yachts totankers and container ships – aswell as in ports for vessel trafficmanagement.

MARIS HAS secured what is believed to be the worldʼs first type approval certification for an inde-pendent PC-based radar kit to meet IMOʼs new Radar Performance Standard MSC.192(79) andIECʼs Radar Test Standard (IEC 62388).

These two standards encompass rigorous performance requirements for marine radar, partic-ularly in terms of target detection in adverse weather conditions where small targets are oftenbarely visible to the radar system.

The advanced digital processing found in modern radar systems has provided superior per-formance and comprehensive functionality to benefit the mariner and enhance safety at sea, anda number of major manufacturers already offer approved complete radar systems. However, asthe new standards were initiated by Norway (supported by Germany and the UK), it is fitting thatMaris ‒ a Norwegian company ‒ has designed the first radar kit for third parties to adopt as part ofan integrated navigation system.

Deputy chief executive Steinar Gundersen reports that the company worked with some of theworldʼs most experienced marine radar experts to develop its new PC Radar Kit. Already deployedby system integrators in Europe, the Americas and Asia, certification marks a milestone for theability of independent companies to compete on performance with complete radar system sup-pliers. ʻOur PC Radar Kit has already been selected for both commercial and naval applications, butthis certification means that a wider pool of users can consider it as an OEM product.ʼ

The kit includes a radar interface PCI card and the necessary radar software (for Microsoft XP)to connect most leading radar and navigation sensors allowing images to be displayed on a PCterminal as a traditional radar, chart radar or radar overlay on electronic charts. The system cancontinuously process up to 4000 targets to provide almost instant radar target data and efficientlocal networking. It also has optional vector char and active route functions.

Gundersen adds that the new standards stipulate any approved radar to be tested as a systemand therefore where appropriate, it is also necessary for equipment integrating with the radar kitto be tested and certified by an approved test authority. ʻWe can advise on achieving this approvalstatus. Furthermore, our Radar Kit has been specifically designed to offer a degree of flexibility forcustom requirements, for such elements as the human machine interface, recognising the needfor diverse yet compliant products.ʼ

Independent PC Radar Kit certified

� Returns fromconventionaland SharpEyeradar showingthe difference inclutter

The WWNWS was establishedby IMO – in collaboration withthe International HydrographicOrganization – in the late 1970s.The world’s oceans were dividedinto l6 NAVAREAs, with one des-ignated country in each area re-sponsible for disseminatingnavigational information.METAREAs, with identical lim-its, were also subsequently es-tablished.

The need to expand thisservice into the Arctic area wasbrought to the attention of IMOin 2005, as Arctic waters werebecoming increasingly accessi-ble with less predictable, moreextreme weather, adding up toincreased risk and potential foraccidents and environmentalharm, thereby requiring accu-rate early warning systems inplace to maximise operationalsafety and minimise environ-mental damage.

In 2006, the COMSAR Sub-Committee established the jointIMO/IHO/WMO correspon-dence group on Arctic MaritimeSafety Information services totake up this work in detail.COMSAR 12, in 2008, agreed thata common broadcast system forMaritime Safety Information(MSI) was required for the Arcticregion. It also agreed that, untilan Arctic satellite serviceprovider under GMDSS wasavailable, high-frequency nar-row-band direct printing was aviable alternative means ofpromulgation of MSI above thehigh latitude limits of Inmarsatcoverage.

Some thirty yearsafter it was first es-tablished, the World-Wide Navigational

Warning System (WWNWS) hasfinally expanded into Arctic wa-ters, the IMO announced on thefirst day of the 15th session ofthe Sub-Committee on Radio-communications, Search andRescue (COMSAR).

The expansion means thatships operating in the Arctic canautomatically receive updates onimpending navigational and me-teorological hazards and othersafety bulletins via five new nav-igational areas (NAVAREAs) andmeteorological areas (METAR-EAs), as delineated by IMO andWMO (World Meteorological Or-ganization) respectively.

Following their establish-ment in June 2010, these fivenew zones are currently in an‘Initial Operational Capability’phase with a transition to ‘FullOperational Capability’ expectedJune this year.

IMO Secretary-GeneralEfthimios Mitropoulos heraldedthe expansion as a major mile-stone in addressing the risks toships from a combination of ex-panding business activity in theregion and less predictable,more extreme, weather condi-tions. ‘The potential for acci-dents and for causingenvironmental harm through op-erational mishaps in the Arctic isrising, while the effectiveness ofsearch and rescue services andclean-up resources is inevitablystretched to the limit,’ he said.

In 2009, the COMSAR Sub-Committee endorsed the recom-mendation of thecorrespondence group for livetesting of the ArcticNAVAREA/METAREA operationsto be held in 2009 and 2010, witha milestone goal of ‘Full Opera-tional Status’ being declared atCOMSAR 15 in 2011, which hasnow been met.


NAVIGATION

Today, all shipowners know that mandatory carriage of ECDIS isbeing phased in from next summer, but many have only just startedconsidering the practical implications.

One of the first questions to arise concerns hardware. Whateversystem is chosen, it has to be type-approved and have either a du-plicate ECDIS or appropriate paper charts as a backup. As the man-dation date approaches, a number of newcomer suppliers haveappeared in the marketplace. But it would be prudent to choose avendor that can provide a full range of services and that can pro-vide the level of support in the field that any complex electronicproduct needs.

The practical matter of installation also needs to be kept inmind. Kelvin Hughes has eight subsidiaries and over 100 serviceagents worldwide who are all certified to provide both equipmentinstallation and through life support.

For ECDIS mandation to be successful, it also needs to drivedown through life cost. With the complexities of regulation, vary-ing chart licensing schemes and remote updating systems, the onlyreal way of achieving this is to work with a supplier that has suffi-cient expertise and services to cope. A complete package, such asECDISPLUS from Kelvin Hughes, provides all these services, togetherwith global backup. The company will manage both equipment anddata to ensure that vessels are kept safe and compliant.

ECDIS Doctor

IMO warning systemreaches Arctic waters

navi.qxp:Layout 1 25/3/11 11:12 Page 21

RADAR


compatibility for improved radardetection in conditions of heavyclutter. New systems and serv-ices provide an ever-increasingarray of options through whichto optimise service levels and re-duce risk and cost.

NT radarIt is likely that a number of S-band NT radar solutions willemerge over the next few years.If these fulfil their promise ofimproving target detection, par-ticularly in clutter, they willquickly become the preferred op-tion for both users and manufac-turers. As well as the use oftarget and clutter Doppler infor-mation to enhance target visibil-ity, there are several otherbenefits.

In particular, the low peakpowers obtainable from pulsecompression techniques enablesolid-state transmitters to beused. The required technologyhas become increasingly afford-able because of the escalatingmarket for mid-power mi-crowave digital communicationsystems. Although this technol-ogy transfer applies only to S-band at present, it couldeventually become available atX-band as well, as has beenshown for military radar applica-tions.

Solid-state transmitters also

was dropped (MSC79 Resolution192(79)) so as not to constrainthe development of improvedradar performance in clutter.

Nevertheless, IMO continuesto recognise the importance ofracons as an aid to navigation,since they provide a means ofidentifying and locating naviga-tion marks in poor visibilitywithout reliance on GNSS orother electronic position fixingsystems. For this reason, the re-quirement at X-band for raconcompatibility has not been al-tered.

Prior to IMO’s decision, theNautical Institute carried out asurvey of bridge officers and es-tablished that there was a con-sensus for an approach thateffectively trades S-band racon

Global NavigationSatellite Systems(GNSS) – and in par-ticular GPS – have

become the primary means ofnavigation in many maritimeapplications. However, theirvulnerability to accidental ordeliberate interference is wellknown and the need for morethan one position input to e-Navigation is widely recog-nised.

Radar aids to navigation, inparticular radar beacons or‘racons’, provide an independentmeans of positioning fixing, situ-ational awareness and collisionavoidance. They are highly val-ued by mariners, but changes inradar technology may limit theireffectiveness.

