How Is the AIS Effective In Coast Guard Operation - Case Study Example

How Is the AIS (Automatic Identification System) Effective In Coast Guard Operation? Introduction Technology has changed the dimension of trade in today’s business world. Seas are being used for trading purposes for a very long time. With the advent of technology trade through seas have become a lot easier. Faster ships can transport goods very quickly from one part of the world to another. But at the same time increasing number of ships has also increased the number of ship collision. Illegal activity is also one major issue associated with sea trade as movement of illegal items is also carried out through seas. All this in addition to the vast area covered by seas makes it all most impossible to physically monitor oceans. Automatic Identification System or more commonly known as AIS helps maritime law enforcement agencies and traffic controllers to locate and identify vessels. This identification helps traffic controllers to know the whereabouts of the ship. Automatic Identification System is actually a tracking system that is placed on the ships and it transmits its location to other ships and sea traffic controllers. This system is a life saver for coast guards and navy as it helps them locate ships within their border. Automatic Identification System is compulsory for all passenger ships and cargo ships, with some exceptions. How does AIS work? Automatic Identification System works like a very high frequency broadcasting system and sends data to sea controllers and other ships. This data can be displayed on a computer screen so it is very easy to identify the location of the vessel. Automatic Identification System does not only give information regarding the location of the ship but also informs about the speed and other information about the ships. Automatic identification system actually transmits information to vessel controllers and to other ships, which have AIS, about their speed and location. All this information is collected from different navigational instruments. The location of the ship and the speed is sent to AIS and it then broadcasts this information to other ships and controllers. The other information regarding the ship includes the status of the ship and call sign. This information helps vessel traffic controllers identify whether the ships are passenger, cargo or naval ships. This information is programmed in the system of the ship and automatic identification system retrieves this information through this system of the ship. Every automatic identification system consists of a very high frequency transmitter, two very high frequency TDMA (time division multiple access) receivers, one very high frequency DSC (digital selective calling) and normal marine communications system (Nav Software, 2010). Transmitters are used to send data to vessel traffic controller and other ships, while receivers are responsible for receiving data from other ships. Standard communications devices are used for normal voice communication to other ships and traffic controllers. Automatic identification system actually allows traffic controllers and ships to know 24 hours about the movement of ships within a certain limit around them. Voice communication cannot be 24 hours and is based on human judgment so it can be flawed. Automatic identification system uses electronic data which it receives through very high frequency transmitters so this data is accurate and reliable. The working of automatic identification system is continuous and autonomous, and this does not change whether AIS is used in open seas or in coastal regions (Nav Software, 2010). Transmission is done through two radio channels so that there is not break up of signals and signals are passed to other ships and vessel traffic controllers easily and effectively. Automatic identification system also uses the data it gets from other ships and presents it in a graphical or a chart manner (Comar Systems, 2010). This helps the captain of the ships to know exactly about the locations of the ships near his boat. Very high frequency signals of AIS are not disrupted by mountains or islands so this provides the system an added advantage over radar. There are two major types of automatic identification systems, class A and class B. The difference between the two is in the power of transmitters, communication patterns or scheme and in frequency range (Shine Micro, 2010). Both of these types are commonly used and use of class A or B depends upon on the size and purpose of the vessel. Benefits of AIS The benefit of the automatic identification system is immense to ships, vessel traffic controllers and coast guards. Travelling through seas has become a lot easier and safer as a result of this technology. A ship’s captain does not have to worry about collision with other ships. Although radar has also made sea travel safer, but AIS has taken this safety to a whole new level. It is not just the collision avoidance that automatic identification system offers but a whole range of benefits that supersedes this technology over radars. The benefits of automatic identification system are discussed below. The first important benefit of automatic identification system is that it avoids collision of ships. Because of this system, in day and in night, crew of the ship needs not to worry about colliding with other ships. Radar gives some benefit but the data it receives and displays is not as sharp as that is displayed by automatic identification system. It also complements the images shown by radar system. There is a significant risk of vessel collision because in storms and in night visibility is seriously compromised. In such a situation automatic identification system is surely as life saver. Automatic identification system gives details about the current location of the ship. This can help the rescue workers in the rescue of the vessel if it is traps in a storm or has some other kind of damage. Seas are so vast that it is almost impossible to track ships physically and smaller ships cannot be watched even from helicopters. This is where AIS helps. It provides accurate location to nearby ships and to vessel traffic controllers so help can be provided immediately. The status of the ship also informs about the type of the ship whether cargo or passenger. This information also proves greatly helpful in the planning of the rescue attempt. If a ship is carrying passengers then helicopter rescue may not be feasible and then other