Tag: International Maritime Organization

UN agencies denounce GNSS interference
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), International Maritime Organization (IMO) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recently issued a joint statement urging “Protection of the Radio Navigation Satellite Service from Harmful Interference.”

All three organizations are United Nations agencies and have previously issued similar statements independently. This is the first time they have spoken on this in one voice.

In 2020, ICAO issued a letter to all member states urging them to “strengthen CNS systems resilience and mitigate interference to GNSS.” It contained 13 recommendations resulting from three different work streams within the organization. The last of the recommendations was “… to support the multi-disciplinary development of alternative positioning, navigation and timing (APNT) strategy and solutions to complement the use of GNSS in aviation in coordination with ICAO and airspace users.”

In 201, IMO issued a circular on deliberate GNSS interference.. It called on nations to prevent interfering transmissions coming from their territories, issue warnings about known interference, and consider taking actions to prevent unauthorized interfering transmissions.

ITU issued a circular on “Prevention of harmful interference to Radio Navigation Satellite Service Receivers in the 1559 – 1610 MHz frequency band” in 2022. It emphasized that, according to ITU Radio Regulations, “All stations are forbidden to carry out unnecessary transmissions, or the transmission of superfluous signals, or the transmission of false or misleading signals…”

This ITU circular urged nations to “address the critical issue” by:
- Reinforcing navigation systems’ resilience to interference.
- Increasing collaboration between radio regulatory and enforcement authorities.
- Reinforcing civil-military coordination to address interference risks associated with RNSS testing and conflict zones.
- Increase coordination between aviation, military and radio-regulatory authorities.
- Retain essential conventional navigation infrastructure for contingency support in case of RNSS outages and develop mitigation techniques for service loss.
A resolution by ITU’s 2023 World Radiocommunications Conference echoed similar themes. Still, it was criticized because its cautions and prohibitions came with the caveat, stating “…without prejudice to the right of administrations to deny access to the RNSS, for security or defense purposes.”

Many observers opined that there are few reasons for nations to interfere with GNSS other than security or defense concerns, which allows malicious actors to have carte blanche. Furthermore, it was suggested that the resolution might have included language to ensure that security and defense-related disruptions do not extend beyond a nation’s borders or similar provisions.

While no specific events are cited in the statement as motivating its publication, the death on Christmas Day of thirty-nine people aboard an Azerbaijan Airlines flight could have been the reason. The aircraft was approaching a Russian airport during an intentional interference event and was apparently misidentified by Russian forces. It was subsequently damaged by ground fire and crash-landed in Kazakhstan.

The recent joint statement cites, among other international agreements and actions, the ITU Constitution, which says, “All stations, whatever their purpose, must be established and operated in such a manner as not to cause harmful interference to the radio services or communications of other Member States.”

The joint statement concludes with:

Therefore, ITU, ICAO and IMO jointly and urgently call on their respective Member States to:
- Protect the RNSS from transmissions that can adversely cause harmful interference, degrading, interrupting, or misleading signals used for civilian and humanitarian purposes.
- Reinforce the resilience of the systems that rely on RNSS for navigation, positioning, and timing in relation to this type of interference.
- Retain sufficient conventional navigation infrastructure for contingency support in case of RNSS outages and misleading signals, and develop mitigation techniques for loss of services.
- Increase collaboration between radio regulatory, civil aviation, maritime, defense and enforcement authorities.
- Report cases of harmful interference affecting RNSS to the appropriate telecommunication, aeronautical, and maritime authorities and the ITU Radiocommunications Bureau to enable the monitoring of the situation.
The United Nations and its agencies are collaborative bodies that operate by consensus and through the cooperation of members. As such, they have no ability to enforce standards or compel compliance with recommendations.

Read the joint statement here.
March 26, 2025
Resilient PNT critical to maritime advancement
The ROSS project, conducted in France by companies Marlink and SeaOwl, demonstrated the feasibility of autonomous shipping. Orolia systems ensured resilient PNT. (Photo: Marlink)

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has issued a resolution for maritime cyber-risk management, effective January 2021. IMO Resolution MSC.428(98) affirms that maritime operators need to address cyber threats that risk the integrity and availability of technology systems.

GPS/GNSS signal jamming and spoofing expose the vulnerabilities of PNT-reliant systems. The single point of failure in the signals used to synchronize military operations or determine a vessel’s location leaves maritime systems open to attack. With resilient PNT, maritime and naval vessels can rely on trusted data.

Remote Operations at Sea. In September, Orolia participated in a Remotely Operated Service at Sea (ROSS) demonstration where an unmanned vessel was tele-operated from more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away.

With its SecureSync Interference Detection and Mitigation (IDM) suite, Orolia provided the project’s PNT cybersecurity package and delivered precise, reliable data for the control center to pilot the vessel from afar. The IDM suite includes GNSS threat detection and mitigation, as well as the option to include encrypted and alternative signals for use in GNSS-denied environments.