S-Band radar (3 GHz) is nor-mally the preferred choice byusers when operating in adverseconditions, particularly in openwaters, when the extra angularresolution of X-band radar (9GHz) is not so important. S-bandoffers marked improvement inprecipitation clutter compared toX-band.

IMO recognised that the po-tential radar performance im-provements obtained usingso-called ‘new technology’ (NT)would be particularly beneficialat S-band. And in July 1998, therequirement to trigger racons

Fears that solid-state ʻNTʼ radar wouldmake racons redundant are misplaced.On the contrary, their ability to provideinformation independent of GNSS willsee them grow in importance, argueNick Ward* and Martin Bransby** ofthe General Lighthouse Authority

Racons continueto shine

radar 3pp.qxp:Layout 1 25/3/11 17:05 Page 22

ing requirement for racons inthe e-Navigation era, with aneed to respond to the prolifer-ation of other radar targets,such as wind farms, as well asincreasing congestion in someareas, making greater demandson AtoNs

Adoption of NT radar initiallyat S-band, eventually at X-band,with increased traffic and morevaried capability among userswill necessitate a risk based ap-proach to deployment of radarAtoNs. Support for internationalstandards, particularly in thetransition to e-Navigation (imple-mentation of which is expectedto begin in approximately 2018)will require continued use ofracons for signposting, confirma-tion of position, hazard warningand potentially for absolute posi-tioning.

However, radars will be intro-duced over the next decade thatwill not trigger existing racons,or will do so at significantly re-duced range.

Continued significanceMariners have access to a rapidlyincreasing amount of informa-tion, bringing with it a risk of in-formation overload. Thisnecessitates an ability to inter-pret and discriminate betweenindividual aids to navigation inan environment with an increas-ing amount of radar clutter.

There is a potential singlepoint of failure with both thenavigation and surveillance func-tions of future systems relyingsolely on GNSS. Radar aids tonavigation will be a key elementof future operational strategy tomitigate risks, since they are in-

allow the easy use of frequencydiversity techniques, giving afurther significant boost to targetdetectability. They offer benefitsin improving the reliability ofradar systems compared to reso-nant cavity based systems. Forexample, magnetrons have a lim-ited in-service life (c10 000hours) and require very highvoltage power supplies that limitreliability.

AtoN provisionOver the next twenty years theenvironment for AtoN serviceprovision is going to change sig-nificantly. Changes in the opera-tional environment couldinclude growth of marine leisureactivities, the proliferation ofhigh-speed and larger vesselsand changes in traffic patterns;adoption of new technology(widespread reliance on GNSS,NT radars, IBS, etc) that may initself encourage a level of falseconfidence; the growth of off-shore and coastal industries; andeven the effects of climatechange.

But for the foreseeable fu-ture, radar will continue to bethe primary tool for collisionavoidance and will continue tohave an important role in hazardwarning, spatial awareness andconfirmation of position.

So there will be a continu-

dependent of GNSS.The removal of the require-

ment to trigger racons does notnecessarily mean that raconswill not work with NT Radars.They may work at a reduced,but acceptable range. NTRadars could be designed totrigger racons, whilst retainingtheir other performance advan-tages; alternatively, existingracons could be modified towork with NT Radars, or newracons designed to do so. Cal-culations of performance withthe first of the NT Radars(Kelvin Hughes SharpEye) indi-cate that existing racons willperform, but with reducedrange.

GLA trialsThe GLAs have conductedracon trials with an NT Radarfitted to Commissioners of IrishLights (CIL) vessel Granuaile.The trials were conducted inthe the Irish Sea, where thereare a number of fixed and float-ing AtoNs fitted with differenttypes of racon. Results showedthat the NT radar tested didtrigger racons, but at a signifi-cantly reduced range.

However, the trials alsodemonstrated that a relativelysimple modification – increasingreceiver sensitivity, enabled aproduction racon to respond ade-quately to an NT radar. It needsto be confirmed whether this re-sult can be extended to all NTradars.

NT radars are only being in-troduced in the S-band at pres-ent, for SOLAS vessels, althoughthere is are X-band NT radarsavailable for non-SOLAS vessels.If they are effective in achievingtheir aim of improving small tar-get detection in clutter, it islikely that demand will grow fordevelopment of NT radars at X-band and their application toSOLAS vessels.

Therefore, the important roleof racons could be challenged inthe medium term at S-band andin the longer term at X-band, butinitial results indicate that rela-tively simple solutions may bepossible (see box on p25).

� New radarswill not triggerexisting racons,or will do so atsignificantlyreduced range


RADAR

CONVENTIONAL RADAR NEW TECHNOLOGY (NT) RADAR

non-coherent coherentpulsed CW/FMhigh-peak power (3-30kW) Low-peak power (10-500W)resonant cavity solid-state(typically magnetrons)

Characteristics of NT andconventional radar compared


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RADAR

tions imposed by their historicnature, could be costly.

Active reflectors – or radartarget enhancers – could reduceinstallation costs, but are not cur-rently available in the S-bandand would require a power sup-ply, likely to involve solar mod-ules and batteries on isolatedsites. Providing racons wouldgreatly increase the cost andwould also require power sup-plies.

In summary, there is poten-tial to provide enhanced func-tionality from radar aids tonavigation, possibly leading to analternative position-fixing sys-tem, but a significant amount of

Additional functionalityIf a new generation of racons isto be designed, they could beprovided with an informationchannel, in addition to – or in-stead of – the conventional re-sponse. This could most easily bedone by frequency modulation,as envisaged many years ago foruser-selectable racons.

Providing a position would bestraightforward for raconsmounted on fixed platforms, asthe surveyed location of theAtoN could be used. The positionfor a floating AtoN would have tobe derived from an onboard posi-tion-fixing system, which wouldnegate the advantage of inde-pendence. The identificationcould be by name, number orboth.

It would also be possible toprovide sufficient clear radar re-sponses from AtoNs all round thecoasts to enable radars with suit-able processing software to pro-vide an absolute position, as analternative to GNSS. The techni-cal feasibility of this idea wouldrequire investigation, in particu-lar the number of sites where anenhanced response would beneeded.

It might be possible to usesimple corner reflectors, at lo-cations where the return is notsufficiently strong. However,this would have to be combinedwith some form of map-match-ing – not technically difficult,but requiring some modifica-tion to existing software, withthe need for standardisation.Alternatively, identificationand position transmitted fromthe racons could be used,which would still need someadditional processing, but againshould not present any techni-cal difficulties.

The cost of such proposalwould need to compared withother options, such as alternativeelectronic position-fixing sys-tems. Assuming existing AtoNsites could be used, then the ad-ditional cost of passive reflectorsshould not be very great, al-though mounting any sizeablestructure on existing buildings,many with the planning restric-

research and development wouldbe needed to establish the tech-nical feasibility and especiallythe costs.

* Dr Nick Ward is Research Director of the Gen-

eral Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ire-

land (GLA). He is currently vice chairman of the

International Association of Marine Aids to Nav-

igation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) e-

Navigation committee.

** Martin Bransby is the Manager of the Re-

search and Radionavigation Directorate of the

General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and

Ireland (GLA). He is responsible for the delivery

of its project portfolio in research and develop-

ment in such areas as AIS, eLoran, eNavigation,

GNSS, racons and lights.

Use existing racons: In principle, existing racons can respond to pulsed NT radars, if certain con-straints are placed on the radar design. However, these constraints may be unacceptable to theradar manufacturers.

The distance at which such radars can potentially trigger a racon depends on the peak powerof the pulse. Therefore, an NT radar could be designed that would properly process and displaythe received pulse from the racon, even though the raconʼs response would not reflect the modu-lation on the radar transmitted pulse.

