USCG and Compliance with AIS Mandates

VHF Marine Band radios, protocol, radio communication theory, practical advice; AIS; DSC; MMSI; EPIRB.
jimh
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USCG and Compliance with AIS Mandates

Postby jimh » Fri Apr 13, 2018 12:08 pm

USCG and Compliance with AIS Mandates

The United States Coast Guard publishes a "Notice to Mariners" document at the beginning of each year that contains general information on a very comprehensive list of subjects of interest to mariners. This year there was information included in the Notice to Mariners 1/18 in a section under the heading "Automatic Identification System" and marked with an asterisk that denotes "significant change." Because the section on AIS contains significant changes, I am reproducing that section below:

    (64) AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM.
    Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a maritime navigation safety communications system standardized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), that: provides vessel information, including the vessel's identity, type, position, course, speed, navigational status and other safety-related information automatically to appropriately equipped shore stations, other ships, and aircraft; receives automatically such information from similarly fitted ships; monitors and tracks ships; and exchanges data with shore-based facilities. In the United States, AIS carriage extends beyond the IMO requirements and to every commercial self-propelled: (1) Vessel of 65 ft or more in length (regardless of service type); (2) Towing vessel of 26 ft or more in length and more than 600 hp; (3) Vessel certificated to carry more than 150 passengers; (4) Vessel engaged in dredging ops likely to affect or restrict commercial navigation; and, (5) Vessel engaged in the movement of certain dangerous cargo, flammable or combustible liquids carried in bulk.

    Notice. The Coast Guard continues to see an unacceptable number of AIS vessels reporting improper ‘Navigational Status’ when at anchor or moored; doing so reduces their reporting rate to once every 3 minutes vice every few seconds, which mitigates network congestion and improves everyone's AIS range. Further, many vessels are broadcasting inaccurate AIS information, stemming from improper operation or encoding of their AIS; particularly regarding their Maritime Mobile Service Identifies (MMSI), IMO number, call-sign, name, dimensions, destination and ETA, etc. To assist AIS users in performing this task correctly, the Coast Guard has developed an Encoding Guide which provides details and examples on how to properly encode each AIS data parameter. This Guide is available on the U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center website at: https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/AIS. Note, this Guide has been revised, such that, it will require certain users, i.e. tugs and push-boats, to correct certain data parameters, i.e. vessel type and dimensions. Improper use of AIS may subject a vessel to civil penalties.

    Warning. AIS is another available means to determine risk of collision. However, assumptions should not be made on the basis of AIS information alone, which unfortunately is fraught with inaccurate or out-dated information. Further, as with any source of navigation information it should not be solely relied upon in making navigational and collision-avoidance decisions (also see Navigation Rule 7). While AIS allows for safety related ship-to-ship text messaging to communicate with others, such as passing arrangements, these communications do NOT relieve users from the requirements set forth in the Vessel Bridge-to-Bridge Radiotelephone regulations (33 CFR §26) or relieve a vessel from the sound or display signals requirements of the Navigation Rules.

    Report: To report a problem or for further information regarding AIS, including plans to extend U.S. carriage requirements to most commercial ships transiting U.S. navigable waters, visit: https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=AIS or email:
    cgnav@uscg.mil.

    (Supersedes NTM 1(64)17) (USCG)

When a federal agency tasked with enforcement of regulations publishes a public notice followed by a public warning, anyone affected by the notice will be wise to take heed. In some follow-on email correspondence with the USCG on this topic, I was informed:

    "...various AIS users...[have] recently received a letter from their respective USCG Officer-in-Charge, Marine Inspection (OCMI) informing them of discrepancies noted in their AIS static data transmission; directing them to correct said discrepancies; and, that not doing so may subject them to civil penalty action."

I suspect that the USCG is probably mostly looking at commercial ships whose carriage of AIS is mandatory, but there isn't anything in the announcement that suggests recreational boaters with AIS transponders will get a free pass. It seems prudent to review the static data in any AIS transponder, Class-A or Class-B, and verify it is correct.

To assist mariners in complying with AIS data mandates, the USCG has, for some time now, made available a VESSEL INFORMATION VERIFICATION SERVICE (VIVS). This service collects AIS data from vessels and then parses or analyzing the data to see if the data conforms with regulations. You can search for a vessel by name, MMSI, callsign, or other parameters. If the vessel appears in the database of collected AIS data received by the USCG, you can view an analysis of the data to see if the USCG noted any discrepancies in the data.

I took VIVS for a test drive a few minutes ago. I picked a commercial ship at random from a display of AIS targets in my local waters, then entered the MMSI of the vessel into the search. I was very surprised that the search produced no results. Upon further testing, I discovered that the field for MMSI is very intolerant of any leading or trailing spaces on the number entered. I had cut-and-pasted a number and inadvertently included a trailing space. That prevented the search from finding any data. Submitting the search with just the nine-digit MMSI and no leading or trailing spaces produced the expected result. Curiously, the vessel I selected at random had an error it its static AIS data: it was broadcasting its draft as 0-meters.

