IMO Blog mentions for September 2, 2010 showing 4 entries
By Coracle Voice link finder • Sep 2nd, 2010 • Category: IMO
IMO Blog mentions for September 2, 2010 showing 4 entries
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4 sea marshals to receive citations from IMO
www.philstar.com —
. Four sea marshals who showed bravery as they assisted the passengers of M/V SuperFerry 9 that sank off the Zamboanga Peninsula last year, will receive commendations from the London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) in November..
Four sea marshals who showed bravery as they assisted the passengers of M/V SuperFerry 9 that sank off the Zamboanga Peninsula last year, will receive commendations from the London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) in November.
Published: September 01, 2010
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On the non-tech front .. I was looking for stuff on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) but all I found were some silly opinions.
twitter.com —
On the non-tech front .. I was looking for stuff on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) but all I found were some silly opinions.
On the non-tech front .. I was looking for stuff on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) but all I found were some silly opinions.Published: September 01, 2010
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United Nations
en.openei.org —
Revision as of 20:17, 1 September 2010. . … *International Labour Organization (ILO) . … *International Maritime Organization (IMO) . … *International Monetary Fund (IMF) . … *International Telecommunication Union (ITU) .
Specialized Agencies:
← Older revision
Revision as of 20:17, 1 September 2010Line 88:
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*International Labour Organization (ILO) *International Labour Organization (ILO)
*International Maritime Organization (IMO) *International Maritime Organization (IMO)
-*International Monetary Fund (IMF)+*[[International Monetary Fund | International Monetary Fund (IMF)]]
*International Telecommunication Union (ITU) *International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
*United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) *United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)Published: September 01, 2010
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Global Maritime Distress Safety System
stockmarketsreview.com —
For these reasons, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency specializing in safety of shipping and preventing ships from polluting the seas, began looking at ways
Components of GMDSS
The main types of equipment used in GMDSS are:
Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB)
Main article: Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon
Cospas-Sarsat is an international satellite-based search and rescue system, established by Canada, France, the United States, and Russia. These four countries jointly helped develop the 406 MHz Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), an element of the GMDSS designed to operate with Cospas-Sarsat system. These automatic-activating EPIRBs, now required on SOLAS ships, commercial fishing vessels, and all passenger ships, are designed to transmit to alert rescue coordination centers via the satellite system from anywhere in the world. The original COSPAS / SARSAT system used Polar orbiting satellites but in recent years the system has been expanded to also include 4 GEOSTATIONARY satellites. Newest designs incorporate GPS receivers to transmit highly accurate positions (within about 20 metres)of the distress position. The original COSPAS / SARSAT satellites could calculate EPIRBs position to within about 3 nautical miles by using Doppler techniques. By the end of 2010 EPIRB manufacturers may be offering AIS (Automatic Identification System) enabled beacons. The service-ability of these items are checked monthly and annually and have limited battery shelf life betweeen 2 to 5 years using mostly Lithium type batteries. 406 MHz EPIRB’s transmit a Hexadecimal registration number which is linked to a database of information about the vessel.
NAVTEX
Main article: Navtex
Navtex is an international, automated system for instantly distributing maritime navigational warnings, weather forecasts and warnings, search and rescue notices and similar information to ships. A small, low-cost and self-contained “smart” printing radio receiver installed on the bridge, or the place from where the ship is navigated, and checks each incoming message to see if it has been received during an earlier transmission, or if it is of a category of no interest to the ship’s master. The frequency of transmission of these messages is 518 kHz in English, while 490 kHz is used to broadcast in local language.
The messages are coded with a header code identified by the using alphabets to represent broadcasting stations, type of messages, and followed by two figures indicating the serial number of the message.
Inmarsat
Satellite systems operated by the Inmarsat, overseen by IMSO, International Mobile Satellite Organization are also important elements of the GMDSS. The types of Inmarsat ship earth station terminals recognized by the GMDSS are: Inmarsat B, C and F77. Inmarsat B and F77, an updated version of the now redundant Inmarsat A, provide ship/shore, ship/ship and shore/ship telephone, telex and high-speed data services, including a distress priority telephone and telex service to and from rescue coordination centers. Fleet 77 fully supports the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) and includes advanced features such as emergency call prioritisation. The Inmarsat C provides ship/shore, shore/ship and ship/ship store-and-forward data and email messaging, the capability for sending preformatted distress messages to a rescue coordination center, and the Inmarsat C SafetyNET service. The Inmarsat C SafetyNET service is a satellite-based worldwide maritime safety information broadcast service of high seas weather warnings, NAVAREA navigational warnings, radionavigation warnings, ice reports and warnings generated by the USCG-conducted International Ice Patrol, and other similar information not provided by NAVTEX. SafetyNET works similarly to NAVTEX in areas outside NAVTEX coverage.