This is a low cost and apparently low risk option for the racon provider and it would be com-patible with a large range of possible NT radar solutions, but only if the radar generates a racon in-terrogation signal and has racon detection algorithms within its digital signal processing (DSP).Modify existing racons: The second option is to examine the possibility of increasing the effec-tiveness of racons with future coherent radars, with various levels of changes to the present raconrequirement specification. This might provide an acceptable way forward, assuming costs are ac-ceptable ‒ all existing racons would have to be modified or replaced. Unchanged compatibilitywith existing conventional radars would also be essential.Universal radar beacon: The third option is to consider the design of a racon that would be com-patible with all types of coherent and non-coherent radars. In principle, this is possible usingmainstream advances in digital microwave techniques, digital RF memory and fast DSP. Althoughit stretches todayʼs technology, it is likely that future advances will make this approach affordable.Its main advantage is that it is potentially compatible with all present and future radars. Beaconpower consumption would be a major consideration.Secondary radar: There is also the possibility of using non-primary radar techniques in order todetermine a shipʼs relative position to one or more navigation marks. This can be readily per-formed with todayʼs technology, using transponders in another band, but requires extra ship-borne equipment, new standards and a racon replacement programme. Although this technologyis currently utilised in the aviation sector, it would be costly and politically very difficult to imple-ment for maritime.Non-radar technology: If the preceding options prove technically, politically or economically toodifficult, then non-radar alternatives would have to be considered as a replacement for racons. AISis the obvious choice, although it has two major drawbacks: first it is dependent on GPS and there-fore does not provide redundancy of position-fixing; second, few vessels have onboard equip-ment that can display AIS AtoNs. Until both these problems are resolved ‒ by an alternativeposition sensor and by modernised display equipment ‒ AIS will not provide an adequate replace-ment for racons.

Future options for racons:


SAFETY


Unlike the steam trains they su-perseded (when there was invari-ably a second person aboard whocould most likely bring the trainto a stop in an emergency), thedriver on the newer locomotivesis typically alone in the cab sofailsafe automatic brakes weredeemed desirable.

A similar mechanism was alsoemployed on the nuclear bombrelease system built into bomberssuch as the B-52 Stratofortress. Itwould ensure that the aircraft’spayload of nuclear weaponswould detonate in the event of thecrew becoming debilitated byenemy missiles or other defences.Once armed, the system wouldensure that the onboard nuclearweapons detonated if the aircraftdropped below a predeterminedaltitude. It is from this applicationwhere the term Dead Man’s Han-dle was originally coined.

Arguably BNWAS addressesthe symptom, not the cause.Would it not be better to stop of-ficer’s losing concentration inthe first place? Recent researchon road safety undertaken atKansas University (and pub-lished in The Journal of theHuman Factors and Ergonomics

standards state that the BNWASshould monitor the awareness ofthe OOW and automatically alertthe master (or another qualifiedOOW) if for any reason the OOWbecomes incapacitated.

Under BNWAS, this should beachieved through a series of indi-cations and alarms. It should alsoprovide the OOW with a meansof calling for assistance if re-quired, and should be operationalwhenever the ship’s heading ortrack control system is engaged,unless inhibited by the Master.

But are BNWAS really an ef-fective solution to deck officerinattention? These alarm sys-tems differ little from the DeadMan’s Handle introduced on lo-comotives and urban mass tran-sit systems early last century.

In conversation withone ECDIS trainingprovider, MITE learntthat young officers

fortunate enough to be sailing onvessels equipped with broadbandconnections sometimes whileaway their hours on watch updat-ing their social networking sites.This might not be as irresponsi-ble and dangerous as it firstsounds. Indeed, it chimes withthe findings of new research ondriver safety, emanating fromthe States.

From this July, Bridge Naviga-tional Watch Alarm Systems(BNWAS) will start to becomemandatory, under IMO regula-tions, implemented through itsMaritime Safety Committee(MSC). Under the terms of theamendments to SOLAS Chapter V,Reg 19, new cargo ships over150gt and all new passenger shipsof any size built after 1 July willhave to be equipped with aBNWAS. Implementation will thenbe phased in on existing tonnageover the following three years.

BNWAS are designed to moni-tor bridge activity and detectlapses in attention that could leadto an accident. The performance

Rather than forcing Officers of theWatch (OOWs) to act like dumbautomatons in responding to theBNWAS every 30 minutes, wouldletting them indulge in their owndistractions enhance vessel safety?

Give officers Facebook

and improvesafety?

facebook 2pp.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 12:13 Page 26

hoarding for a fast food restaurant.The attention levels of the

drivers was measured by moni-toring their ability to stay in lane,avoid over-correcting the steer-ing during manoeuvres, reactingto obstacles in time and remem-bering those fast food signs.

The result was that those whowere asked to perform a concur-

Society) suggests that a certainlevel of driver induced voluntarydistraction may be a good thing.

Researchers Paul Atchleyand Mark Chan found driverswho talk on the phone, changeCDs or switch from one radiostation to the next, might actu-ally be safer behind the wheelthan those who don’t.

This may seem counter-intu-itive and is certainly contrary tomainstream thinking on roadsafety, where the focus is on‘prohibiting’ distractions so thatthe driver is compelled to con-centrate solely on driving. But itis recognised that especially inthe case of long motorway jour-neys when the scenery is largelyunchanging, monotony itself canbe dangerous. So drivers who en-gage in secondary tasks actuallypay more attention to the roadand the job in hand.

To reach their conclusions, theresearchers used a car simulatorand got 45 volunteers to drive for30 minutes while talking on aphone. They then tested partici-pants’ attentiveness with chal-lenges such as another vehiclesuddenly pulling in front of them,or driving past a big advertising

rent task towards the end of theirjourney were more likely to stayin lane and less likely to make er-rors, compared with drivers whohad either a continuous distrac-tion or no task. The big rider,however, was that the researchersagreed there was still ‘a degree ofrisk involved’ when drivers per-form a secondary task.

� A certain levelof voluntarydistraction ‒such as checkingsocialnetworkingwebsites ‒ maybe a good thingfor OOWs


SAFETY

WHEN MANDATORY carriage of ECDIS is phased in from next July,some shipowners intend to use traditional paper charts as a back up,but others have accepted that it will be necessary to install dual sys-tems to provide redundancy in the event that the primary system fallsover. But this latter approach could prove inadequate, according to atleast one ECDIS supplier.

Norwegian navigation systems provider Maris contends that sail-ing on the reserve system until the broken unit can be repairedmeans the ship is then sailing without a back-up. In such circum-stances a dual ECDIS ship would still need a set of paper charts on-board. Ultimately, this comes down to how the relevant SOLASrequirements are interpreted.

According to SOLAS V/22, 16.2, while malfunctions will not neces-sarily make the ship unseaworthy or provide sufficient cause for delay-ing the ship in ports where repair facilities are not readily available,suitable arrangements must be ʻmade by the Master to take the inop-erative equipment or unavailable information into account in planningand executing a safe voyage to a port where repairs can take place.ʼ

In such cases, a Master may request class or Flag state for permis-sion to sail, say, to the next port for repair. However, the Flag is per-fectly within its rights to request the vessel to carry paper charts forthat voyage. An undisclosed member of IACS (International Associa-tion of Classification Societies) has observed that there is inconsis-tency in how different Flag States handle such requests.

To address this scenario and avoid potential delays, Maris has in-troduced what it calls the Zero Downtime ECDIS concept. It comprisesa ʻhot or cold spareʼ third ECDIS delivered direct to the ship so that itcan always proceed to the next port of call, even if up-to-date papercharts are unavailable. The defective unit can then be shipped to themanufacturer at the ship ownerʼs convenience for repair.

Marisʼ deputy chief executive Steinar Gundersen said that thenew subscription service was part of its philosophy of supporting shipowners and operators during their transition to electronic charts. Thethird ECDIS can either be installed as a ʻhot spareʼ online with the dualECDIS systems or as a ʻcold spareʼ supplied as a plug-in unit, which thecrew can install.

In the case of a cold spare, Gundersen explains, it will come com-plete with application software, updating all application software, set-tings and electronic charts and will be self-configured to the exactsettings of the ship, drawing on the shipʼs remaining ECDIS.

Gundersen says the Zero Downtime ECDIS service will obviate theneed for service engineers to fly all over the world to rendezvous withvessels in port. Moreover, it will eliminate the risk of unplanned delays.