AIS_DataAnalysis.jpg
Typical VIVS data analysis outcome; this vessel had improper static information. I intentionally blurred the actual vessel identification data.
AIS_DataAnalysis.jpg (35.11 KiB) Viewed 11704 times

jimh
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Re: USCG and Compliance with AIS Mandates

Postby jimh » Fri Apr 13, 2018 12:22 pm

The above public announcement in Notice to Mariners 1/18 was perhaps foreshadowed by a USCG blog post in April of 2016. On the web-blog "COAST GUARD MARITIME COMMONS--The Coast Guard Blog for Maritime Professionals", Captain Russell Holmes, NAVCEN commanding officer, remarked as follows:

    Automatic Identification System

    While NAVCEN oversees the Nationwide Automatic Identification System, we have not focused on the quality of the AIS information that commercial and recreational users are broadcasting. With the recent hiring of several personnel at NAVCEN, we will improve the accuracy of AIS data.

    These improvements will focus on:
    --Identification discrepancies (Name, MMSI, IMO number or call sign)
    --Static discrepancies (zero length, zero beam, zero draft, ship type missing)

    Reducing these types of errors will improve mariner situational awareness and contribute to collision avoidance. So if your data is not correct, expect a call from NAVCEN or focus on this requirement during a visit from your local Coast Guard unit.

The blog also mentions and hyperlinks to an publication, "GUIDELINES FOR THE INSTALLATION OF A SHIPBORNE AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (AIS)"

jimh
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Re: USCG and Compliance with AIS Mandates

Postby jimh » Wed May 02, 2018 11:16 am

The USCG Navigation Center recently published their 2017 Year in Review. Therein they mentioned AIS compliance:

    Improving Automatic Identification System (AIS) Vessel Compliance

    Vessel Identification Verification System (VIVS)

    Following thorough analysis of several years of data, experts at NAVCEN confirmed that over 50% of all vessels operating on U.S. waterways were broadcasting at least one erroneous AIS vessel characteristic (e.g. length, width, type of vessel), causing serious concern in the Marine Safety community. For example, when two vessels are transmitting the same MMSI and within close proximity of each other, vessels in the reception area will see only one of the two vessels on their AIS transponders/chart plotters, leaving one vessel invisible to mariners in the reception area, as was the case in 2016. Because of the seriousness of the situation, and with no available funding to develop a Coast Guard wide solution, a NAVCEN project team creatively used existing information technology resources to develop a web-based application hosted on the Navigation Center’s website. The Vessel
    Identification Verification System (VIVS) is an online tool giving marine inspectors and maritime stakeholders a means of checking the fidelity of their AIS broadcasts. Using an aggressive outreach campaign, consisting of blog posts on Maritime Commons, magazine articles, and presentations to Coast Guard and maritime industry stakeholders, VIVS was formally launched in April 2017. Within 30 days of release, 164 Towing Vessels corrected their AIS discrepancies, surpassing NAVCEN’s entire 2016 calendar year compliance number of 150 vessels. With its impressive operational effectiveness, the system continues to produce outstanding compliance statistics, and ultimately improves overall maritime safety in U.S. waterways.

    https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/vivs

The 2017 USCG Navigation Center 2017 Year in Review is available from the USCG website and makes for interesting reading for mariners.

jimh
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Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
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Re: USCG and Compliance with AIS Mandates

Postby jimh » Thu May 03, 2018 8:25 am

The USCG Navigation Center 2017 Year in Review also mentions goals and projects for 2018. Among the projects listed are two related to better compliance by vessels transmitting static data via the automatic identification system (AIS). The USCG said:

    ...in 2018 we plan to continue to make progress on the following:

      • Improve Automatic Identification System (AIS) static data quality for waterway safety and data
      analytics. This will be done by:

        a. Collaborating with CG Headquarters (CG-CVC, CG-NAV-3) and several Sectors for a pilot
        program to conduct better AIS enforcement among the commercial vessel fleet. The pilot
        program utilizes VIVS and the Coast Guard’s internal vessel database (MISLE) to begin
        enforcement of the AIS Carriage Requirements (33 CFR 164.46) for regulated vessels.
        Results of the pilot will influence broad adoption through nationwide policy.

        b. Collaborating with CG Headquarters (CG-BSX, CG-NAV-3) and the Coast Guard Auxiliary to
        establish an outreach campaign targeting stronger AIS awareness and compliance for the
        recreational boating community. This campaign will likely feature VIVS and involve industry
        partners such as U.S. Power Squadrons and recreational (AIS-B) manufactures.

Note the mention of a campaign for stronger compliance in the recreational boating community.