Tag: navigation

$3million on satellite technology Google is set to track the world's warships and make the data available to billions of internet users, raising concerns over the security of the American naval fleet.The search engine plans to offer the coordinates and identity of virtually all vessels at sea on Google Maps after spending around $3million on satellite technology.The company continues to consult with the U.S. Navy over the plans, as well as with the defence departments of countries around the world.Google has claimed that it is better placed to track the military boats than most governments.Ship-shape: Google will soon be able to show the location of every vessel at sea and maps of the ocean floorMichael Jones, who is chief technology advocate at Google Ventures, told Aol: 'I watch them and they can't see themselves. It angers me as a citizen that I can do this and the entire DoD can't.'Google is not the first to track ships at sea, but claims to have improved on previous technology.All large vessels are fitted with the Maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) - a series of transponders that transmit the boat's position to avoid collisions when it is dark or there is bad weather.At ...

For guiding ships through the area in summer The forecasting company Weathernews Inc. unveiled a micro satellite Tuesday that it developed to monitor Arctic Ocean ice for purposes of guiding ships through the area in summer.The 10-kg cube-shaped satellite, jointly developed by Tokyo-based AXELSPACE Corp., is scheduled to be launched from the Yasny Cosmodrome in Russia on Sept. 28. It will be the first attempt by a private company to use a satellite to monitor ice in the Arctic Ocean, Weathernews said.Weathernews plans to use the data to provide navigational information to commercial vessels plying the Arctic Ocean during the summer. The service will be available starting in summer 2013, it said.Due to global warming, the Arctic Ocean has been navigable since around summer 2007, according to Weathernews.Eleven vessels used the route in 2010 and 34 ships used it in 2011, spokesman Hitoki Ito told The Japan Times, adding the route does not remain navigable on a regular basis.An Arctic passage can shorten the distance ships have to travel between Europe and Asia to one-third of the route via the Cape of Good Hope and half the distance of the route through the Suez Canal, it said.Weathernews invested some ?200 ...

Malfunctions found in their navigation system More than 120 ships, including Coast Guard vessels and a passenger boat, have reported malfunctions in their navigation systems since the apparent jamming of satellite signals by North Korea last week, maritime police said Friday.According to the Coast Guard in Incheon, west of Seoul, a total of 122 ships were affected by the disruption to Global Positioning System (GPS) signals last Saturday. Among the vessels were eight patrol boats belonging to the Coast Guard, a passenger liner carrying 387 people and a petrol products carrier.Fishing boats operating near the tense western maritime border with North Korea also reported errors in their navigation systems, although none of them led to accidents, Coast Guard officials said."Last Saturday, I was sailing toward Incheon when the GPS stopped working, and I almost sailed north," said a fisherman from the western border island of Yeonpyeong, who gave only his surname Kim.Koreans are not free to travel between the sides as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce and left them in a technical state of war.On Wednesday, the transport ministry said about 250 commercial flights in and out of international airports at Incheon and Gimpo, also west of ...

UH researchers develop technique for tsunami detection It's quite possible that in the near future a warning of a deadly tsunami could come from a commercial ship.The findings and technology of this is being done at by scientists at UH Manoa.The discovery of sea surface height changes during a tsunami accurately being detected by GPS on a ship came as a surprise.The UH research vessel, Kilo Moana, was on its way to Hawaii from Guam when a tsunami was generated by the 8.8 earthquake in Chile back in February 2010.The Kilo Moana is equipped with an advanced GPS system and the data it recorded mirrored the tsunami predictions from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.Dr. James Foster and his colleagues are now working on developing a network of commercial ships equipped with the geodetic GPS system that could become the next phase in real-time tsunami warning in the Pacific."there are so many ships out there that if you've got enough of them instrumented with the GPS systems there is always going to be some ships in the neighborhood of the region that produces the tsunami," said Foster.Much more advanced than a handheld GPS, the unit on a ship would include a ...

VesselTracker to globalise its service VesselTracker GmbH, a provider of global coastal AIS data and maritime information, has agreed a partnership deal with space-AIS company exactEarth, under which VesselTracker will market services deploying exactAIS satellite data into the global commercial applications market through its web services platform.VesselTracker's current customers include Port Authorities, fleet management operators, insurance companies and ship brokers. The new deal will enable VesselTracker to globalise its service and provide visibility into ship movements out of the range of existing coastal stations.A new custom data solution will also be made available to provide solutions based on XML Web Service data delivery."We are excited to sign this deal with VesselTracker," said Peter Mabson, president of exactEarth."This agreement is a great step forward for exactEarth and means a whole new set of customers worldwide will now have access to our exactAIS data and will see the value of truly global coverage of maritime traffic.""We see this as a new chapter in the evolution of satellite AIS and look forward to working even more closely with VesselTracker in the future to deliver premium services to our joint markets."In other news, exactEarth has also announced that it has been awarded a new ...