After this successful demonstration, SeaOwl Group, the company leading the ROSS project, obtained the first remotely operated vessel navigation license in France.

Diving Deep. Atomic clocks and oscillators are useful for underwater operations where RF signals are unavailable to provide accurate PNT data. Precision timing technologies, such as Orolia’s Spectratime mRO-50 oscillator, ensure stable timing for navigation systems through radar. They support missions such as:
- stabilizing and synchronizing sensor measurement data collection for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)
- providing holdover to maintain precise positioning on submarines during extended periods of GNSS signal denial
- generating precise frequencies with low phase noise and less burden on radio receiver architecture, such as search-and-rescue control centers
- operating with low power consumption and increasing the reliability of radio reception.
Resilient PNT is essential at sea, from military missions and commercial freight shipping to port management, search and rescue, research and fishing operations. Jamming and spoofing detection, threat mitigation, and alternative PNT sources configured in multiple layers of protection can ensure continuous operations, even in compromised environments. In shallow or deep-water environments, Orolia’s portfolio includes critical infrastructure support for naval command-and-control centers, essential GNSS vulnerability testing and services, and wearable solutions that fit in the palm of a hand.
November 9, 2020
Martek Marine launches COVID-19 tests for crew changes

New tests instituted to stop COVID-19 infection at crew change in response to new European Union and and International Maritime Organization (IMO) guidelines

The European Union and International Maritime Organization (IMO) have issued new guidelines requiring ship operators to implement pre-boarding screening of seafarers.

To assist ship operators comply with these important new guidelines and help protect their vessels from an outbreak of COVID-19, Martek Marine has launched the CoronaSafe finger prick antibody screening test.

From a single drop of blood, CoronaSafe will detect IgM antibodies within 5-7 days of infection. It is particularly useful for detecting infections among subjects who show no symptoms and would otherwise embark undetected.

A study into the COVID-19 outbreak on the cruise ship Diamond Princess estimated that 20.6%-39.9% of cases were asymptomatic, while a study published in the British Medical Journal concluded that up to four-fifths of cases are asymptomatic.

The CoronaSafe test is approved and certified by the European Union as meeting the safety, quality and performance requirements of Standard IVDD 98/79/EC — the highest standard applicable for these devices. It is also in wide-scale use by authorities and corporations in Japan, China, Germany, Poland and Indonesia, and is formally certified by CFDA, Philippines FDA and Singapore Health Sciences Authority.

“Screening crew before boarding is a critical step to prevent avoidable transmission from an asymptomatic crew member,” said Martek CEO Paul Luen. “It’s also an important diagnostic tool for re-screening after leaving or if someone shows symptoms. The effect of an outbreak on a ship could be catastrophic in both business and human terms.”

Major corporations worldwide are rushing to adopt these occupational screening tests to help control the spread of this deadly virus, with demand rising rapidly as the crisis deepens.

Martek, which has limited supply of the tests, are urging shipowners to act quickly to define their policy for crew screening, to maintain the health of their employees and ensure continuation of their shipping operations.

April 15, 2020
US Coast Guard protests GPS disruption to UN body: ‘urgent issue’

The International Maritime Organization headquarters in London. (Photo: Anastasia Yakovleva/iStock Editorial / Getty Images Plus/Getty Images)

Responding to a plea from 14 maritime organizations in the fall of 2019, the U.S. Coast Guard has protested disruption of GPS and GNSS signals to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

IMO is the United Nations body that coordinates and sets standards for international maritime operations and safety.

In a paper dated March 10, the service said that GNSS signals are “essential to safe and efficient navigation and an integral component of all maritime operations.” Interfering with them “jeopardizes the safety of life at sea.”

Deliberate disruptions in the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the paper says, affect vessels operating in international waters and engaged in innocent passage through territorial seas.

While nations typically have a right to do as they wish in their sovereign territory, they are also obliged to not have that intrude into other nations’ territory or international waters. This is also true for vessels passing through their waters but not calling at their ports, known as “innocent passage.”

The International Law of the Sea Treaty stipulates that, in the absence of some clear wrongdoing such as piracy, drug smuggling or discharging oil, vessels be allowed to pass through territorial seas unmolested by the coastal state.

The Coast Guard paper also points out that nations have other treaty obligations that prohibit this kind of activity. International Telecommunication Union Radio Regulations prohibits “All transmissions with false or misleading identification…”

Citing a March 2019 report in GPS World, the paper also documents that GNSS disruption is a global problem not confined to just one or two areas. A study by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) found interference during every phase of a vessel’s voyage between Europe and the Far East.

The Coast Guard paper was submitted for consideration at IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee that had been scheduled to meet on May 13, but has been postponed due to the COVID-19 emergency.

This planned consideration at IMO follows a resolution by the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in May 2019. In a paper entitled “An Urgent Need to Address Harmful Interferences to GNSS,” the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (IFATCA), the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) had introduced the issue.