Maris zeroes in on redundancy fears

facebook 2pp.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 12:13 Page 27

SAFETY


integrate with any required thirdparty technology such as AIS andEPIRBs. Rather than provide anoff-the-shelf solution, BMTprefers to work with individualauthorities to modify and tailorthe system so it aligns with theirspecific needs and requirements.

Such customisation is evidentin the various modelling method-ologies that are available for SARoperations. SARIS 3 for example,which is still widely used, takesan initial location of the searchtarget and uses divergence (upand down wind) and produceserror circles to create a searchrectangle.

SARIS v4MC, which includesa logging system, takes the exist-ing capability of SARIS v3.6 andintroduces additional functionsto optimise search patterns, coor-dinate rescue assets and poten-tially reduce time to targetdiscovery. Through an extensivedevelopment programme newmodelling techniques were intro-duced, whilst making full use ofstate of the art hardware technol-ogy to provide greater responsespeed and additional predictiveoptions to the user.

Monte Carlo simulation tech-niques (see box) including thebeaching of objects, re-deployable

market, SARIS 2 came to fruitionfive years later. This version in-troduced ‘Search Area Coverage’(SAC) capabilities whereby userswere presented with a suite oftools for configuring and deploy-ing SAR units in order to searchfor the lost targets.

To continue meeting the cus-tomer’s requirements, BMTworked in partnership with anumber of navies and coastguardsto further develop the system,presenting an enhanced interfacefor users through the introductionof version 3 in 2005. Performanceupgrades and improved modellingprocesses followed and so SARIS4MC was born in 2010.

Using in-built databases ofoceanography and Admiraltystandard electronic charts, SARIScan be applied by any search andrescue authority in the world.Currently used by the RoyalDanish Navy, The NetherlandsCoastguard and Guernsey Har-bour Authority to name a few,the software is flexible enough to

One of the biggestchallenges facingsearch and rescue(SAR) authorities

after an incident at sea is work-ing out where the stricken vesselis and more importantly wherecrew or passengers thrown over-board have been swept betweenthe time the SOS alert was re-ceived and the response teamreaching the target area.

For the past 15 years, BMT hasworked closely with coastguardagencies around the world to de-velop cutting edge technology toimprove the accuracy with whichthe position of anybody or any-thing can be pinpointed. Now en-tering its fourth iteration, BMT’sSearch and Rescue InformationSystem (SARIS) offers more sophis-tication and greater range of func-tionalities than ever before, andcontinues to serve its core purpose.

SARIS was originally devel-oped for the UK’s Maritime andCoastguard Agency in 1996bringing together the Agency’syears of experience with BMT’sexpertise in marine environmen-tal software systems. This earlyversion consisted primarily ofthe so-called ‘Search Area Deter-mination’ (SAD) functionality,which helps to predict the move-ment of a target under the com-bined action of winds, tides andtidal currents.

In order to address the needsof the wider international SAR

Ian Fraser* charts the development ofSARIS, a sophisticated informationsystem designed to improve thechances Search and Rescue authoritieshave of finding victims caught up inincidents at sea

Coastguardsgamble

on MonteCarlo tactics

� Colour coding indicates whereSAR targets are most likely to be found,taking into consideration tide andother factors

monte.qxp:Layout 1 25/3/11 11:33 Page 28

charts and careful statistical cal-culations to help pinpoint thepredicted movement of some-body or something lost over-board, which when coupled withthe knowledge of the local tidesis a very precise and skilled tech-nique. This will now be aug-mented by SARIS 4.’

Partnering with JerseyCoastguard to develop this lat-est version of SARIS helped

rescue units and simultaneousscenario assessments allow for amuch more sophisticated ap-proach to be taken. This meansthat the search target is repre-sented not by three ‘particles’ butby thousands (the standard is 10000 but can be increased). Thefloating particles appear as aprobabilistic cloud and the systemdisplays the possibilities of wherethe search target could have gone.Therefore, the larger the clump ofparticles, the greater the likeli-hood of the search target being inthis area. The software also con-siders the coastline as a possiblesearch area as the target couldhave reached the shoreline.

Captain Rick Masterman,Coastguard and VTS Manager inJersey, the first organisation toimplement SARIS 4 comments:‘This will be a significant addi-tion to the tools we use when welaunch a SAR operation in theterritorial waters of Jersey. Tradi-tionally, we have used nautical

BMT to better understand theirrequirements and those of thewider SAR community. A newelectronic logging system al-lows the Coastguard to keeptrack of all incidents at seasuch as body recovery, vesselbreakdowns and reports of pol-lution or flare sightings.

* Ian Fraser is operations director at BMT AR-

GOSS, a subsidiary of BMT Group


SAFETY

MONTE CARLO simulations rely on repeated random sampling to compute their results. Theyare often used in simulating physical systems when it is unfeasible to compute an exact resultwith a deterministic algorithm.

As such, they are especially useful for simulating systems with many coupled degrees offreedom. They have also proved helpful in modelling phenomena with significant uncertaintyin inputs, such as the calculation of risk in business and the impact of pollution.

The name was coined in the 1940s by scientists working on nuclear weapon projects. Physi-cists at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory were investigating radiation shielding and the distancethat neutrons would likely travel through various materials. Despite having most of the neces-sary data, such as the average distance a neutron would travel in a substance before it collidedwith an atomic nucleus or how much energy the neutron was likely to give off following a colli-sion, the problem could not be solved with analytical calculations.

Today, with more computing power available, the technique is used in a wide number ofapplications, ranging from physical chemistry and computational biology to microelectronicsengineering and oil exploration.

What are Monte Carlo simulations?

monte.qxp:Layout 1 25/3/11 11:33 Page 29


network – via two methods (inaddition to manual address con-figuration). The first is the well-established DHCP (DynamicHost Control Protocol), which re-quires a properly configuredDHCP server, while the second isvia the lesser known IPv4 LinkLocal (IP4LL) protocol.

IP4LL address allocationworks as follows: Upon the firstpower on, a device selects a ‘ran-dom’ IP address from the re-served ‘link local’ address range.Next it announces its intent onusing this address, and if thereare no conflicts, saves it in non-volatile memory as the startingaddress on subsequent boots.

If the announced address isalready in use, a new random IPaddress is chosen until the con-flict is resolved. The risk of du-plicate addresses is low –calculated less than 0.08% for anetwork of 50 devices – and net-work convergence is very fast.Since addresses are saved for re-use, the network will retain thisaddress configuration perma-nently.

identify the problems and pre-pare solutions, so that when hearrives at the vessel, he alreadyknows what action is required.In some cases, the maintenanceand software updates can be re-motely performed entirely, elim-inating the financial and timecosts of visiting the vessel alto-gether.

New protocolsThraneLINK will automaticallyidentify any new products addedto the system, making installa-tion easier. The network allowsdevices to obtain their IP ad-dresses automatically – andtherefore be recognised on the

When it came to revi-talising its range ofGMDSS hardware,Thrane & Thrane de-

cided that individual compo-nents should be able to fit andwork together in much moreseamless fashion than the exist-ing models in order to simplifyboth day-to-day usage and peri-odic maintenance. It is from thisidea that the ThraneLINK con-cept was born.

Based on the open and ubiq-uitous Ethernet LAN standard,ThraneLINK enables differentproducts in the series to commu-nicate with one another. And,apart from adding flexibility, italso helps future-proof the equip-ment: Ethernet isn’t going to goaway any time soon.

Through ThraneLINK, a serv-ice technician can access allproducts from a single point,which will make diagnostics andany updates considerably morestraightforward. This, saysThrane & Thrane, results in ‘op-timised maintenance and lowercost of ownership’ because lesstime is needed for troubleshoot-ing and general service.

Remote diagnostics enablesthe service technician to planmore effectively. By logging inremotely from the shore, he can

The latest generation of GMDSSproducts to emerge from Thrane &Thrane were designed with Ethernetconnections to make them easier andmore flexible to join together

GMDSS hardware rewired for networks

� The Sailor 6000 GMDSS seriescomprises five main products,supported by a collection of accessoriesincluding alarm panels, switches,printers and keyboards

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new menu system to easilyaccess the recorded previous 240seconds of a message. The 3.2”graphical display is said to bereadable in all light conditions,day and night, while an inte-grated 6W loudspeaker boastsimproved sound quality.

It complies with the newDSC 493-13 for VHF DSC ClassA, which is part of the manda-tory requirements for SOLASvessels, and many nationalGMDSS requirements. Because itis the first ever DSC Class A to berated waterproof to IPx6 andIPx8, it is possible to install onopen workboats or outside deckareas without any modifications.

Meanwhile, the new Sailor6300 MF/HF radio has an effi-cient power amplifier for reliablecommunication in the marinebands from 1.6 to 30 MHz in TXmode, while ensuring constantand full output power on all ITUchannels. It is available in 150W,250W and 500W versions.

In common with the VHFunit, it features a 3.2” displayand multi-lingual user interfaceand a 6W internal loudspeaker.More significantly, however, the6300 is said to be the first ever

A ThraneLINK network canbe viewed as a cloud of intercon-nected products each offeringone or more services, for exam-ple positioning data, printer serv-ices, AIS data, DSCcommunications, data connec-tions, etc. The device discoveryprotocol may ask for all devicesproviding eg, position informa-tion, and the application request-ing the data, then decides whichdevice to use.

The new Sailor 6000 GMDSSseries comprises five main prod-ucts, supported by a collection ofaccessories including alarm pan-els, switches, printers and key-boards. Which of these areactually used will depend on thespecific GMDSS regulations thatapply to (and operational re-quirements of) individual ves-sels. The core products are theSailor 6000 Console; the Sailor6110 mini-C with Sailor 6006 Mes-sage Terminal; the Sailor 6222VHF radio; and the Sailor 6300MF/HF radio.

Radio progressionThe VHF and MF/HF radioshave been completely revampedto be used in a GMDSS role andas standalone communicationtools. In conversation withMITE, Thrane’s chief executiveWalther Thygesen explained thatthe re-engineering was precipi-tated in part by the manufactur-ing cycle: ‘Gradually componentsbecome out-of-date and hencedifficult to source. This processcontinues until it makes moresense simply to start over.’

The Sailor 6222 VHF has im-proved replay functionality and a

MF/HF radio with a 240-sec-ond recording facility. And, in-stead of relying on an externalGPS, it can take a positioninput from the Sailor 6110mini-C GMDSS viaThraneLINK, obviating theneed for additional wiring.

Ethernet easeThe 6110 mini-C was itself re-designed from the ground up

to form an integral part of thenew GMDSS series. Thrane &Thrane has introduced NMEA-2000 cabling, which is a notabledeparture from the proprietarycables used in the previous gen-eration unit. By adhering to thisindustry standard, shipownersare able to choose from a biggerrange of (often cheaper) cablesand connectors when joining theunit to other components. This isnot the only cable innovationhowever: sub-systems, such asalarm panels are can be con-nected using bog-standard RJ45Ethernet cables.

The 6110 is operated via theSailor 6006 touch screen messageterminal, which, to end-users, isthe most visible manifestation ofThraneLINK in its current form.The contemporary interface de-sign is however more than just amatter of being trendy. Thrane &Thrane states easier access toand control of GMDSS functionswill make the system more intu-itive for operators to use, andthus ultimately contribute to ves-sel safety.

While the Sailor 6000 GMDSSseries is the launch platform forThraneLINK, it will be incorpo-rated in future radio and satcomproducts. Further, the companyhas engaged with other elec-tronic systems manufacturers todevelop ways of expanding itsuse beyond emergency commu-nications. As hinted above, itcould be applied in countlessships’ equipment networkingscenarios, not least bridge andautomation systems. And thoughit’s early days yet, the evolutionof ThraneLINK could becomesignificant to vessel designersand systems integrators in thenot too distant future.

� The Sailor6006 touchscreen messageterminal is themost visibleaspect ofThraneLINK

� Thrane &Thrane hascompletelyrevamped itsVHF and MF/HF(pictured) radios


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agency, without breaking the pri-vacy agreement they have withthe subscriber. To overcome this,the Alliance has worked on for-mulating a get-out clause serviceproviders can incorporate intothe subscribe agreement in theevent of emergency situations. Itis worth noting that emergencynotification is normally only oneelement of the service the sub-scriber is paying for.

The thirdmajor task hasbeen develop-ing a data-base forrouteingemergencyalerts fromProTECTs-compliant de-vices. Thelatitude andlongitude infor-mation con-tained in the

alert has to be de-coded to ascertain which SARagency within the area of juris-diction has to respond to the call.This will depend not only on thereported location but also thetype of incident.

Significant updates on allthree issues are expected at theupcoming RTCM Conference inMay. But Shay is nonethelessvery happy to see such progressmade in the short time since theAlliance was formed.

In contrast to EPIRBs, PLBsand SARTs which are mandatoryin various guises under SOLASand IMO regulations, the firstwave of ProTECTS-enabled de-vices will be commerciallydriven.

Most likely, they will bemulti-functional offering follow-me tracking and two-way mes-saging (typically via a web-siteset up by the provider) as well as

the over-the-airdata packets. Taking the EPIRBregistration form as a startingpoint, these packets will includethe position, speed, heading, andwhere applicable contact infoand description of asset (ie, ves-sel). The draft document is nowin circulation and being re-viewed by bodies such as the USNational SAR Committee(NSARC). Shay is optimistic itwill be approved.

In terms of privacy, the Al-liance identified there was some-times a data protection conflict.In many location related sub-scription services even thoughthe provider can determine thesubscriber’s position, they arenot at liberty to pass this on to athird-party, namely the SAR

The ProTECTS Al-liance was estab-lished in September2009 as a forum to

promote the adoption of portabletwo-way satellite location, track-ing and messaging technologies.

Although spearheaded byIridium, the forum quicklygained the support of many well-known mobile satellite service(MSS) providers, including In-marsat and GlobalStar amongothers. Since its formation, mem-bership has grown to include 65commercial and governmentalorganisations, which benefitfrom its interface to the globalsearch and rescue (SAR) commu-nity. Moreover, the Alliance hasbecome a working group of theRadio Technical Commission forMaritime Services (RTCM) in theUS.

‘A major goal,’ says PatrickShay, Alliance chairman (andvice president and general man-ager of Iridium’s data division),‘is to work in a collaborative at-mosphere to develop broad-basedindustry standards that will en-sure interoperability with SARorganisations, with systems andresponse procedures. We believethere is strong need for a stan-dard based on two-way (duplex)data as opposed to one-way (sim-plex) data links.’

If there is an interactive, two-way data link, first responderscan send a return message to thetransmitting beacon to ascertainwhether it is a bona-fide distresssituation and determine the na-ture of the emergency before de-ploying resources in response.

In 18-months a great deal hasbeen accomplished and it islikely the first ProTECTS-compli-ant devices will reach the marketbefore 2011 is out. Members haverecently finalised details on aspecification for the content of

� Iridiumʼs9602 modem(right) is morecompact than itspredecessor the9601, making itideal for portabledevices

ProTECTS progressesSince its formation 18-months ago, theProTECTS Alliance has madeconsiderable progress in developingstandards for portable, two-waysatellite-based location, tracking andmessaging technologies

iri.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 16:57 Page 32

serve as emergency beacons. To get the full valuefrom them, users will pay some kind of subscrip-tion fee.

While the emergency notification feature onfirst-generation devices reassures their owners thathelp is only a push button away, their proliferationhas caused headaches among the global SAR com-munity. The reason is the high frequency of falsealarms. Sometimes this is due to poor product de-sign, other times due to user error. Regardless ofwhy or how the alarm was triggered, the result isthe same: limited SAR resources diverted awayfrom real emergencies.

Two-way communication can help filter false-alarms by making SOS activation a two-stageprocess requiring acknowledgement from the de-vice holder. Indeed, this forms a key element ofthe Satellite Emergency Notification Devices(SEND) standard being written by a special com-mittee of RTCM, with supporting participationfrom the ProTECTS Alliance.

