Long Range Identification And Tracking Research Articles

Testing Galileo High-Accuracy Service (HAS) in Marine Operations

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology supports all phases of maritime navigation and serves as an integral component of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and, by extension, Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) systems. However, the accuracy of standalone GNSS is often insufficient for specific operations. To address this limitation, various regional and local-area solutions have been developed, such as Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Satellite Based Augmentation Service (SBAS) and Real Time Kinematic (RTK) techniques. A notable development in this field is the recent introduction of the Galileo High-Accuracy Service (HAS), which saw its initial service declared operational by the European Commission (EC) on 24 January 2023. Galileo HAS provides high-accuracy Precise Point Positioning (PPP) corrections (orbits, clocks and signal biases) for Galileo and GPS, enhancing real-time positioning performance at no additional cost to users. This article presents the results of the first Galileo HAS testing campaign conducted at sea using a buoy-laying vessel temporarily equipped with a Galileo HAS User Terminal. The results presented in this Article include accuracy and position availability performance achieved using the Galileo HAS User Terminal. The article also highlights challenges posed by high-power radio-frequency interference, which likely originated from the Long-Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) system antenna on board the vessel. Furthermore, the article provides additional assessments for different phases of navigation, demonstrating better performance in slow-motion scenarios, particularly relevant to mooring and pilotage applications. In these scenarios, values for horizontal accuracy reached 0.22 m 95% and 0.13 m 68% after removing interference periods. These results are in line with the expectations outlined in the Galileo HAS Service Definition Document (SDD).

Motion Pattern Classification on Online/Active Data-Machine Learning

Abstract: Ship behaviour recognition and prediction is very important for the early warning of risky behaviour, identifying potential ship collision, improving maritime traffic efficiency etc., and thus is a very active topic in the intelligent maritime navigation community. The high flow of vessel traffic affects the difficulty of monitoring vessel in the middle of the sea because of limited human visibility, occurrence of vessel accidents at the sea and other illegal activities that illustrate abnormal vessel behaviour such as oil bunkering, piracy, illegal fishing and other crimes that will continue and will certainly have an impact on losses in several aspects. An existing system involves, Automatic Identification System (AIS) for short-range operation, Long-Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT), Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) are widely used automatic reporting systems for the ship/vessels. Further few classification algorithms like Bayesian, CNN and many other methods which does not permit to draw definite conclusions about the overall effectiveness of the identification procedure because of noise level. Automatic identification system (AIS) trajectory will collect data from multiple sensors that record dynamic and static ship information. AIS sequences (and records) are affected by subjective ship-officer behavior such as collision-avoidance decisionmaking and good seamanship

New Aspects of Progress in the Modernization of the Maritime Radio Direction Finders (RDF)

This paper as an author contribution introduces the implementation of the new aspects in the modernization of the ships Radio Direction Finders (RDF) and their modern principles and applications for shipborne and coastal navigation surveillance systems. The origin RDF receivers with the antenna installed onboard ships or aircraft were designed to identify radio sources that provide bearing the Direction Finding (DF) signals. The radio DF system or sometimes simply known as the DF technique is de facto a basic principle of measuring the direction of signals for determination of the ship's position. The position of a particular ship in coastal navigation can be obtained by two or more measurements of certain radio sources received from different unspecified locations of transmitters on the coast. In the past, the RDF devices were widely used as a radio navigation system for aircraft, vehicles, and ships in particular. However, the newly developed RDF devices can be used today as an alternative to the Radio – Automatic Identification System (R-AIS), Satellite – Automatic Identification System (S-AIS), Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT), radars, GNSS receivers, and another current tracking and positioning systems of ships. The development of a modern shipborne RDF for new positioning and surveillance applications, such as Search and Rescue (SAR), Man over board (MOB), ships navigation and collision avoidance, offshore applications, detection of research buoys and for costal vessels traffic control and management is described in this paper.

