The agreement ensures Europe’s satellite-based augmentation continues enhancing navigation for aviation and other critical users and lowering emissions.
SES, a space solutions company, and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) have announced an extension of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) GEO-1 satellite service agreement through 2030, with an option to extend until 2032, helping maintain high-precision navigation services for aviation and other critical users across Europe.
By improving the accuracy and integrity of satellite positioning signals, EGNOS supports aircraft in landing in low-visibility conditions, as well as planning more efficient routes, reducing fuel burn and CO₂ emissions.
At the core of the EGNOS service is Europe’s regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) that improves the accuracy and reliability of GNSS signals, such as GPS. Beyond aviation, EGNOS supports maritime navigation and precision-driven agriculture, contributing to efficient operations and sustainability by reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
Under the extended GEO-1 contract, SES will continue operating an EGNOS-hosted payload on its SES-5 satellite, as well as the ground segment from its facilities in Europe.
“This extension ensures a robust EGNOS space segment, ready for the transition towards its next version and the development of new services, while safeguarding high-precision navigation for aviation and other critical users across Europe,” said Rodrigo da Costa, EUSPA executive director.
“EGNOS is a cornerstone of Europe’s aviation and broader navigation applications. The agreement underscores SES’ and EUSPA’s joint commitment to advancing satellite-based services that enable secure, reliable, and sustainable navigation solutions,” said Philippe Glaesener, senior vice president, Global Government at SES. “Thanks to the service, millions of users and operators will benefit from efficient and more reliable air transportation services across all of Europe. This commitment reflects our broader mission of delivering resilient satellite solutions for critical infrastructures.”
The Coastal States of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea have published an open letter to the international maritime community insisting on the protection of GNSS-based navigtion. The countries point the finger squarely at the Russian Federation for causing disruption in both critical navigation and timing services for sea vessels.
“Modern maritime transport is fundamentally built on the reliability of satellite-based navigation,” reads the letter. “For over three decades, global shipping has advanced by developing vessel operations to increasingly depend on the position, timing and navigation data provided by satellite systems. This shift has brought great efficiency but has also created a new dependency.
The letter highlights the importance of GNSS as a critical safety requirement, not only ship navigation but also precise time synchronization vital for systems such as the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS).
Risks to the Automatic Identification System
Another GNSS service, the Automatic Identification System (AIS), plays a key role in traffic coordination, situational awareness and emergency response. “Spoofing or falsifying AIS data undermines maritime safety and security, increases the risk of accidents, and severely hampers rescue operations,” the letter states.
“We are now facing new emerging safety situations due to growing GNSS interference in European waters, particularly in the Baltic Sea region. These disturbances, originating from the Russian Federation, degrade the safety of international shipping. All vessels are at risk.”
The countries ask for cooperation developing alternative terrestrial radionavigation systems as a GNSS backup. They also want vessels crews properly trained to operate safely during navigation system outages.
“Maintaining trust in maritime navigation requires more than technology – it demands responsibility, transparency, and decisive action,” the letter states. “We must ensure that our seas remain safe, including when systems fail or face disturbances.”
Greece now has its own internet of things (IoT) nano satellite in space, the MICE-1 (Maritime Identification and Communications systEm). MICE-1 was launched Nov. 28 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, as part of the Transporter-15 mission by SpaceX.
MICE-1 is the first Greek nanosatellite specifically designed for maritime and IoT communication applications. Developed at the Prisma Electronics facilities in Alexandroupolis, it aims to bring Greek shipping — and critical operational infrastructures in natural disaster scenarios — closer to the capabilities of space.
MICE-1 will collect and process shipping and environmental data in real time using artificial intelligence and advanced encryption techniques to ensure secure data transmission and analysis. It also paves the way for Greece’s presence in the field of space applications.
With real-time data collection and secure, two-way communication, MICE-1 contributes to reducing environmental footprint and promoting green technologies in shipping.
MICE-1 is a 3U CubeSat nanosatellite equipped with an AIS receiver to record, identify and track ship signals, as well as an S-band IoT communication system. The satellite’s objective is to establish direct communication with ships equipped with LAROS technology — Prisma Electronics’ innovative platform that facilitates the operational monitoring and optimisation of ocean-going vessels.
MICE-1 enables LAROS to leverage the capabilities of space, providing new tools for sustainable and efficient shipping. The company will also use the nanosatellite to optimize and evaluate the artificial intelligence algorithms it has developed, with the aim of assessing functionality impairment, predicting behaviour and managing telemetry in line with high cybersecurity standards.
A team of specialized engineers from Prisma Electronics participated in development of the nanosatellite in close collaboration with the European Space Agency. Operation of the main ground station was supported in collaboration with Democritus University of Thrace.