However, in order to be viable two-way com-munication requires low latency. That is to say in-formation has to be transmitted and received inthe shortest possible time-frame.

With Iridium, latency tends to be quite pre-dictable: information from the device is receivedby the closest satellite overhead and then bouncedacross other satellites in the constellation until itreaches the one in closest proximity to the terres-trial gateway in Arizona. A two-way data packet istypically delivered in less than 60 seconds any-where in the world.

For satellites not in low-earth orbit, latency is afunction of the devices location, the satellite’s posi-tion in orbit and the location of the ground station.In ideal conditions the signal may reach its desti-nation in a few minutes, but would likely belonger depending on relative positions: Any re-quirement for acknowledgement would double thetime before SAR initiate a rescue attempt. Also, be-cause they are further away, devices designed totalk to geo-stationary satellites generally needmore power and a bigger antenna.

Until quite recently, two-way communicationwas also held back by the lack of suitable technol-ogy for use in emergency transponders. Iridium’sfirst short-burst data modem – the 9601 – is bytoday’s standards relatively expensive and bulky(the size of a pack of playing cards). As such, itwas mostly deployed in government-funded appli-cations. It was superseded in June last year by the9602, which was much lower-cost and more com-pact, being the size of a match-book.

Iridium is optimistic the first batch of Pro-TECTs-enabled devices will reach the market be-fore year end. Indeed, MITE understands ACRElectronics is already working on a product thatshould be delivered in this time-frame. However,Shay stresses that these devices are not being de-veloped as a direct competitor to IMO-approvedEPIRBs or similar.


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SAFETY


able to switch the systems auto-matically and quickly, to ensurecontinuous operation, which isvital in an on-going emergency.That means we need to have abackup central for all the sensorsin that zone.’

In the case of Autronica’s newdetection system, AutroSafe 4, thecentral fire detection panel doesn’tjust control the various sensorsand suppression systems. It is alsointerfaced with fire doors, low lo-cation lights and other safety fea-tures not directly associated withthe system. This means that a cen-tral panel damaged by fire orflooding has to be able to han-dover a large number of interfacesto the back-up central, meaningthat the two separate systemsneed to communicate. It’s in thiscommunication that Autronica be-lieves it has made a truly redun-dant system.

‘The key difference betweenthe new generation AutroSafeand our previous systems is thatthe redundant part of the net-work can talk with the activepart of the network, which issomething we call AutroSafeDual Safety’, says Simonsen.‘This was no easy task, but we

onto lifeboats on a still andsunny day is an acceptable risk.But if it’s night time, there’s a lit-tle bit of wind and a few waves,then the lifeboats start to swing,people make mistakes and panic,then it becomes an incrediblyrisky operation,’ explains JonArne Simonsen, a cruise ship firesafety system specialist fromAutronica. ‘That’s why they cameup with this idea. The cruiseships are so big now that evacua-tion could be just as dangerous asthe incident, so let’s build shipsand systems that can continue tooperate, at least until the nearestport should there be an incident.’

Zoning considered‘SRTP influences almost everysystem on board and with thefire detection system, redun-dancy is everything. If you havea fire in a zone with a centralpanel, then it’s vital that the restof the system works. If the roomwith the central fire panel for thezone burns down, we need to be

The SOLAS Safe Re-turn to Port (SRTP)guidelines have beenintroduced to im-

prove preparation for emer-gency, system redundancy andevacuation processes in orderthat passenger vessels may reachthe closest port following an inci-dent, without the inherently dan-gerous task of evacuatingpassengers and crew to thelifeboats. If implemented cor-rectly, seven short blasts fol-lowed by one long blast toabandon ship should never beheard again.

Ship designers, builders, clas-sification societies and equipmentmanufacturers have all had toadapt to the new guidelines withback-up systems, especially in re-gards to fire safety and emergencymanagement being highlighted asvital to the safety of the passen-gers and the ability to reach portfollowing an incident. A focus onsystem communication and re-dundancy has always been impor-tant to manufacturers of firesafety systems, but Norway basedAutronica Fire & Security setabout redeveloping its flagshipAutroSafe fire detection system, toenable cruise ship owners to meetthe new guidelines.

‘SRTP is a really good idea, es-pecially with the size of cruisevessels these days. Evacuating6500 passengers and 2500 crew

New guidelines that came into effectJuly 2010 basically call for passengervessels to become their own lifeboats inthe case of emergencies. This has seen asurge in new development, especially inthe area of fire safety systems

In case of fire, moreredundancy needed

� The custom fire managementsystem aboard Oasis and Allure gathersinformation from distributed sourcesand presents it using GA-drawings

autro 2pp.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 13:23 Page 34

Subsequent to this work withRCI for Oasis, Autronica is nowable to offer the new ISEMSfunctionality as a commercialproduct. A similar system is al-ready installed on other vesselsand most recently on Allure ofthe Seas. A high-profile new buildcruise vessel in production isalso having a version installed.

The custom fire managementsystem aboard Oasis and Allurerepresents Autronica’s largestever deliveries and provide atwo-fold benefit for fire-safety; itgathers information from distrib-uted sources and presents it in aclear and logical way using GA-drawings, icons and text, givingcomplete control of fire-safetysystems, which cover:

9300 addresses (fire detectorsand manual call points)1030 fire doors300 sprinkler areas/valves300 low emergency lights1000 CCTV cameras830 fire dampers. The Autromaster and ISEMS

system uses four projectors andeight LCD screens. There arealso ISEMS stations at the con-ning station, then several in thesafety centre and two in the en-gine control room. There is alsoa station in the hotel manager’soffice as ISEMS plays an impor-tant role in the safe evacuationand movement of passengersduring an emergency. When pas-sengers are evacuated they go totheir muster stations. On a vesselas large as Oasis, you can haveup to 600-700 passengers at eachmuster station, but if there is afire at a muster station then aquick, safe alternative is needed.

Route finding solutionWhich is where ISEMS comes inaccording Simonsen: ‘We have alayer on ISEMS that shows the

found a solution and now have apatented system that can offerthe levels of redundancy re-quired of SRTP. Whilst designingthe system, we also went forcompliance with new DNV rulescalled R0, which are designed toensure that there is no downtimein a system. Now if one systemgoes down the other takes overin milliseconds.’

Emergency planningAs demonstrated with the exten-sive redesign of AutroSafe 4 toenable more redundancy, fire de-tection system technologydoesn’t stand still. Just twentyyears ago, the fire alarm systemcould only tell you that therewas a fire within its zone ordeck. Then addressable sensorswere mandated as a result ofScandinavian Star disaster.

‘We had actually just devel-oped an addressable system asthe new IMO rules came in,’says Jon Arne; ‘so we were ableto help owners to improve theirfire detection systems at thetime. Sometimes technology ad-vances come through regula-tions and sometimes not. Wedeveloped our own SelfVerifysolution nearly a decade ago be-cause two of our offshore energycustomers wanted to make sys-tem maintenance more accurateand cost effective, so we cameup with a system that would testthe panel, loop and sensorswithout the need for human in-teraction. Likewise, we devel-oped an integrated safety andemergency management system(ISEMS) as part of Autromaster,because of a direct request froma customer.’

The customer in question isRoyal Caribbean International(RCI), the company behind theworld’s two largest cruise ships,Oasis of the Seas and Allure of theSeas. After ordering the fire de-tection and Autromaster forOasis, RCI expressed an interestin expanding the presentationsystem to cover objects not di-rectly related to the fire detec-tion system, while also addingfurther functionality to the pres-entation system.

main routes to use during anemergency. Safety officers wouldof course prefer to use mainroutes but if there is an obstruc-tion, they simply click on the sec-ondary route layer for anotherway that they can communicate tothe teams on deck via UHF radioor the deck telephone system.

‘Aboard Oasis, ISEMS offers ahuge amount of control for firesafety officers. You can chooseany doors you like and hit theswitch to close them and if thereis a problem, the operator willget an alarm. Doors can also beclosed automatically and openedfrom the system (unless they areon magnets).’

