AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM — FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

A very compact yet very informative and useful publication providing, as it should be quite clear from its title, the answers to the most commonly asked questions with relation to the AIS, standing for the auto-identification systems installed on board sea-going (and not only, in fact) ships.

Among the topics covered within this volume there are what exactly the AIS system is and difference between the A and B classes of equipment, installation matters, i.e. what the ship masters shall be aware of and how they will know if their AIS units work properly, calibration issues and setting-up of the equipment, required training on the usage of the system, operational matters, including comparison f the AIS to marine radar, treating AIS as a supplement to the information obtained from the radar, limitations imposed, checking the accuracy of the information, sending the letters, information display, connection of the GNSS and gyro-compasses to the AIS, contribution of the AIS information to the collision prevention, storage of the information, integration matters and prevention of the potential inappropriate use, applicable regulatory requirements, fitting of the AIS equipment, operation and messaging, length of the messages, integrity and security of the data obtained from AIS, other uses of the system, list of references.