To meet the requirements of the mission, Prisma Electronics collaborated with international partners in the space sector, including SpaceX, Exolaunch, EnduroSat and IC-Space.
Prisma Electronics is already planning the next phase: the development of a comprehensive satellite IoT network for use in shipping, environmental monitoring and civil protection. The MICE-1 mission demonstrates that Greece is not just observing international space developments, but actively contributing to shaping them.
Carried out under the supervision of the European Space Agency (ESA), the mission is part of the Ministry of Digital Governance’s national IOD/IOV CubeSat nanosatellite programme, which forms part of the Greece 2.0 initiative. This programme is funded by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) hosted the UK’s first cross-government geodesy, positioning, navigation and timing working group in October. Representatives from 19 government bodies shared insight on the risks, opportunities and interdependencies linked to PNT systems, including GNSS.
On Nov. 19, the UK announced a £155M investment in PNT. The working group will continue to support collaboration and exchange knowledge as further resilience actions progress, according to the UKHO.
GNSS supports critical activities across the UK economy. It provides accurate location and timing for communications, maritime and aviation safety, and the smooth running of power and financial networks. As threats to space-based systems grow, improving national resilience is increasingly important.
“The UKHO’s expertise in geodesy plays a key role in helping the UK understand and protect PNT services. Our specialists provide trusted positioning and timing advice across defense and civil programs, including supporting the safety of navigation in UK waters,” the agency said.
“It is fantastic to hear that the work with eLoran, GNSS Interference Monitoring Programme, Space Based Time Transfer and the National Timing Centre have received ongoing funding,” said Joe Pearce, senior geodesy and PNT specialist, UKHO. “This funding will assist both our data collection and the mariner. It will protect and assist future geodesy and PNT, improving resilience as these systems come increasingly under threat.”
Marine navigation company Savvy Navvy introduces a new NMEA Connect feature that seamlessly integrates NMEA-enabled boat instruments with the app, providing real-time data and enhanced AIS visibility.
Working with award-winning Actisense, recognized globally for their NMEA interconnectivity specialty, Savvy Navvy’s new NMEA Connect feature enables boaters to view real-time data including wind, depth, engine RPMs, speed through water, heading and more in the app.
By combining onboard and over-the-horizon AIS, NMEA Connect delivers a complete view of nearby vessels for safer, smarter navigation. Through NMEA Connect, boaters can now access their boat’s instruments and Savvy Navvy’s smart routing technology from their pocket, eliminating the need to switch between multiple screens or devices.
“Boaters increasingly seek apps that simplify navigation and enhance onboard intelligence. NMEA Connect combines the proven reliability of NMEA technology with Savvy Navvy’s smart routing capabilities, giving boaters everything they need in one place. For boats without NMEA-compatible chart plotters, Savvy Navvy now becomes your all-in-one display,” says Misha Vysokovskiy, chief product officer at Savvy Navvy.
Actisense, global specialists in marine electronics, help leisure and commercial operators build safer, smarter and more dependable onboard networks.
“Savvy Navvy already delivers a huge amount of value to boaters, pulling together geographic location and environmental data streams. The addition of NMEA data connection means that other integral navigation and systems data will give boaters better visibility of things like depth, speed over ground, wind speed, heading and engine RPM — all within the easy-to-use Savvy Navvy app. Actisense are proud to have partnered with Savvy Navvy, lending our NMEA specialism. We share company missions of making journeys safer and more efficient through better data,” says Justin Cohen, commercial director at Actisense.
Savvy Navvy has had more than 3 million downloads globally. Unlike any other boating navigation solution, Savvy Navvy provides smart routing — giving users optimal routes and dynamic ETAs based on real-time data: departure time, chart information, weather conditions, tide, boat specifications and local regulations.
The NMEA Connect feature comes just weeks after Savvy Navvy launched an industry-first new chart annotation tool and Three Point Fix, following requests from boating instructors to turn digital charts into interactive learning tools for the next generation of boaters.
Vatn Systems has released INStinct, an inertial navigation system (INS) designed to provide GPS-free navigation for maritime operations.
The defense technology company, which manufactures autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for the U.S. military and commercial clients, said the system uses technology from ANELLO Photonics to deliver navigation capabilities in GPS-denied environments at lower cost than existing systems.
The system features a modular design that allows users to configure it based on mission requirements. It can be equipped with various inertial measurement units, including ANELLO’s X3 IMU, which uses Silicon Photonics Optical Gyroscope technology. The X3 IMU is designed to withstand shock and vibration in maritime conditions.
