Synthetic Aids to Navigation in Great Lakes
Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 4:36 pm
In February 2014 the United States Coast Guard (USCG) announced that it would begin to employ AIS Aid-to-Navigation (ATON) technology as a supplement to using actual physical aids to navigation such as buoys. (For more on the announcement see an earlier discussion in The Old Forum.) In recent LOCAL NOTICE TO MARINERS (LNM) editions from the USCG 9th District, the USCG announced that in late 2015 there would be several AIS ATONs implemented, as follows:
From http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm09392015.pdf :
Using the fine resources of http://MARINETRAFFIC.COM you can see the four AIS ATONs showing up in the Straits of Mackinaw at the bridge:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/hom ... .8/zoom:12
From http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm09392015.pdf :
Straits of Mackinac - De Tour Passage to Waugoshance Point - Chart 14881
LNM: 30/15
The following aids to navigation have been turned on as Synthetic AIS ATON. Synthetic AIS ATON is a signal broadcasted from an AIS base station to coincide with [an] existing physical aid to navigation. During periods when the aids are decommissioned for the season as advertised in the light list these aids will become Virtual AIS ATON. Virtual AIS ATON is a signal broadcasted from an AIS base station that is electronically charted, but non-existent as a physical aid to navigation.
Mackinac Bridge Lighted Bell Buoy "1" (LLNR 12625)
Mackinac Bridge Lighted Gong Buoy "2" (LLNR 12630)
Mackinac Bridge Lighted Bell Buoy "3" (LLNR 12645)
Mackinac Bridge Lighted Gong Buoy "4" (LLNR 12650)
Using the fine resources of http://MARINETRAFFIC.COM you can see the four AIS ATONs showing up in the Straits of Mackinaw at the bridge:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/hom ... .8/zoom:12