This resulted in a resolution describing the eliminating interference as an urgent need.

About the same time the U.S .Coast Guard paper was due to be considered, IMO was to engage in the early stages of considering rules for autonomous vessels. Its Facilitation Committee was scheduled hold a “Regulatory scoping exercise for the use of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS)” at a meeting the end of April. This meeting has also been postponed.

While not specifically mentioned, navigation issues will undoubtedly be part of the considerations when discussion of rules for autonomous shipping eventually takes place.

Public input to these international meetings is always sought in advance. For example, the U.S. State Department had announced a meeting for April 6 to receive public input on U.S. positions for the various issues to be discussed at the Facilitation Committee.

While we understand that this meeting will also be also be postponed, comments can be submitted to the points of contact listed in the Federal Register announcement as well as be raised during the eventual meeting.

Image: IMO Headquarters Wikimedia Commons

March 26, 2020
UAVs monitor marine emissions, string powerlines

A couple of interesting drone applications came up this month — marine smoke emission monitoring and studies from a little known European drone manufacturer.

Monitoring marine emissions

Climate change: Some might say these are words we don’t really need to hear. Such a big to-do about how much human activity is affecting the weather changes that we are now seeing globally. Or is it all part of a natural cycle that the Earth is going through as many might say?

I don’t really want to get into that argument, but it would seem useful that someone is doing something to reduce the use of dirty fuels by ships. After all, we seemed to readily acquiesce to unleaded fuel for our vehicles without a lot of protest; why would we accept this as the norm when marine transport still uses dirty bunker fuel, belching out a significant amount of pollution?

If it’s good for people and their cars, and we quite possibly incurred some costs getting there, why not stick it on the marine industry too?

So that’s what the International Maritime Organization (IMO) did in January this year, reducing the allowable sulphur content in marine fuel from 3.5 to 0.5%. Enforced under the international convention for the prevention of pollution from ships, this is aimed at cutting sulphur oxide emissions from ships by 77%, equivalent to a reduction of about 8.5 million metric tons annually.

That’s the tricky bit – enforcement. Ships spend most of their time miles away from land, so knowing what their smoke emissions contain is somewhat difficult. Now (this is where I manage to tie things back to what I’m supposed to be reporting on) its useful that Schiebel, along with its partner operator Nordic Unmanned, thought about enforcement of the new regulations.

Schiebel Camcopter S-100. (Photo: Schiebel)

With a range of up to 200 kilometers (~125 miles) the Camcopter S-100 can get out to the shipping lanes to check on what’s coming out of the smokestacks. Equipped with an automatic identification system (AIS), a sulphur sniffing sensor and an L3 Harris Wescam MX-10 real-time electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) camera, the “enforcement drone” can determine which ship it’s flying over, what the smoke plume sulphur content might be, and even take geo-coded pictures to show in which jurisdiction the ship is sailing. If necessary, it can even take pictures of who’s throwing what at the overflying UAV.

In recent tests, the Camcopter flew out of Gniben, Denmark, where European regulations on emissions applied, and marine exhaust fumes are limited to contain no more than 0.1 percent sulphur oxide. The Camcopter S-100 performed two 4- hour flights and provided real-time readings of the sulphur level in ships’ exhaust plumes.

With these successful tests in the bag, Nordic Unmanned has indicated its capabilities to worldwide maritime authorities that they are ready and able to help enforce the new IMO regulations.

European-built multi-rotor drone

Acecore Technologies in the Netherlands makes multi-rotor drones which have found some unique applications:

The NEO 8-rotor UAV. (Photo: Acecore)

Stringing power-lines using NEO (SPIE website)

In order to extend power transmission line capacity, the approach used is often to first pull a lead cable. This normally involves several power company personnel and a whole bunch of specialized equipment.

However, in a first-of-its-kind test, SPIE Nederland used an Acecore NEO drone to pull a lead cable over 150 meters between high-voltage pylons.

Equipped with suitable cameras and other sensors, Acecore drones have also been used for power-line and gas-plant thermal inspection, movie making (including Game of Thrones), live broadcasts, autonomous aerial surveying, and tethered security applications. They also make crop health monitoring possible.

Designed with durability in mind, Acecore drones are weather-proof, built with strong carbon-fiber frames, have triple redundant autopilots, and are ADS-B-ready to broadcast GPS position to support sense-and-avoid capability.

Acecore is also promoting the fact that its drones and controllers are manufactured entirely with European parts. In other words, they would like to grab a chunk of DJI’s huge market share by jumping on an apparent global move to switch over from Chinese sourced goods and equipment.

So, drones are taking on environmental monitoring. They’re reducing the environmental impact of transmission-line build-out. And they’re moving toward building drones locally — all are interesting new applications of unmanned aircraft systems.

Tony Murfin
GNSS Aerospace

March 18, 2020