“Inertial navigation is the cornerstone of autonomy at sea,” said Nelson Mills, CEO and co-founder of Vatn Systems. “With INStinct, we’ve created a navigation solution that meets the needs of both our own vehicles and third-party platforms, offering reliability, accuracy, and adaptability. ANELLO’s IMU technology allows us to offer an INS with FOG performance at a fraction of the traditional cost. The launch of INStinct marks another milestone in our broader strategy to own the full tech stack for underwater vehicles.”
“The integration of our technology and our ANELLO X3 IMU into Vatn’s platforms and INS marks a pivotal advancement in our mission to transform autonomous underwater navigation,” said Dr. Mario Paniccia, CEO and co-founder of ANELLO Photonics.”Our technology has been rigorously field-tested across land, air, and sea environments, and we are thrilled to collaborate with Vatn to offer an underwater navigation solution. This partnership highlights our commitment to delivering next-generation navigation solutions that empower accurate and more efficient underwater operations.”
The system supports integration with Doppler velocity logs and includes maritime-specific algorithms. Housing configurations range from original equipment manufacturer specifications to depth-rated enclosures.
Vatn Systems said it plans to deliver vehicles equipped with INStinct to customers by the end of 2025.
Though marvelous, GNSS are also highly vulnerable. eLoran, which has no common failure modes with GNSS, could provide continuity of essential timing and navigation services in a crisis.
GPS fits Arthur C. Clarke’s famous third law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Yet, it also has several well-known vulnerabilities — including unintentional and intentional RF interference (the latter known as jamming), spoofing, solar flares, the accidental destruction of satellites by space debris and their intentional destruction in an act of war, system anomalies and failures, and problems with satellite launches and the ground segment.
Over the past two decades, many reports have been written on these vulnerabilities, and calls have been made to fund and develop complementary positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) systems. In recent years, as vast sectors of our economy and many of our daily activities have become dependent on GNSS, these calls have intensified.
A key component of any continent-wide complementary PNT would be a low-frequency, very high power, ground-based system, because it does not have any common failure modes with GNSS, which are high-frequency, very low power and space-based. Such a system already exists, in principle: it is Loran, which was the international PNT gold standard for almost 50 years prior to GPS becoming operational in 1995. At that point, Loran-C was scheduled for termination at the end of 2000.
However, beginning in 1997, Congress provided more than $160M to convert the U.S. portion of the North American Loran-C service to enhanced Loran (eLoran). In 2010, when the U.S. Loran-C service ended, its modernized and upgraded successor was almost completely built out in the continental United States and Alaska. During the following five years, Canada, Japan, and European countries followed the United States’ lead in terminating their Loran-C programs.
Today, however, eLoran is one of several PNT systems proposed as a backup for GPS.
The National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018 required the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to “provide for the establishment, sustainment, and operation of a land-based, resilient, and reliable alternative timing system” as a backup to GPS. In January 2020, the DOT awarded contracts to 11 companies to demonstrate their technologies’ ability to act as a backup for GPS. Of these companies, two were working on eLoran projects.
Technical advisers to the federal PNT Executive Committee have been advocating and recommending that the government implement eLoran for the past 11 years. Yet, while the U.S. government announced in 2008, and again in 2015, its intention to build an eLoran system, it has not done so yet.
Not Your Grandfather’s Loran
In the 1980s, I used Loran-C to navigate on sailing trips off the U.S. East Coast. It had an accuracy of a few hundred feet and required interpreting blue, magenta, black and green lines that were overprinted on nautical charts. The system was a modernized version, launched in 1958, of a radio navigation system first deployed for U.S. ship convoys crossing the Atlantic during World War II. Its repeatability was greater than its accuracy: lobster trappers could rely on it to return to the same spots where they had been successful before, though they may have had some offset from the actual latitude and longitude.
By contrast, eLoran has an accuracy of better than 20 meters, and in many cases, better than 10 meters. It was developed by the U.S. and British governments, in collaboration with various industry and academic groups, to provide coverage over extremely wide areas using a part of the RF spectrum protected worldwide. Unlike GNSS, eLoran can penetrate to some degree indoors, under very thick canopy, underwater and underground, and it is exceptionally hard to disrupt, jam or spoof.
Unlike Loran-C, eLoran is synchronized to UTC and includes one or more data channels for low-rate data messaging, added integrity, differential corrections, navigation messages, and other communications. Additionally, modern Loran receivers allow users to mix and match signals from all eLoran transmitters and GNSS satellites in view.
Finally, eLoran can be used for integrity monitoring of GPS — and vice versa. “Think of a resiliency triad, consisting of GNSS (global), eLoran (continental), and an inertial measurement unit, a precise clock, or a fiber connection,” said Charles A. Schue, CEO of UrsaNav. “It is extremely difficult to jam or spoof all three sources at the same time, in the same direction, and to the same amount.”