Inmarsat C equipment is relatively small and lightweight, and costs much less than an Inmarsat B or F77. Inmarsat B and F77 ship earth stations require relatively large gyro-stabilized antennas; the antenna size of the Inmarsat C is much smaller.
Under a cooperative agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), combined meteorological observations and AMVER reports can now be sent to both the USCG AMVER Center, and NOAA, using an Inmarsat C ship earth station, at no charge. .
SOLAS now requires that Inmarsat C equipment have an integral satellite navigation receiver, or be externally connected to a satellite navigation receiver. That connection will ensure accurate location information to be sent to a rescue coordination center if a distress alert is ever transmitted.
Also the new LRIT log range tracking systems are upgraded via GMDSS inmarsat C which are also complient along with inbuilt SSAS which is ship security alarm system
High Frequency
A GMDSS system may include High Frequency (HF) radiotelephone and radiotelex (narrow-band direct printing) equipment, with calls initiated by digital selective calling (DSC). Worldwide broadcasts of maritime safety information are also made on HF narrow-band direct printing channels.
Search and Rescue Locating device
Main article: Search and Rescue Locating device
The GMDSS installation on ships include one or more Search and Rescue Locating device devices which are used to locate survival craft or distressed vessels by creating a series of dots on a rescuing ship’s 3 cm radar display or operating on frequencies dedicated for AIS . The detection range between these devices and ships, dependent upon the height of the ship’s radar mast and the height of the Search and Rescue Locating device, is normally about 15 km (8 nautical miles). Note that a marine radar may not detect a Search and Rescue Locating device even within this distance, if the radar settings are not optimized for Search and Rescue Locating device detection.
Once detected by radar, the Search and Rescue Locating device will produce a visual and aural indication.
Digital Selective Calling
The IMO also introduced Digital Selective Calling (DSC) on MF, HF and VHF maritime radios as part of the GMDSS system. DSC is primarily intended to initiate ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship radiotelephone and MF/HF radiotelex calls. DSC calls can also be made to individual stations, groups of stations, or “all stations” in one’s reach. Each DSC-equipped ship, shore station and group is assigned a unique 9-digit Maritime Mobile Service Identity.
DSC distress alerts, which consist of a preformatted distress message, are used to initiate emergency communications with ships and rescue coordination centers. DSC was intended to eliminate the need for persons on a ship’s bridge or on shore to continuously guard radio receivers on voice radio channels, including VHF channel 16 (156.8 MHz) and 2182 kHz now used for distress, safety and calling. A listening watch aboard GMDSS-equipped ships on 2182 kHz ended on February 1, 1999. In May 2002, IMO decided to postpone cessation of a VHF listening watch aboard ships. That watchkeeping requirement had been scheduled to end on 1 February 2005.
IMO and ITU both require that the DSC-equipped MF/HF and VHF radios be externally connected to a satellite navigation receiver. That connection will ensure accurate location information is sent to a rescue coordination center if a distress alert is ever transmitted. The FCC requires that all new VHF and MF/HF maritime radiotelephones type accepted after June 1999 have at least a basic DSC capability.
VHF digital selective calling also has other capabilities beyond those required for the GMDSS. The Coast Guard uses this system to track vessels in Prince William Sound, Alaska, Vessel Traffic Service. IMO and the USCG also plan to require ships carry a Universal Shipborne Automatic Identification System, which will be DSC-compatible. Countries having a GMDSS A1 Area should be able to identify and track AIS-equipped vessels in its waters without any additional radio equipment. A DSC-equipped radio cannot be interrogated and tracked unless that option was included by the manufacturer, and unless the user configures it to allow tracking.
GMDSS telecommunications equipment should not be reserved for emergency use only. The International Maritime Organization encourages mariners to use that equipment for routine as well as safety telecommunications.
GMDSS Sea Areas
GMDSS sea areas serve two purposes: to describe areas where GMDSS services are available, and to define what radio equipment GMDSS ships must carry (carriage requirements). Prior to the GMDSS, the number and type of radio safety equipment ships had to carry depended upon its tonnage. With GMDSS, the number and type of radio safety equipment ships have to carry depends upon the GMDSS areas in which they travel.
In addition to equipment listed below, all GMDSS-regulated ships must carry a satellite EPIRB, a NAVTEX receiver (if they travel in any areas served by NAVTEX), an Inmarsat-C SafetyNET receiver (if they travel in any areas not served by NAVTEX), a DSC-equipped VHF radiotelephone, two (if between 300 and less than 500 GRT)or three VHF handhelds (if 500 GRT or more), and one 9GHz search and rescue radar transponder (SART).
Sea Area A1
An area within the radiotelephone coverage of at least one VHF coast station in which continuous digital selective calling (Ch.70/156.525MHz) alerting and radiotelephony services are available.Such an area could extend typically 20 nautical miles (37 km) to 30 nautical miles (56 km) from the Coast Station.
Sea Area A2
An area, excluding Sea Area A1, within the radiotelephone coverage of at least one MF coast station in which continuous DSC (2187.5 kHz) alerting and radiotelephony services are available.For planning purposes this area typically extends to up to 180 nautical miles (330 km) offshore during daylight hours,but would exclude any A1 designated areas.In practice,satisfactory coverage may often be achieved out to around 400 nautical miles (740 km) offshore during night time.
Sea Area A3
An area,excluding sea areas A1 and A2, within the coverage of an INMARSAT geostationary satellite.This area lies between about latitude 76 Degree NORTH and SOUTH,but excludes A1 and/or A2 designated areas.Inmarsat guarantee their system will work between 70 South and 70 North though it will often work to 76 degrees South or North.
Sea Area A4
An area outside Sea Areas A1, A2 and A3 is called Sea Area A4. This is essentially the polar regions, north and south of about 70 degrees of latitude, excluding any A1 or A2 areas.
GMDSS Radio Equipment Required for U.S. Coastal Voyages
Presently, until an A1 or A2 Sea Area is established, GMDSS-mandated ships operating off the U.S. coast must fit to Sea Areas A3 (or A4) regardless of where they operate. U.S. ships whose voyage allows them to always remain within VHF channel 16 coverage of U.S. Coast Guard stations may apply to the Federal Communications Commission for an individual waiver to fit to Sea Area A1 requirements. Similarly, those who remain within 2182 kHz coverage of U.S. Coast Guard stations may apply for a waiver to fit to Sea Area A2 requirements.
History
Since the invention of radio at the end of the 19th century, ships at sea have relied on Morse code, invented by Samuel Morse and first used in 1844, for distress and safety telecommunications. The need for ship and coast radio stations to have and use radiotelegraph equipment, and to listen to a common radio frequency for Morse encoded distress calls, was recognized after the sinking of the liner RMS Titanic in the North Atlantic in 1912. The U.S. Congress enacted legislation soon after, requiring U.S. ships to use Morse code radiotelegraph equipment for distress calls. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), now a United Nations agency, followed suit for ships of all nations. Morse encoded distress calling has saved thousands of lives since its inception almost a century ago, but its use requires skilled radio operators spending many hours listening to the radio distress frequency. Its range on the medium frequency (MF) distress band (500 kHz) is limited, and the amount of traffic Morse signals can carry is also limited.
Not all ship-to-shore radio communications were short range. Some radio stations provided long-range radiotelephony services, such as radio telegrams and radio telex calls, on the HF bands (3-30 MHz) enabling worldwide communications with ships. For example, Portishead Radio, which was the world’s busiest radiotelephony station, provided HF long-range services. In 1974, it had 154 radio operators who handled over 20 million words per year. Such large radiotelephony stations employed large numbers of people and were expensive to operate. By the end of the 1980s, satellite services had started to take an increasingly large share of the market for ship-to-shore communications.
For these reasons, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency specializing in safety of shipping and preventing ships from polluting the seas, began looking at ways of improving maritime distress and safety communications. In 1979, a group of experts drafted the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, which called for development of a global search and rescue plan. This group also passed a resolution calling for development by IMO of a Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) to provide the communication support needed to implement the search and rescue plan. This new system, which the world’s maritime nations are implementing, is based upon a combination of satellite and terrestrial radio services, and has changed international distress communications from being primarily ship-to-ship based to ship-to-shore (Rescue Coordination Center) based. It spelled the end of Morse code communications for all but a few users, such as amateur radio operators. The GMDSS provides for automatic distress alerting and locating in cases where a radio operator doesn’t have time to send an SOS or MAYDAY call, and, for the first time, requires ships to receive broadcasts of maritime safety information which could prevent a distress from happening in the first place. In 1988, IMO amended the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention, requiring ships subject to it fit GMDSS equipment. Such ships were required to carry NAVTEX and satellite EPIRBs by 1 August 1993, and had to fit all other GMDSS equipment by 1 February 1999. US ships were allowed to fit GMDSS in lieu of Morse telegraphy equipment by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Licensing of Operators
National maritime authorities may issue various classes of licenses. The General Operator Certificate is required on SOLAS vessels operating also outside GMDSS Sea Area A1, while a Restricted Operator Certificate is needed on SOLAS vessels operated solely within GMDSS Sea Area A1,
Long Range Certificate may be issued, and is required on non-SOLAS vessels operating outside GMDSS Sea Area A1, while a Short Range Certificate is issued for non-SOLAS vessels operating only inside GMDSS Sea Area A1.