A project by Swedish Maritime Administration to enhance safety Always seeking new ways to enhance safety, the shipping industry is turning to Sweden and the Swedish Maritime Administration to continuously track locations of cruise and cargo vessels sailing European waters. The MONALISA project, led by The Swedish Maritime Administration, has attracted considerable international interest and the world's largest cruise company, Carnival Corporation & plc, is now joining an extension of the project.The European Commission has highlighted the importance of developing strong measures to create safer navigation routes and avoid future disasters by enhancing traffic control in congested waterways. The Swedish Maritime Administration has now initiated an extension of the ongoing MONALISA project, called MONALISA 2.0, through a renewed application to the European Commission's TEN-T program. The MONALISA project is a computerized tracking system that offers a continuous at-a-glance view of ship traffic in specific regions. It is designed to provide cruise and cargo operators with information that enables them to operate their business in the safest and most efficient manner possible.The Swedish Maritime Administration will, in collaboration with Carnival Corporation & plc, extend the current test area from the Baltic Sea to include the Mediterranean Sea. A number of Europe ...

Rutter Inc. will receive funding to boost its ice navigation and radar system Petroleum Research Newfoundland and Labrador lends support to development of specialized radar equipmentRutter Inc. has announced that it will receive C$1.4 million in funding to build and test its new ice navigation and detection radar system.The Canadian-based firm has been granted the funds by the Petroleum Research Newfoundland and Labrador under its Arctic & Harsh Environments strategic focus area.The integrated dual polarized ice navigation and detection radar is expected to help operators distinguish between the much harder multi-year ice and first-year ice, a major challenge for vessels operating in ice infested waters.Research has shown that multi-year ice responds differently to radar signals from firstyear ice and the radar enhancement gives the operator the ability to make immediate and informed decisions on navigation.This advancement in radar technology builds on Rutter's sigma S6 Ice Navigator system."With increasing commercial, marine, and oil and gas activities offshore Canada and in Arctic regions, significant benefits can be gained from improved sea ice characterization, tracking and management," said Fraser Edison, President and CEO of Rutter."Our goal with this research is to help make navigation through ice- infested waters safer and easier for the ...

Guide aimed at seafarers, shipowners and others who are planning to operate in that extreme environm There has been an increase in activity in the polar regions as the maritime and offshore industries respond to global warming and the need to find more sources of energy. However, as author Captain Duke Snider FNI explains, these regions used to be the domain of experienced operators and vessel owners.Captain Snider says: "As global climate change has resulted in an increase interest in shipping in Polar Regions, such a reference gap is of paramount importance. Polar Ship Operations addresses this gap in reference material."The book is laid out to familiarise readers with the geographic, climatological and meteorological aspects of the Arctic and Antarctic, to explain the remoteness of these regions and the lack of support infrastructure. Other chapters cover the physics of ice formation and basics of ice interpretation and reporting, offering help to identify old and glacial ice, the preparation for operating in these regimes and ship handing in polar ice conditions.The book was launched at the 8th annual Arctic Shipping Forum held by Informa in Helsinki, less than two weeks after a report on the development of the Arctic from Lloyd's ...

Q&A re icebergs Icebergs are a natural and beautiful part of Earth's cryosphere, and are closely monitored and studied by scientists around the world. We asked JPL research scientists Ben Holt and Michael Schodlok to attempt to remove some of the mystery shrouding these floating flotillas of ice.Q. What are icebergs and how are they formed?A. Ben Holt: Icebergs form from the natural calving of glaciers and Earth's great ice sheets, which extend into the ocean. These ice extensions, called tongues and shelves, lose strength as they extend further from their attachments to land, eventually breaking off in a process called 'calving' to form icebergs.Q. How do icebergs move?A. Ben Holt: Once they form, icebergs are moved by winds and currents, drifting either north or south toward Earth's equator, where they eventually melt. They may get stuck locally by the ocean bottom or even by surrounding sea ice.Q. Where do icebergs form, and how big can they get?A. Ben Holt: Earth's largest icebergs are formed from the extensive ice shelves in Antarctica-giant, so-called "tabular" icebergs. In the Arctic region, Greenland glaciers are the primary source, generally forming considerably smaller icebergs than those found in Antarctica. These smaller icebergs, sometimes called ...

The framework is no longer called by EfficienSea, but ACCSEAS The Danish Maritime Authority is still in the lead of the development of the navigation concept of the future, e-Navigation. Now, the framework is no longer called by EfficienSea, but ACCSEAS. With the conclusion of the EfficienSea project in early 2012, one could fear that the work on e-Navigation would become homeless. But fortunately that is not the case. In April 2012, a new EU project was born, ACCSEAS, and within this framework the work on e-Navigation will be continued. The project covers the North Sea and consists of 11 partners from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The Danish Maritime Authority is among the ones in the forefront of two work packages concerning the development of new services and tests and user feedback."We are not starting all over again, but drawing on the experiences gained so far, just as we are refining and further developing the equipment already installed in the form of platforms, software, etc. We will also continue with some of the same test users, so much of the fundamental work has already been done", stresses Thomas Christensen, e-Navigation Project Manager.Two e-Navigation legs"In ...