UK Government Strategy on making best use of Automatic Identification System
UK Government Strategy on making best use of Automatic Identification System (AIS)
The Government has now put in place effective arrangements for making the best use of AIS technology in all its functions to achieve strategic aims for AIS. These include supporting the continued development and adoption of AIS as a key building block in realising the vision of e-navigation.
AIS is a VHF-radio based shipboard broadcast system, now mandated by IMO for all larger ships, which enables identification and tracking of ships for safety and security purposes. In the UK, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has taken the lead in establishing the coastal ground-station infrastructure needed to rely on AIS for vessel identification and traffic monitoring. It is also completing the work necessary for AIS to support search and rescue and counter-pollution activity.
At the same time, it is clear that AIS can facilitate a more responsive and lower-cost Aids to Navigation (AtoN) system. The three General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) serving the British Isles (Trinity House, Northern Lighthouse Board and Commissioners of Irish Lights) have therefore been researching the potential of AIS as an AtoN, including the provision of virtual AtoN. The MCA, working with the GLAs, is also now trialling AIS for the provision of short safety-related messages, and to provide an extensive database of shipping movements for traffic survey and investigative purposes. The GLAs will utilise this data for risk-based AtoN deployment.
An Agreement is now in place between the MCA and the three GLAs which underlines the MCA's lead responsibility for the development and adoption of AIS, but recognises the important contribution to be made by the GLAs' own AIS capability and the GLA responsibility for AtoN. The Agreement sets out the distinct role of each party and facilitates coordination of work between the parties.
The MCA and the GLAs are also working to ensure consistent standards are developed internationally on AIS, cooperating in particular with Northern European neighbours and through IALA (the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities). The Government believes that as AIS take-up grows in all major shipping areas, it can provide, in conjunction with the rapid growth of wholly electronic charts, the cornerstone of a system of e-navigation.
This is a long-term vision, now being actively explored by the UK and other leading maritime nations, for a wholly integrated electronic navigation concept to transform shipping safety. The UK, with the active support of Japan, the Marshall Islands, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore and the USA, has proposed to the IMO's Maritime Safety Committee that it adopt a work programme to achieve this goal. We hope to secure this commitment from the IMO as soon as possible.
By 2010, the UK Government aims to have in place a UK-wide AIS network which:
- provides both a maritime surface picture and AtoN capability.
- can be adopted cost-effectively by an increasing proportion of shipping in UK waters
- is fully compatible with neighbouring states.
- will be scalable and capable of incorporating future developments in Long-Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT)
- can be used to maximise wider commercial benefits to the shipping industry, whilst fully respecting security considerations
AIS will thus provide key structural components of an e-navigation system, such as accurate and reliable transmission of vessel position; information on vessel route, manoeuvring parameters and other status items; clear, integrated display on board ship and ashore; and information prioritisation and alert capability in risk situations, on ship and ashore.
This will be achieved through a programme led by the MCA, who will be responsible for:-
- overall standards and integrity of the UK system.
- high level co-ordination to prevent AIS Service degradation.
- co-ordination of infrastructure provision to meet statutory obligations.
- ensuring the supply of AIS data to statutory bodies to an agreed Service Level and putting in place a secure framework for commercial exploitation of AIS data
- facilitating the GLAs' responsibility for AIS as an AtoN. This work will be coordinated by the Joint Coordination Group of the three GLAs, who will:
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- manage the programme for the installation of AtoNs that are real, shore-based 'synthetic', or wholly virtual
- provide integrity monitoring of AtoNs using AIS
- analyse traffic data from AIS to ensure optimal use of whole AtoN network
We will work to maintain the close cooperation already established between the MCA and the GLAs, to maximise the two-way flow of benefit from the two component parts of the AIS programme.
The AIS Strategy paper, agreed between the MCA and the GLAs, sets out more of the background to AIS and the progress that has been made, and remains to be made, to fulfil its potential across seven main applications. It explains why there is limited potential for Government and its agencies to exploit AIS commercially: AIS is already set up as a publicly available system, and subject to addressing specific security concerns, the Strategy makes it clear that this should remain the case.
Department for Transport
March 2006
