E-navigation has been enhanced with new features added to ECDIS and satellite-derived bathymetry data added to a chart overlay service
Raytheon Anschütz has released a range of new features for ECDIS to enable tactical operations and collaboration. Among the key features is IMO’s IAMSAR Manual Volume III supporting search and rescue operations with multiple search patterns.
Raytheon also added GeoObjectEvents to ECDIS, helping offshore and fishery control vessels to monitor specified sea areas, which could also be used for Marpol Annex VI emission control area surveillance.
Another feature is target intercept, to calculate a course to steer to reach a target at a given speed in the shortest possible time, mainly used by marine pilots. Also, the Outhouse feature was added to define a fixed common reference position for a helicopter and its landing platform, which can be used on offshore vessels or megayachts.
These features are available as software options for any existing Raytheon ECDIS NX installations.
ECDIS NX is a fully compliant IMO ECDIS software application with an intuitive user interface. It already includes features for route planning, voyage management and route monitoring.
ChartWorld has improved the accuracy of electronic navigational charts (ENCs) by using multi-spectral satellite imagery to detect thousands of underwater objects.
These are added to its existing bathymetry data in ENCs to highlight more hidden shoals and navigation hazards to mariners. Satellite information improves the accuracy of depth data in areas where bathymetry surveys are infrequent or low resolution.
ChartWorld expects this additional information to reduce ship groundings and enable more of these sea areas to be used for ship navigation.
During a pilot project, it used Earth Observations and Environmental Services (EOMAP) to survey an area in southeast Asia. EOMAP detected 4,724 shoals. It also found 381 isolated dangers, of which only 92 could be matched on existing ENCs.
ChartWorld offers this information as part of its StayAway Service as it is integrated into the CIO+ chart information overlay which shows the real extent of underwater features, rather than showing them as points in ECDIS data.
StayAway can be implemented for route planning and for ECDIS-alert functions, showing points to be avoided. It is available in the Caribbean and southeast Asia. This will be extended into the South Pacific and other regions in the future.
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