authorities are informed. This is a great benefit of automatic identification system. Another advantage of automatic identification system is that ships, which have AIS, are constantly seen by other ships and also constantly knows about other ships around them (SRT, 2009). This can have many advantages. One can easily see whether the ship is on track or not and whether everything is going as planned or not. It also guides ships to their destination by providing the shortest route. The only traffic in seas is other ships and automatic identification system identifies other ships so in this way it aids in navigation as well. Illegal trade can also be controlled, to a certain extent, through automatic identification system. Ships are given status and through these statuses they can be identified and raided. For example a passenger ship should not have cargo and a cargo ship should not have passengers. And if either is the case then navy or coast guards can arrest the crew of the vessel. It in a way narrow’s down the list of ships to be raided too. Cargo ships can be checked in order to find whether something is being traded illegally or not. This can help a lot for law enforcement agencies as they can selectively target vessels and search them for illegal items. The data presented by automatic identification system is also very easy to read. It is important because sometimes there is so much traffic that it is very hard to focus on some vessels (Ellison, B. 2009). The graphical presentation of data is user friendly and this is also a great benefit of automatic identification system. Disadvantages of Automatic Identification System Although AIS is very beneficial the system has some disadvantages as well. These disadvantages cannot undermine the benefits of the system in anyway but one cannot ignore the weaknesses of the system. Technology has provided solutions to everyone and that includes all kind of people. Ships and vessels can make use of technology but the same technology can also be used by criminals and drug mafia for their benefit. This cannot become the reason of abandoning this technology but potential cons of the system must be understood in order to improve AIS. The data given by automatic identification system is easily available to people all over the internet and this provides pirates and other criminal groups an opportunity to target selectively (Backwell, 2010). The information of automatic identification system is shown on many sites and this is how criminals access and use this technology to their advantage. The status of the ships tells the pirates about the cargo on the ships and they then target specific ships. Location of vessels is also given by automatic identification system so pirates can strike accurately at their targets. The reason this is a disadvantage is that it has increased the risk of pirate attacks and seriously put safety of the ships in jeopardy. Cargo ships are now attacked more and pirates choose to attack ships when they are in an area that is far from shore and in areas where help cannot reach ships in time (Osler, D. 2010). This situation is very bad and automatic identification has aided pirates in this regard. The data is presented by different websites and the whole world can observe the movement of ships. The safety of all ships having AIS has been compromised because of this. AIS also help drug traffickers by providing them information about navy ships and coast guard vessels nearby. This can be very beneficial for drug smugglers as they immediately know if coast guards and navy is coming towards them. They either run away or get rid of the drugs and save themselves. Automatic identification system tells them about the ships near them and they get immediate information regarding presence of any law enforcement agency. This is also a big problem of automatic identification system as it has helped not only pirates but smugglers too in hiding their illicit activities. Another potential disadvantage of automatic identification system is that the information that it displays may be less reliable then information presented by radar system. This is because the information AIS collects is displayed after a delay and this questions the accuracy of the system (Ramsvik, H. 2010). Automatic identification system is helpful because it provides location of other ships to the captain. But if this information is delayed then captain may get wrong information regarding the location of ships around him. This problem has been seen with automatic identification system and although a little delay is not a very big problem, it surely is something experts should look into. Another major disadvantage of the AIS is that it only displays ships that have AIS. This is a huge drawback as small ships, marine fishers and small passenger boats which do not have AIS are not shown by automatic identification system (Starzinger, E. 2010). Because of this limitation AIS does not provide total security from collision. Any small ship can collide with a vessel that has automatic identification system and this can cause great damage to the vessel. This is an area in which AIS lags behind. The functioning of automatic identification system is also very complex and is dependent upon the maintenance of the system. As mentioned before AIS catches signals from other ships so for accurate functioning it requires that the automatic identification system of the other ship be in a working condition. If this is not the case then the AIS of the ship will not detect the other ship and this can be a problem. This is a major disadvantage as working of the automatic identification system is dependent on other ships. Many small ships are not very well maintained and this technology is also not kept up to date. This is a serious drawback of automatic identification system. Benefits of Automatic Identification System to Coast Guards Regardless of the limitations and disadvantages of the system, AIS is very beneficial to coast guards. It helps coast guards in many ways as they can identify the ships in a particular area. The technology is aiding coast guards by pin pointing the location of ships and this can mean a lot to them. AIS also provide the speed of the ships and this can also be very helpful for coast guards. The purpose of coast guards is the surveillance of seas. They are responsible for rescue operations and they also control illegal trade of drugs and other items. Automatic identification system helps coast guards in achieving all of