New Aspects of Progress in the Modernization of the Maritime Radio Direction Finders (RDF)

This paper as an author contribution introduces the implementation of the new aspects in the modernization of the ships Radio Direction Finders (RDF) and their modern principles and applications for shipborne and coastal navigation surveillance systems. The origin RDF receivers with the antenna installed onboard ships or aircraft were designed to identify radio sources that provide bearing the Direction Finding (DF) signals. The radio DF system or sometimes simply known as the DF technique is de facto a basic principle of measuring the direction of signals for determination of the ship's position. The position of a particular ship in coastal navigation can be obtained by two or more measurements of certain radio sources received from different unspecified locations of transmitters on the coast. In the past, the RDF devices were widely used as a radio navigation system for aircraft, vehicles, and ships in particular. However, the newly developed RDF devices can be used today as an alternative to the Radio – Automatic Identification System (R-AIS), Satellite – Automatic Identification System (S-AIS), Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT), radars, GNSS receivers, and another current tracking and positioning systems of ships. The development of a modern shipborne RDF for new positioning and surveillance applications, such as Search and Rescue (SAR), Man over board (MOB), ships navigation and collision avoidance, offshore applications, detection of research buoys and for costal vessels traffic control and management is described in this paper.

Space Remote Sensing and Detecting Systems of Oceangoing Ships

This paper introduces the implementation of space remote sensing and detecting systems of oceangoing ships as an alternative to the Radio – Automatic Identification System (R-AIS), Satellite – Automatic Identification System (S-AIS), Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT), and other current vessel tracking systems. In this paper will be not included a new project known as a Global Ship Tracking (GST) as an autonomous and discrete satellite network designed by the Space Science Centre (SSC) for research and postgraduate studies in Satellite Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) at Durban University of Technology (DUT). The ship detection from satellite remote sensing imagery system is a crucial application for maritime safety and security, which includes among others ship tracking, detecting and traffic surveillance, oil spill detection service, and discharge control, sea pollution monitoring, sea ice monitoring service, and protection against illegal fisheries activities. The establishment of a modern sea surface and ships monitoring system needs enhancement of the Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SSAR) that is here discussed as a modern observation infrastructure integrated with Ships Surveillance and Detecting via SSAR TerraSAR-X Spacecraft, Ships Surveillance and Detecting via SSAR Radarsat Spacecraft and Vessels Detecting System (VDS) via SSAR.

Pre-Feasibility Study of Business Stream that Utilizing Automatic Identification System (AIS) Data

As maritime technology becomes more advance, it produces a large number of data with various information. The information could be obtained from the system which is transmitting data such as AIS (Automatic Integrated System), VTS (Vessel Traffic Services), IBS (Integrated Bridge System), LRIT (Long-Range Identification and Tracking), and so on. An integration of this data can produce useful form of information. It leads to an opportunity for parties whose can manage those information to become a new form of business. The idea is to manage data to become information which can support maritime stakeholders. This research proposes a process in developing various business models by integrating AIS data with other relevant data and then further evaluated using a Financial Analysis. This research is expected to be a reference in fulfilling the needs of maritime stakeholder and providing an overview of businesses which are feasible to be conducted.

Estimated Time of Arrival Using Historical Vessel Tracking Data

The growing availability of data coming from ship reporting systems, such as Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT), is originating an unprecedented set of opportunities to enforce maritime surveillance, ensure the security of the traffic at sea, and manage maritime operations. In this paper, a data-driven methodology is proposed to estimate the vessel times of arrival in port areas. The developed approach exploits both AIS and LRIT historical maritime traffic data collected over a desired area of interest and is based on an optimized data-driven path-finding algorithm. The methodology is applied and validated to real scenarios with real data sets, showing how a list of times of arrival can be automatically computed for predefined ports and progressively refined. Such information is expected to increase port operational efficiency and safety.