Finally there is a Restricted radiotelephone operator’s certificate, which is similar to the Short Range Certificate but limited VHR DSC radio operation. Some countries do not consider this adequate for GMDSS qualification.
In the United States four different GMDSS certificates are issued. A GMDSS Radio Maintainer’s License allows a person to maintain, install,and repair GMDSS equipment at sea. A GMDSS Radio Operator’s License is necessary for a person to use required GMDSS equipment. The holder of both certificates can be issued one GMDSS Radio Operator/Maintainer License. Finally, the GMDSS Restricted License is available for VHF operations only within 20 nautical miles (37 km) of the coast. To obtain any of these licenses a person must be a U.S. citizen or otherwise eligible for work in the country, be able to communicate in English, and take written examinations approved by the Federal Communications Commission. Like the amateur radio examinations, these are given by private, FCC-approved groups. These are generally not the same agencies who administer the ham tests. Written test elements 1 and 7 are required for the Operator license, and elements 1 and 7R for the Restricted Operator. (Passing element 1 also automatically qualifies the applicant for the Marine Radiotelephone Operator Permit, the MROP.)
For the Maintainer license, written exam element 9 must be passed. However, to obtain this certificate an applicant must also hold a General radiotelephone operator license (GROL), which requires passing commercial written exam elements 1 and 3 (and thus supersedes the MROP). Upon the further passing of optional written exam element 8 the ship radar endorsement will be added to both the GROL and Maintainer licenses. This allows the holder to adjust, maintain, and repair shipboard radar equipment.
Until March 25, 2008 GMDSS operator and maintainer licenses expired after five years but could be renewed upon payment of a fee. On that date all new certificates were issued valid for the lifetimes of their holders. For those still valid but previously issued with expiration dates, the FCC states:
Any GMDSS Radio Operator’s License, Restricted GMDSS Radio Operator’s License, GMDSS Radio Maintainer’s License, GMDSS Radio Operator/Maintainer License, or Marine Radio Operator Permit that was active, i.e., had not expired, as of March 25, 2008, does not have to be renewed.
Since an older certificate does show an expiration date, for crewmembers sailing internationally it may be worth paying the fee (as of 2008 it was $60) to avoid any confusion with local authorities.
Finally, it should be noted that to actually serve as a GMDSS operator on most commercial vessels the United States Coast Guard requires additional classroom training and practical experience beyond just holding a license.
See also
Nautical portal
Marine VHF radio the GMDSS equipments.
Search and Rescue Transponder
Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB)
Inmarsat
Radio horizon
500 kHz
2182 kHz
Source
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/default.htm
http://www.gmdss.com.au/
References
^ Johnson, B (1994). “English in maritime radiotelephony”. World Englishes 13 (1): 8391. doi:10.1111/j.1467-971X.1994.tb00285.x.
^ “The story of Portishead Radio: Long range maritime radio communications: 1920 1995″. 2001-04-06. http://jproc.ca/radiostor/portis1.html. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
^ FCC – Commercial Radio Operator Licenses
^
^ MarComms – GMDSS Training and Certification
External links
COSPAS-SARSAT system home page
Search And Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT)
FCC – Commercial Operator Licenes: Examinations FCC
FCC – GMDSS Radio Maintainer’s License (DM) FCC
FCC – GMDSS Radio Operator’s License (DO) FCC
FCC – Ship Radar Endorsement FCC
FCC – Commercial Operator Licenses: Examination Question Pools FCC
GMDSS Ship Inspection Checklist FCC
“CCIR 493-4 HF Selcall Information Resource”. HFLINK. 2010. http://hflink.com/selcall. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
Categories: Emergency communication | Law of the sea | Maritime communication | Rescue equipment
Published: September 02, 2010