The Improving Rescue - how satellites are making the oceans safer

by Sail-World Cruising on 15 Feb 2010 While you wouldn't want to go to sea envisaging having to be rescued, satellite AIS data is becoming more and more crucial in the safety of yachts at sea, as the new satellite technology is more and more used to source additional potential rescuers.

In a recent report to the International Maritime Organization’s Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications and Search and Rescue (COMSAR), the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) highlighted the use of ORBCOMM’s satellite AIS data by Australia’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Australia) to execute a search and rescue in August 2009.

ORBCOMM Inc. is a global satellite data communications company focused on two-way Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and leading provider of space-based Automatic Identification System (AIS) services, and their AIS data was used to help rescue two yachters in distress and in detecting low power search and rescue transponders from space.

The report explains that ORBCOMM’s satellite AIS data was used to 'identify a merchant ship not otherwise known to RCC Australia'. The AIS data was then used to direct the ship to the scene of a yacht in distress off the northern Australia coast, where two people were rescued.

ORBCOMM’s satellite AIS data, which was easily incorporated into AMSA’s commercial AIS display tools and Australia’s in-house maritime domain awareness tools, 'appeared identical to terrestrial data, with the ‘time from last update’, ranging from two seconds to over nine minutes. When an AIS satellite was over a region where an ORBCOMM ground station had satellite visibility, the AIS traffic had latency in the order of seconds.'

As part of a recent test, ORBCOMM’s satellite AIS data successfully detected one-watt search and rescue transponders from space, which were meant to simulate a life raft and a person in the water. This task was conducted by participants from the U.S. Coast Guard, the UK’s Northern Lighthouse Board, Germany’s Waterways and Shipping Administration, and the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) on January 20 and January 21, 2010, off the coast of Hawaii.

'We are pleased that ORBCOMM’s satellite AIS technology is being applied to maritime safety applications, both live and simulated. It clearly demonstrates the usefulness of space-based AIS technology in conducting search and rescue operations,' said Marc Eisenberg, Chief Executive Officer of ORBCOMM.

'We are proud that ORBCOMM’s satellite AIS receivers were able to collect messages from the low wattage search and rescue transponders. The fact that our satellite AIS capability is saving lives is a testament to the reliability of our satellite AIS technology and can significantly benefit SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) in the future.'

For more information about ORBCOMM, visit their www.orbcomm.com!website.