Estimation of shipping emissions using vessel Long Range Identification and Tracking data

ABSTRACTShipping is a growing source of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, which are emitted mainly over an international territory, the seas, for which only shared responsibility by all countries is felt. The international community, in particular the International Maritime Organisation, is called to look for appropriate mitigation of these emissions. This starts with the reporting of emissions in an inventory and its mapping over the international territory to be able to then evaluate the effect of emission reduction policies on the environment. Under the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme, Member States are required to provide gridded emissions for the different sectors but the spatial allocation of ship emissions requires a supranational setup to avoid transboundary inconsistencies. By using vessel density maps extracted from historical Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) data, accurate high-resolution maps of emissions can be obtained in support of policy development, implementation and monitoring in the interrelated fields of air quality and climate.

Simulating Surveillance Options for the Canadian North

As part of the overarching research goal to assess current and potential maritime information sources for use in maritime defence and security in the Canadian north, we examine whether wide-area surveillance data, as represented by Space-based Automatic Identification System (S-AIS) data, offers sufficient information for surveillance requirements in the Canadian north. If S-AIS data are not sufficient, we address how the additional information provided by Long-Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) can be used to meet the surveillance requirements. A Systems Tool Kit (STK) simulation scenario is constructed that includes five exactEarth satellites collecting AIS data. Simulated AIS transmitters are positioned at 20 northern Canada ground locations. The results indicate that for each location, two thirds of the eight-day simulation is spent without a satellite within range, when using the five satellites. As the number of satellites decreases, intervals in the range of 80 to 105 minutes, during which there are no AIS messages received, increase in frequency. If the end-user requires vessel location information more often than S-AIS consistently provides, augmenting the S-AIS information with LRIT polling should achieve the desired vessel traffic awareness.

The declining impact of piracy on maritime transport in the Indian Ocean: Statistical analysis of 5-year vessel tracking data

The analysis of the declining impact of piracy on maritime routes and vessel behaviours in the Indian Ocean is here performed using Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) reports. A 5-year archive of vessel position data covering the period characterized by the highest number of attacks and the subsequent decline provides a unique source for data-driven statistical analysis that highlights changes in routing and sailing speeds. The work, besides demonstrating the value of LRIT data for statistical maritime traffic analysis, can be used to ultimately provide quantitative support to the estimates of the additional fuel consumption due to piracy. In showing the return of the North–South traffic to the shortest path, the results testify to the effectiveness of the efforts put in place against piracy in the Western Indian Ocean.

TRACKING VESSELS TO ILLEGAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGES USING MULTISOURCE VESSEL INFORMATION

Abstract. Illegal discharge of bilge waters is a significant source of oil and other environmental pollutants in Canadian and international waters. Imaging satellites are commonly used to monitor large areas to detect oily discharges from vessels, off-shore platforms and other sources. While remotely sensed imagery provides a snap-shot picture useful for detecting a spill or the presence of vessels in the vicinity, it is difficult to directly associate a vessel to an observed spill unless the vessel is observed while the discharge is occurring. The situation then becomes more challenging with increased vessel traffic as multiple vessels may be associated with a spill event. By combining multiple sources of vessel location data, such as Automated Information Systems (AIS), Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) and SAR-based ship detection, with spill detections and drift models we have created a system that associates detected spill events with vessels in the area using a probabilistic model that intersects vessel tracks and spill drift trajectories in both time and space. Working with the Canadian Space Agency and the Canadian Ice Service’s Integrated Satellite Tracking of Pollution (ISTOP) program, we use spills observed in Canadian waters to demonstrate the investigative value of augmenting spill detections with temporally sequenced vessel and spill tracking information.

Satellite-based AIS and its Comparison with LRIT

The satellite‐based Automatic Identification System (AIS) system has continuously been developed by the shipping industry in recent years. This paper introduces the satellite‐based AIS including the concept, the system structure, the development and its new applications. The Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) system, which is mandatory to be required on certain classes of ships engaged on international voyages to report their position at least every six hours using onboard communication means however, has similar kind of function of ship monitoring with the satellite‐based AIS system. Based on the basic introduction of the LRIT system, this paper presents the comprehensive comparison between satellite‐based AIS and LRIT in terms of the ship’s cost, the communication scheme, the monitoring coverage, the information details and the information creditability. The conclusion that the satellite‐based AIS should be encouraged to effectively play a complement role to the LRIT system is advanced in the paper.