In regards to CCTV, the opera-tor looks at the ISEMS plan andchooses the required camera toview the live feed. The system in-dicates the status of sprinklers, hi-fog or water mist system andcontrols low location lights.

ISEMS also features a replayand evaluation system: If a firealarm has been active or a train-ing session for the handling ofthe fire alarms has been com-pleted, the whole operation fromalarm handling, mustering of thefire teams, fire door operation,CCTV footage etc can then be re-played and the whole operationcan be evaluated.

Fire safety systems aboardpassenger vessels and especiallythe current generation of megacruise vessels are inherentlycomplex and the SRTP guidelineshave only added to this. How-ever, with fully redundant firedetection systems, and total con-trol and monitoring of the safetysystems through ISEMS, the loftygoals of making a vessel its ownlifeboat are attainable. For nowthis is the state-of-the-art in firesafety, and cruise ship passen-gers are much safer for it.

� AboardOasis, ISEMSoffers a hugeamount ofcontrol for firesafety officers


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around times are getting shorterand shorter. If a part does notarrive on time, it can severelyimpact on a vessel’s schedule.And once at sea, the ship has tobe self-sufficient. There is noroom for a replaced part to failwithin days of setting sail.

How does this all relate backto e-commerce? ‘The issue issome buyers are wary of elec-tronic transactions because theyfeel there’s a breakdown or dis-connect in building relation-ships with sellers – often acritical element in engenderingtrust, especially in new partner-ships,’ explains Alexander.

To date, IMPA has found thatthe companies who have gainedthe most from e-commerce solu-tions have been the ones that al-ready had well-establishedbusiness relationships. ‘It pro-vides extra operational effi-ciency by removing much of thepaperwork and day-to-dayadmin overheads. The impor-tant thing to remember is that e-commerce does not set out toreplace traditional ways of trad-ing. It is there as a tool to speedup and make the transactionalelement more efficient,’ saysAlexander.

ShipServ believes that thebest way to establish trust on-line is to inform buyers with acombination of impartial dataand peer-to-peer recommenda-tions. This effectively puts thecommunity itself in charge byenabling it to validate and verifyinformation in one of threeways:

Actual transactions indicate

By letting buyers re-view and rate sellers,ShipServ hopes toengender a greater

degree of trust throughout itsmaritime e-commerce market-place. Moreover, it has added afacility to let brand owners con-firm the validity of companiespurporting to be their approvedresellers or agents. The overrid-ing concept is to give the buyersand sellers using e-commerceservice more influence in polic-ing the virtual marketplace.

Trust always has been andalways will be at the core ofbusiness relationships, whetheronline or offline. Arguably it be-comes more prominent in theonline environment, especiallyif a transaction is carried outwithout any prior face-to-facecontact.

‘In the maritime market,buyers are reliant upon theirsuppliers,’ states StephenAlexander, chief operating offi-cer of the International MarinePurchasing Association (IMPA).‘The complexity of modernships together with the regula-tory framework which en-velopes them means that buyersmust be able to rely on sellersfulfilling their part of the deal.’

Alexander recalls conversa-tions when buyers have toldhim that price is sometimes asecondary consideration: ‘It iseasy to conjure up images ofbuyers as hard-nosed negotiatorsconstantly driving for the bestprice. But in shipping, price isnot the be all and end all. Manybuyers are often more con-cerned about quality andwhether the delivery is madewhen the seller says it will.’

This makes sense: ship turn-

Engendering trust inelectronic commerce

E-COMMERCE

Trust is foremost in any businessrelationship, but demonstrating thisquality electronically is difficult.ShipServ hopes its latest round ofenhancements will let buyers andsellers decide for themselves

� OEMs can manage their authorisedagents on ʻPagesʼ ‒ ShipServʼs Google-like spare parts search engine

ecom.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 16:31 Page 37

which suppliers are mostbought from;Customers rate and reviewtheir suppliers;Brand owners can verifytheir authorised agents.

All of these factors come to-gether to define a supplier’s‘TradeRank’, a measure of thesupplier’s popularity in the in-dustry. TradeRank has beenavailable for the last 18 monthsor so and was originally basedon a supplier’s trading activityon ShipServ TradeNet, the e-commerce trading platform.

ShipServ then looked to thebest of the consumer internet –sites such as Amazon, eBay andFacebook – and decided thatthe industry should be able toindicate which suppliers aremost appropriate, introducingratings and reviews in late2010. Positive feedback of thiskind is now taken into accountand can boost a supplier’sTradeRank.

New this year is the abilityfor brand owners to managetheir authorised agents on‘Pages’ – ShipServ’s Google-likespare parts search engine. Thisnot only allows brand owners toset up all their agents on Pagesbut also means suppliers joiningthe platform cannot claim au-thorised status unless approvedby the brand owner. Verifiedsuppliers will get a further boostto their TradeRank.

ShipServ is already workingwith some major componentsuppliers and OEMs who areeager to manage their reputa-tions online by verifying whichsuppliers are their authorisedagents. IMPA also stands to ben-efit from this functionality. ‘Itgives us the ability to verifywho’s using our badge,’ saysAlexander. ‘When buyers andsellers join an organisation likeours, they have certain expecta-tions about the quality of othermembers. Buyers will trust sup-pliers who are IMPA membersand vice-versa. In this sense,our role is all about buildingtrust. Therefore it is vital thatwe ensure there is no misrepre-

sentation.’In the past, IMPA has come

across suppliers who use its logoon their letterheads etc withouthaving any official affiliationwith the organisation. ‘In someinstances, members have in-formed us about illegitimateuse. But policing such fraudu-lent practices has always been achallenge,’ says Alexander. Hisenthusiasm for ShipServ’s brandmanagement features is there-fore quite understandable.

‘The ShipServ communitycomprises a network of thou-sands of businesses around theworld,’ states founder and chiefexecutive Paul Ostergaard. ‘Withour suite of verification tools, itis this community who deter-mines the best suppliers to dobusiness with – be that throughauthorisations, reviews or actualorders. It’s an incredibly power-ful thing. It means buyers knowthey can trust the informationbeing provided.’

With the community incharge of these three verifica-tion elements, Ostergaard iskeen to stress ShipServ’s role asa neutral facilitator. ‘Allowingusers to effectively ‘vote’through their actions meansShipServ doesn’t decide who arethe best suppliers and becauseof that, it is not itself influencedby buyers, agents or manufac-turers.’

It is self-regulating mecha-nism. Buyers know that very ac-tive trading suppliers areeffectively being trusted by thecommunity with many repeatorders. ShipServ prompts buyersto review their suppliers andcollects opinions so that otherbuyers can make decisions onwhere to buy. ShipServ pub-lishes all the reviews it can,good and bad.

Poor performers get the in-centive to improve, good per-formers can use the results intheir marketing and buyers areable to make better choices. ButShipServ remains neutralthroughout, making it the mosttransparent forum for marineprocurement data available tomarine buyers.


ShipServ doesnʼt decide who are the bestsuppliers and because of that, it is not itself influenced by buyers, agentsor manufacturers Paul Ostergaard, ShipServ

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE-BASED ILS has unveiled animproved version of its marine marketplace ‒ ILSmart‒ to provide increased functionality and more busi-ness opportunities for its global customer base.

ILSmart allows users to search three unique datasets with one click, providing a consolidated view ofall the relevant information on the searched item. Thedata sets include: the complete list of inventory onILSmart, all suppliers listed in the marketplace, and allmessages sent on the ILSmart worldwide system.

ILS is continually working to simplify the purchaseand sale of marine spares. Subscribers to ILSmart willhave the ability to immediately send request forquotes (RFQs) to suppliers, eliminating time consum-ing processes such as phone calls and faxing. Suppli-ers will also be able to respond instantly with a quotethrough the new marketplace.

The company hasnʼt forgotten about suppliers ei-ther. They can now list their inventory on ILSmartmore frequently through a more efficient process.Listings can be updated directly through the websiteon a daily basis, making sure potential buyers haveaccess to the most current inventory available.