these purposes. Automatic identification system aids coast guards in identifying ships that are in danger. Coast guards are the first people who receive rescue calls from vessels who are in storm or have any accident. Coast guards react immediately and go aid these vessels. In this process automatic identification is a big help because it provides the exact location of the vessel. Coast guards through this technology are able to dispatch the most able and closest unit to the location for the rescue. They don’t have to wait for helicopter confirmation and can immediately take decision and reach vessels in time. Time is always valuable in rescue operations and automatic identification system reduces the reaction time to the minimum. When ships are in trouble they usually contact vessel traffic controllers or nearby ships. Traffic controllers then inform coast guards regarding the problem and provide them exact location of the boat and in this way the whole rescue process is smooth. Coast guards are able to operate much better when using automatic identification technology. Another important responsibility of coast guards is to control the criminal activities and illegal trade through seas. Automatic identification system helps coast guard in this regard. AIS is a compulsory for most of the ships now so if a ship is found without an AIS then coast guards can check it. It helps them in the process of screening of vessels. It is true that automatic identification system may not help greatly in stopping drug smuggling through seas as no smuggler will provide his details on AIS but it can prove useful in raiding ships and checking them for illegal items. Coast guards can also help in securing the high value cargo ships from pirates as these ships have AIS they transmit signals and coast guards can keep an eye on them (Anderson, J. 2010). Coast guards can monitor their movement and if observed that these ships are not on their regular path might take quick action. This is one big advantage of automatic identification system that it has made beefed up maritime security. Many times ships which observe other vessels in danger call coast guards for help. This is another advantage of automatic identification system that it is not necessary for coast guards to themselves look for troubled vessels. Other ships having AIS on board can help coast guard in identifying ships that are in danger. This has certainly aided coast guards and is one of the biggest advantages of AIS. It has made a communication channel between all vessels that have AIS on board. They all can see each other and can communicate with each other easily and swiftly. Is AIS any Good for Coast Guards? The answer to this question can be given only after a careful cost benefit analysis of the system. The above text includes great benefits of automatic identification system. But there are some serious limitations and drawbacks of AIS which cannot be ignored. If we are to maintain that automatic identification system is really helpful to coast guards then its benefits must outweigh the drawbacks. If this is the case then we can safely conclude that AIS is a system which is really helpful for coast guards. Automatic identification system helps coast guards in rescue operations and this is one big advantage. Radars are not helpful in all cases and AIS provides exact location of vessels accompanied by other information like status and speed. But on the other hand the information is also available to everyone and this can be a problem in controlling drug smuggling. Smugglers can easily identify coast guards and can flea. Also pirates can attack selectively and can target vessels carrying precious cargo. So there are two sides to the automatic identification system. We have to understand that the whole purpose of AIS is to make maritime security better and this is achieved in many ways. And if we conduct a cost benefit analysis then AIS helps coast guards more then it harms them. The system is not a perfect technology and people will take time to fully understand automatic identification system but just because it has a few drawbacks, we cannot question its benefit to coast guards. The use of technology can always be done in good and in bad ways so just because some people are using this technology in negative way we cannot abandon the use of automatic identification system. It helps coast guards save valuable lives and help them navigate and monitor seas in a better manner. This is more than enough justification for using automatic identification system for coast guards. Conclusion Automatic identification system is a valuable addition to ships and vessels. This technology has improved the level of maritime security. It saves ships from collisions and is very useful in rescue operations of coast guards. It also helps coast guard selectively raid vessels for illegal items. There are certain disadvantages of the technology as well. The information given by AIS is presented on internet and this helps criminals and pirates. Also AIS will only show ships that have AIS on board. But regardless of these limitations it is very useful and has greatly helped coast guards in their operations. Bibliography Anderson, Jane. 2010. Marine AIS Class A Transponders Required for Commercial Ships. Suite 101. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November 2010] Backwell, George. 2010. AIS (Automatic Identification System) – Maritime Security Risk? Suite 101. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November 2010] Comar Systems, 2010. Automatic Identification System. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November 2010] Ellison, Ben. 2009. Class B AIS Benefits. Yachting Magazine. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November 2010] Nav Software, 2010. How AIS works? [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November 2010] Osler, David. 2010. Somali pirates use swarming tactics. Lloyd’s List. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November 2010] Ramsvik, Hans. 2010. AIS as a tool for Safety of Navigation and Security - Improvement or not? Nautinst Organization. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November 2010] Shine Micro, 2010. AIS Overview. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November 2010] SRT Marine, 2009. AIS Explained. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November 2010] Starzinger, Evans. 2010. AIS Overview. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 10 November 2010] Read More