Basin-Wide Maritime Awareness From Multi-Source Ship Reporting Data

A system was set up to ingest automatic ship position reports (terrestrial and satellite Automatic Identification System (AIS), Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT)) and fuse these into a Maritime Situational Picture, tracking the ships within an ocean basin-wide area of interest in real time. Trial runs were made over several months, collecting reporting data from a number of different sources, over the Gulf of Aden and the Western Indian Ocean. Also satellite radar surveillance was carried out in order to sample the presence of non-reporting ships. The trial showed that satellite AIS is a powerful tool for basin-wide ship traffic monitoring; that multiple AIS satellites are needed for sufficient completeness and update rate; and that coastal AIS and LRIT still provide essential complements to the satellite AIS data. The radar survey showed that about half of the radar-detected ships are not seen in the reporting data. The ultimate purpose of this work is to support the countries around the Horn of Africa in the fight against piracy and to help build their capacity to deliver maritime security and safety.

The possibility of use of the AIS data transmissions for safety and security monitoring in the Polish maritime areas

There are two new navigational systems introduced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) during last few years useful for ships' monitoring purposes as additional source of information about vessels, supplementary to that derived from visual observation, shore based radar, radar tracking aids and VHF voice communication. These systems are: Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) and Automatic Ship Identification (AIS). Each one of them has some advantages and faults. Paper presents short description of these systems and vessel traffic services established in the Polish maritime areas, assessment of information available from AIS shore based monitoring system and its comparison with data derived from radar and radar tracking aids

Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) Apropos Global Maritime Security

Globalisation of the world economy and the interdependence of nations thereof, has ensured that the security of global maritime trade remains a priority security issue for the state administrations. Maritime terrorism, illegal arms and drug trafficking, piracy etc., continue to remain the scourge of trading nations. Visibility and identification through maritime domain awareness (MDA) has come to be universally recognised as the basic tenet of the process to ensure maritime security. In 2000, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) decision for mandatory provision of automatic identification system (AIS) onboard merchant ships and International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) compliance by ports served to significantly enhance maritime security. With increased perceptions of threat post 9/11, further measures were discussed to augment maritime security during the 2002 International Convention for the Security of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Conference organised by the IMO. The mandatory security measures, adopted in December 2002, included a number of amendments to the 1974 SOLAS. The Conference also adopted Resolution 3, for “further work by the IMO pertaining to enhancement of maritime security” and Resolution 10 for “early implementation of long range ship's identification and tracking (LRIT).” During the 81st session of the Maritime Safety Committee, held at IMO Headquarters in London on May 10-19, 2006 regulations for LRIT were included in SOLAS Chapter V on Safety of Navigation. LRIT was made a mandatory requirement with effect from December 31, 2008 for merchant ships (over 300 gross registered tonnage — GRT) on international voyages and mobile offshore drilling units. LRIT entitles SOLAS Contracting Governments to receive information about ships navigating within a distance not exceeding 1,000 nautical miles (nm) off their coast. The regulation was scheduled to enter into force on January 01, 2009. Though the deadline of December 31, 2008 has elapsed, the implementation of LRIT could not be executed due to lack of conformity by all contracting nations. This paper deliberates on the concept of LRIT and traces its development while specifically exploring its relevance to India in terms of implementation and operation. At the threshold of entering LRIT enabled maritime awareness domain, it would be prudent for India to put in place procedures and infrastructure that will maximise the system output.

Space-based AIS for global maritime traffic monitoring

The universal shipborne automatic identification system (AIS) is a recently introduced system for traffic monitoring and safety at sea. In this paper we investigate the possibility of extending the system to space for global maritime surveillance, and give suggestions for how the system can be optimized for long-range identification and tracking (LRIT).