U A I S
Universal Automatic Identification System

Guidelines for installation of shipborne Automatic Identification System (AIS)

These guidelines are not very explicit about the position information that the transponder needs to broadcast. Please be aware that IMO requires that the position information that is used by the OOW is the the same as the position information that the transponder broadcasts. This means that the GPS used for Ship Navigation needs to be connected with the transponder.

This will work only if the Ships GPS was manufactured after 1995. Older GPS's cannot communicate their position information to the transponder because their sentence structure is out of date.

Also please keep in mind that in the not too distant future all SOLAS ships will be required to carry a type approved Differential GPS (dGPS). The standards for type approval have recently been published but I am not yet aware of  carriage requirement schedule.

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