ʻSince our company began, ILS has worked to de-velop the best forum possible for companies to buyand sell marine parts,ʼ says ILSʼ sales VP Don Wilson.ʻThis new site will provide some much anticipatedfunctionality that we believe will greatly benefit ourcustomers.ʼ

ILS upgrades its e-marketplace

E-COMMERCE


ciency and time saving benefits.’The One Maritime portal pro-

vides access online or by CD tomany of the industry most estab-lished ship stores catalogues – in-cluding the ISSA catalogue –allowing purchasing managers tosecure quality and cost effectiveprovisions, deck and engine parts.

Buyers can issue requests forquotes (RFQs), order goods anddeal with invoices, all from theirInternet browser. Special plug-insalso enable them to track owners’goods, draw up supply contractsand, if necessary, return items. Sig-nificantly, they can search by ves-sel name or position gathered viaAIS. The catalogues can besearched generically or by product

Trials of a web-basedonline catalogue,which its creatorsclaim transforms the

way ship owners, ship managersand ship suppliers will select andorder their onboard and onshorestores, are proving a great successwith more than 3000 vessels al-ready taking part.

One Maritime co-founder andchief executive Torben Brammer isunderstandably happy that somany companies and vessels havejoined the trial. ‘Our technology al-lows us to think of data sourcesand its application in a completelynew way. With our unique searchengines and data migration tech-nology, we have delivered a sys-tem that gives its users access to amix of data from multiple datasources at the same time. Itchanges the way that catalogues,for example, will be used by suppli-ers, manufacturers and purchasersin the future, resulting in effi-

type or through the individual portof delivery. One Maritime also pro-vides e-commerce connectivity, al-lowing transactions to be processedvia systems such as MarineLinkfrom EDB ErgoGroup.

Suppliers, on the other hand,will have an overview of ships intheir own ports with estimatedtimes of arrival and departure;search for owners, vessels and ves-sel positions; search for items in alarge variety of catalogues; uploadtheir own catalogues; serviceitems on certain vessels and cus-tomers; prioritise equipment duefor survey; and process RFQs inaddition to order confirmation ande-invoicing.


E-COMMERCE

One Maritime trialrun on 3000 ships



MARKET PLACE

Marlink has secured a new threeyear contract with DOF ASA, theNorwegian based operator ofoffshore and subsea vessels. Aspart of the new contract Marlinkwill supply its Sealink VSATservices to an additional 20 ves-sels, increasing the total num-ber of DOF vessels sailing withMarlink VSAT to 52.

ʻDOF heavily relies uponhigh-speed connectivity for anextensive range of applicationsincluding efficient transfer of dataashore and crew welfare needs.Marlinkʼs VSAT systems haveproven to provide reliable con-

nectivity as well as flexible serv-ices, which can be customised tomeet specific requirements,ʼcomments Tor Skeie, manager ofMarin IT, the offshore operatorʼssubsidiary IT company.

The renewed contract willinclude the delivery of theSealink C-band and Ku-bandsystems to provide dedicatedbandwidth onboard 29 of itsvessels and shared bandwidthon 23 of its vessels. Marlink an-ticipates that the scope of itssupply will expand further to in-clude several new buildsplanned for 2011.

Hamburg-based ER Schiffahrt ‒ part of Rickmers Group ‒ is goingto install the iFusion system from Globe Wireless on nearly 90 of itsvessels in an effort to use onboard resources more efficicently.

The German container operatorʼs nautical senior superintend-ent Roland Felbinger pointed to an emphasis on leveraging IP-based satcoms to improve remote support of onboard IT systemsand a need to reduce the cost of growing traffic as the two mainfactors driving the decision.

ʻWith most standalone terminals it would be necessary to installseveral other IT components. This meant complex, high mainte-nance systems aboard ships, which would also be difficult to installand support,ʼ he said. Acting in its simplest form as a least-costrouter, iFusion is designed to eliminate such complexity (see MITEOct/Nov 2010).

Felbinger added: ʻGlobe iFusion meets our requirements andalso provides a GSM-based crew communications solution, duallevel firewall controls, and the ability to use and control any other IPsatellite system we may choose in the future.ʼ

DOF expands satcomslinks with Marlink

� DOF will roll-out VSAT on anadditional 20 vessels

Globe iFusion lands on ER Schiffahrt containerships

Korean Telecom (KT) has reached an agreement with SpeedCast en-abling it to deliver global maritime network services for its interna-tional maritime customers via SpeedCastʼs global Ku-band network.In return, KT will provide SpeedCast with access to its own Ku-bandcoverage (on the Koreasat 5 satellite) along the Korean coastline andbeyond.

The two companies will also link their teleports and satellite hubsto offer their customers a more resilient and robust service. It is an-ticipated that coordinating technically will lead to operational effi-ciencies, while also delivering expanded coverage and reach for theirend-user maritime customers.

Korean Telecom and SpeedCasttie the knot on maritime routes

market.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 17:03 Page 40

E N G I N E AS A W E A P O N IV

Battle-winning Naval Engineering: Uniting weapon and marine systemsMonday 12 – Tuesday 13 September 2011University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, London

Organised by The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology

The aim21st Century naval capability delivered through integrated platform and combat

systems engineering.

EnquiriesJohn Saunders, The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST)

80 Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5BJ, UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 2655 Fax: +44 (0)20 7382 2667 Email: [email protected]

Web: www.imarest.org/events

Offi cial publications

Now exhibiting at DSEi, visit us at Stand no: S10-182

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.IMAREST.ORG

Fuel costs have became the dominantcomponent of ship operating costs sinceOPEC’s swingeing oil price increases in the1970s, and they continue to increaseremorselessly. This has led to intensivedevelopment programmes by enginebuilders to improve efficiency, resulting inthe current high levels. Now efforts are beingmade to minimise a ship’s overall fuelconsumption by integrating the productionof main propulsive power with thegeneration of its electricity requirements. This book describes two types of turbinewhich are used to drive a generator invarious recovery systems – firstly the well-established combination of a turbine runningon steam from a recovery boiler whichextracts heat from the engine exhaust gases;the other type is termed a ‘power turbine’and is operated by main-engine exhaust gas

which is surplus to that required for theturbochargers. When both types are used ina comprehensive heat recovery system anadditional 9.9% of main-engine power canbe achieved without burning any additionalfuel, with obvious cost savings per annum.Various arrangements for this are describedin the book as are aspects of steam turbineconstruction and operations, a necessity nowthat there is a general lack of knowledge inthis area since diesels for main propulsionhave become the norm.

Marine ElectricalGeneration

– Steam and Power Turbines

by Don NicholasBSc, MIMechE, FIMarEST

Mar

ine

Eng

inee

ring

Pra

ctic

e S

erie

s

ISBN 978-0-9565600-1-8

OUTNOW

Marine Electrical Generation– Steam and Power Turbines by Don Nicholas BSc, MIMechE, FIMarEST

CONTACT PUBLICATION SALES: LORRAINE [email protected] TEL: + 44 (0) 207 382 2606 FAX: + 44 (0) 207 382 2669

IBC.qxp:Layout 1 24/3/11 17:33 Page 1

ECDISPLUS from Kelvin Hughes is revolutionising the way you manage your data. Our unique Outfit Management System has been developed to allow fast, compliant remote management of all the Chart Licences and updates essential for a smooth transition from paper charts to ENCs.

With ECDISPLUS, you can be assured of the latest ECDIS equipment, cost effective supply and management of charts, real-time updates and IMO-approved ECDIS training. All of this comes with total flexibility to choose your provider, worldwide installation and an unrivalled global support network. ECDISPLUS offers the only complete ECDIS Solution for your needs, making every voyage smarter.

OUTFIT MANAGEMENTMADE E PLUS SYEase the headache of multiple Chart Licence confusion

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21.qxp:Layout 1 23/3/11 16:17 Page 1

Documents

Maritime IT & Electronics (April/May 2011)