Fugawi Marine ENC Ver. 4 with AIS vessel overlay. >>Click to enlarge

• Supports Class A and Class B AIS messages
• Calculates CPA and TCPA
• Graphically displays vessels in Collision Danger in Bold
• User option to perform Dead Reckoning of AIS vessels between AIS updates
• Uses vessel Rate of Turn to plot curved course prediction path
• Vessels drawn to scale

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AIS Data Display >>Click to enlarge

AIS Features in Fugawi Marine ENC

Data Display
As the AIS messages are received, Fugawi Marine ENC will populate the AIS table and plot the AIS vessels on the open chart or map.

The AIS table displays detail about every AIS vessel being received. You can sort any column by clicking on the column header. Click on any entry to center the map on the selected AIS vessel.

The following information is presented (assuming data are being transmitted by the AIS equipped vessel):

• Vessel Name
• AIS Class: - A or B
• MMSI # - A unique Maritime Mobile Service Identity
• Vessel Type
• CPA - The Closest Point of Approach (CPA) calculation is performed if Fugawi is receiving your position from your GPS receiver. CPA is the distance you will be from an AIS vessel when you are nearest to it. The calculation is based on the current position, course and speed of your boat and each AIS vessel at the time of the last message.
• TCPA - The Time to Closest Point of Approach (TCPA) calculation is performed if Fugawi is receiving your position from your GPS receiver. TCPA is the time (in minutes from now) at which your distance to the AIS vessel will be closest. The calculation is based on the current position, course and speed of your boat and the AIS vessel at the time of the last message. The TCPA will change when either vessel's course and speed are altered.
• Range to Vessel - Displays the current distance between your GPS position and the AIS vessel at the time of the last message.
• Bearing to Vessel - Displays the current bearing from your GPS position to the AIS vessel at the time of the last message.
• Speed of Vessel - Displays the current speed of the AIS vessel at the time of the last message.
• Heading of Vessel - Displays the current Heading of the AIS vessel at the time of the last message. The heading is only completed if the AIS vessel has a heading indicator (such as a gyro compass) connected to the AIS transmitter. Heading is not derived from the change in the AIS vessel GPS location, which yields only a course over ground. For example, the bow of the boat might be pointed east (heading) while the boat is traveling north-east (course over ground).
• COG of Vessel - Displays the current Course Over Ground (COG) of the AIS vessel at the time of the last message. The COG may be different from the heading due to currents, vessel thrusters, steering lag, wind, etc.
• Rate of Turn of Vessel - Displays the current Rate of Turn (ROT) in degrees per minute of the AIS vessel at the time of the last message.
• Call Sign - The call sign of the vessel as entered into the AIS system by the navigator.
• Length - The length of the vessel in meters as entered into the AIS system by the navigator.
• Beam - The width of the vessel in meters as entered into the AIS system by the navigator.
• Draught - The draught of the vessel in meters as entered into the AIS system by the navigator.
• Destination - The destination of the vessel as entered into the AIS system by the navigator
• IMON - International Maritime Organization Number of the vessel as entered into the AIS system by the navigator.
• ETA - The Estimated Time of Arrival of the AIS vessel. This is a date in the format MM/DD/hh:mm, according to the AIS standard. However some vessels incorrectly input their ETA date as DD/MM/hh.mm.
• Last Msg Age - Elapsed time since the last AIS message was received from the AIS vessel.
• Nav Status: The navigational status of the vessel as entered into the AIS system by the navigator

Target Display

• Vessel Colors - The AIS vessels on the screen are color coded based on whether they are underway, stationary, lost signal or in possible danger of collision with your vessel. The colors are user definable. The defaults are as follows:
  
  Collision Danger = Red with bold outline (TCPA <= 30 minutes, CPA <= 1/2 mile)
  
  
  
  Vessels marked as collision danger also have the CPA and TCPA printed and an audible alarm may be invoked
  
  
  Underway = Green (speed > 1 Knot, AIS update received during past 5 minutes)
  
  Stationary = Yellow (speed < 1 Knot, AIS update received during past 5 minutes)
  
  Lost signal = Orange with cross through it (AIS update not received during past 5 minutes)
  
  
• Vessel Outline - The outline of the AIS vessel is drawn to scale if: the length and beam are received, and the length is greater than the length of isosceles triangle at the map scale. AIS Vessels in collision danger are outlined in bold.
  
• Vessel Labels - AIS vessel names are labeled when the map is sufficiently zoomed in. Class A or B type of AIS system is places in brackets after the AIS vessel name. AIS vessels in collision danger also have TCPA and CPA in the label. Label settings are user definable
  
• Vessel History - AIS vessel history is drawn as a dot at each AIS location received, with line segments joining the dots. The display of lines and dots and how many historical positions to display are user definable.
  
• Vessel Heading - The AIS vessel heading is displayed as a solid line only if heading is being received in the AIS sentence (from ship gyro compass). The heading is displayed as a line emanating from the bow of the ship. The length of the heading line is not related to vessel speed.
  
• Vessel Rate of Turn - If Rate of Turn is being received for an AIS vessel, a "barb" is added to the end of the heading vector, at right angles and pointing in the direction of turn.
  
• Vessel Course Over Ground (COG) - COG is calculated from the delta of previous GPS locations and is displayed as a dashed line. If the length and width of the AIS vessel are being received, the COG vector emanates from the location of the GPS sensor on the vessel. If the length and width of the AIS vessel are not being received, the COG emanates from the bow of the ship. The length of the COG vector is determined by the user. If Rate of Turn is being received, the COG vector becomes a curved path, which is calculated from COG, Rate of Turn and Time.
  
  
  
  
• Dead Reckoning - The user can choose to apply dead reckoning to the AIS vessels. Dead reckoning will move each AIS vessel between AIS messages according to its last known point, COG and Rate of Turn (if any). See the AIS General tab for more details.
  
• Filter out Class B - If the screen is too crowded with AIS targets, Class B vessels may be filtered out.

A note about using your vessel postion from AIS instead of a conventional GPS:

Fugawi Marine ENC now allows you to read your vessel position from a connected AIS receiver. To enable this, check GPS|Settings|Use location information from AIS.

Some AIS receivers output NMEA RMC messages and/or the VMO (own vessel) messages. These can be used to provide the position, speed and heading for your vessel.

If you use the AIS for your position, you may not have any satellite constellation data, which is ordinarily helpful in confirming the quality of the GPS fix. Altitude may also be missing. The problem is that the VDO (own vessel) message does not contain satellite information, time or altitude. Also, the RMC sentence alone does not have altitude or satellite info.

If you enable Use location information from AIS and you also have a conventional GPS receiver attached to Fugawi or are receiving another GPS position via NMEA, then this position will also be used by Fugawi. If there is a discrepancy between the two positions, you may see the GPS icon jumping between these two (or more) locations which indicates a problem with the position calculation from one or more of the instruments.

Here is a list of AIS receivers surveyed as of November 2009, and which vessel position messages they output:

• RAYMARINE Model: AIS500 Class B
  Puts out full complement of NMEA, including enough to provide satellite data, time and altitude
• SIMRAD Model: AI50 Class B
  VDM, VDO, RMC No satellite data or altitude
• ACR Model: Nauticast B AIS
  VDM, VDO, ACA, ACS, ALR, TXT, ACK No satellite data, time or altitude
• COMAR Model CSB200 Class B
  VDM, VDO, ACA, ACS, ALR, RMC, ALM No Satellite data or altitude
• COMAR Model: SLR200 Receiver
  Only VDM No satellite data, altitude or time
• COMAR Model: SLR200G
  RMC, GLL, GGA, GSA, GSV,DTm,VTG,ZDA All data
• FURUNO Model: FA-150 Class A
• VDM, VDO, ABK, ACA, ALR, TXT No satellite data, altitude or time
• FURUNO Model FA 30 Receiver
  VDM, VDO, ABK, ACA, ALR, ACS, TXT, PFEC No satellite data, altitude or time
• FURUNO Model FA50 Class B
  VDM, VDO, ABK, ACA, ALR, ACS, TXT, PFEC No satellite data, altitude or time