Marine Navigation

The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) at its 81st session in May 2006 adopted new regulations for the LRIT together with associated performance standards and functional requirements.

The new regulation on LRIT is included in SOLAS chapter V on Safety of Navigation, through which LRIT will be introduced as a mandatory requirement for the following ships on international voyages: passenger ships, including high-speed craft; cargo ships, including high-speed craft, of 300 gross tonnage and upwards; and mobile offshore drilling units.

Conference resolution 10 contains three elements. Firstly it urges SOLAS Contracting Governments to take, as a matter of high priority, any action needed at national level to give effect to implementing and beginning the long-range identification and tracking of ships.

Secondly it invites SOLAS Contracting Government to encourage ships entitled to fly the flag of their State to take the necessary measures so that they are prepared to respond automatically to Inmarsat C polling, or to other available systems. And last but not least it requests SOLAS Contracting Governments to consider all aspects related to the introduction of long-range identification and tracking of ships, including its potential for misuse as an aid to ship targeting and the need for confidentiality in respect of the information so gathered.

LRIT system

The LRIT system consists of the shipborne LRIT information transmitting equipment, the Communication Service Provider(s), the Application Service Provider(s), the LRIT Data Centre(s), including any related Vessel Monitoring System(s), the LRIT Data Distribution Plan and the International LRIT Data Exchange. Certain aspects of the performance of the LRIT system are reviewed or audited by an LRIT Co-ordinator acting on behalf of all Contracting Governments.

LRIT information is provided to Contracting Governments and Search and rescue services entitled to receive the information, upon request, through a system of National, Regional, Co operative and International LRIT Data Centres, using where necessary, the LRIT International Data Exchange.

This signal then returns to the radar system, where it is received and usually indicated upon the screen of a cathode-ray type of tube known as the indicator. Since electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light,about 186 000 miles a second, the time period that elapses between the transmission of the signal and the reception of its echo may be used to determine the range of the target object.

2.2 The Satellite Navigation System GPS

Its working principle is analogous to that of the ordinary radio navigation, with the only exception that the ground radio beacon station has been moved onto a satellite and become a moveable aerial one.

a concise introduction concerning the light current engineering will be presented, which deals with the equipment for navigation, communication, observation and detection. Indeed, the above equipment can well boast itself to be the ears and eyes of a ship. In the first place,we will come to the navigation equipment.

1. Compass

The compass is the chief instrument on board to indicate the course of a ship, which may be subdivided into magnetic compass and electrical compass in the light of their different working principles.The working principle of electrical compass is quite another story compared with that of the magnetic compass.

The purpose of this guide is to examine the hazards of cold exposure that may endanger your life, and to provide you with advice on how to prevent or minimize those dangers.

A thorough understanding of the information contained in this booklet may some day save your life.

The Maritime Safety Committee, at its eighty-first session (10 to 19 May 2006), with a view to providing enhanced guidance for passenger ships operating in cold water areas, approved the Guide to cold water survival, prepared by the Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications and Search and Rescue, at its tenth session (6 to 10 March 2006), as set out in the annex.

EPIRBs

Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacons or EPIRBs are compact, buoyant and portable emergency devices specifically designed to transmit a radio distress signal to alert emergency authorities of a need for rescue. Once activated, an EPIRB will continuously transmit a specific radio signal to be detected by satellites.

Following satellite detection, the emergency position and specific location data is then relayed to related authorities to begin rescue operations.Several EPIRB models can be owner registered with a relevant rescue co-ordination authority. Following activation, an owner registered EPIRB will provide rescue operators with the owner's name and emergency contact details plus the type of vehicle/vessel needing rescue. EPIRB registration greatly improves rescue response times.

Picture a shipboard radar display, with overlaid electronic chart data, that includes a mark for every significant ship within radio range, each as desired with a velocity vector (indicating speed and heading). Each ship "mark" could reflect the actual size of the ship, with position to GPS or differential GPS accuracy. By "clicking" on a ship mark, you could learn the ship name, course and speed, classification, call sign, registration number, MMSI, and other information.

As formidable a piece of ironmongery as one would wish to encounter. In actual fact it is merely an instrument that measures the angle a heavenly body (star, planet, sun, moon) makes with the visible horizon. It derives it's name from the arc at the bottom which is one sixth of a circle. The principles of a sextant are easy to master but its use requires some skill and practice. Small errors make for large discrepancies in one's position.

Parts of the sextant

On May 16, 1995, at the times indicated, the navigator takes and records the following sights: