engleski

AIS AS VHF COMMUNICATION IMPROVEMENT

The main purpose of the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) is ship traffic monitoring and traffic data gathering. VTS service contributes to life-saving operations at sea, general safety of marine traffic improvement and environment protection as required by the Safety of Life At Sea (SOLAS) Convention. The traffic is monitored by coastal Radars and AIS. These devices provide only ship traffic movement and AIS data. In order to gather more information VTS operators have to establish communication with vessels. Most of the communication at sea, either between two vessels in sight or between vessel and VTS operator, is done by VHF radio communication. The common practice between navigators at sea is watching VHF channel 16. However, some vessels do not maintain radio watch so it becomes impossible for other vessels and VTS operators to establish contact. All SOLAS ships have AIS and the number of non- SOLAS vessels that have AIS is on the increase. To prevent VHF communication issues, AIS should transmit on which VHF channel the watch is maintained. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate if that information should be transmitted by AIS in order to help other vessels and VTS operators to establish contact with the vessels which do not maintain proper watch.

VHF Communication; AIS; VTS; Navigational Watch

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