For the eLoran system to cover the contiguous United States, between four and six transmission sites could provide overlapping timing coverage, and 18 transmission sites could provide overlapping positioning and navigation.
U.S. Developments
The INVEST in America Act authorizes $157 million for the Department of Homeland Security to conduct research in five separate areas, one of which is positioning, navigation and timing resiliency; however, none of this money is for eLoran per se. The regular DOT appropriation for next year has $17 million for PNT-related research, $10 million of which is for “GPS Backup/Complementary PNT Technologies Research.” However, neither of these bills has yet been finalized, let alone passed into law, so they may change.
“These are very complex systems, with five- to seven-year sales cycles,” pointed out Schue, “and the process is even slower now due to the pandemic. With adequate funding, eLoran signals could start becoming available in the contiguous United States within a year of a service contract being signed. We should recall that GPS — as, indeed all of the GNSS — was brought online gradually as satellites were developed and launched into space. There should be no expectation that any other nationwide system would be available at the flip of a switch instead of through gradual implementation.”
the former Loran-C transmission antenna at Værlandet, Norway. (Photo: UrsaNav)
International Developments
Loran-C and eLoran operate internationally. Saudi Arabia, China and Russia continue to operate Loran-C or Chayka systems. In October 2020, a Chinese paper described how the nation is expanding Loran to its west to cover the whole country to protect itself from disruptions of space-based services. A previously published report made it clear that they are upgrading or have upgraded from Loran-C to eLoran. South Korea has an ongoing project to upgrade its Loran-C to eLoran. It also seems the project will ensure that the South Korean system will be useable on its own, even if the Russian and Chinese systems with which it normally cooperates are not available for some reason, according to Dana Goward, president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation.
The United Kingdom is still committed to eLoran, and operates one station that has been used as an alternative time reference to GNSS. “However, as the sole station still transmitting in that area of Europe it’s of no use for positioning,” said Nunzio Gambale, CEO of Locata Corporation. “Unfortunately, the EU’s shutdown of their old Loran sites seems to have been completed, and no EU-based Loran sites remain operational. Their actions leave scant hope for Loran’s resurrection any time soon as an alternative to GNSS positioning in Europe. That’s a shame, because eLoran has beneficial PNT characteristics that other alternate technologies will struggle to replicate.”
A deck officer on a ship takes a relative bearing using a pelorus. Loran-C was developed in large part for maritime navigation. (Photo: aytugaskin/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images)
Advocacy
“There is fairly good agreement across the PNT community that there is no sole solution [to GPS vulnerabilities],” Schue said. “It needs to be a system of systems.”
The PNT community, he said, is working with Congress and the administration “to move ahead with actual RFPs to start the contracting process — instead of continuing to admire the problem.” UrsaNav, NextNav, OPNT and other companies and organizations “are working together as best as we can to tell the federal government that we all believe in a system-of-systems approach and that there ought to be some tangible forward motion.”
While DOT has the lead on providing PNT resiliency, it and the departments of Defense and Homeland Security need to cooperate on this, Schue argued. “Many, if not all, of the other departments — such as Commerce, Energy, State, Interior and Agriculture — also have a stake.”
GNSS will remain for a reason. “Unless a new national terrestrial PNT system moves the game forward for many markets, it’s just far too easy to remain with the GNSS system, which is fundamentally free,” Gambale said. “That’s a really difficult price point to compete with, unless you’re delivering significant new value to the market.”
The time to act is now. “This issue has been studied to death for more than 20 years,” Goward said. “There are technologies ready to deploy. It is time for action. A failure of national PNT will be catastrophic.”
An electronic pelorus is poised to become a useful tool in any mariner’s toolbox of resilient PNT systems. Learn how it works, and the benefits it brings to position fixing at sea.
INNOVATION INSIGHTS by Richard Langley
POP QUIZ: What do a character from Greek mythology, a point on the coast of Sicily, the pilot of Hannibal’s ship, a fizzy wine from New Zealand, and a navigation instrument have in common?
They are all called Pelorus or pelorus in the case of the instrument as it’s not a proper noun (grammar lesson over). And while a discussion of each of the uses of the word could be quite educational, this month’s column, perhaps predictably, will be about the pelorus or rather a modernized version of it.
If you are a landlubber, like me, you may not have heard of the pelorus. Yet, in one form or another it has been around for hundreds of years although not always going by that name. In appearance and use, it resembles a compass with sighting vanes.
But it has no magnetic components of any sort. And while a compass is used to get a magnetic bearing of a charted feature such as a tower or lighthouse or the magnetic heading of a vessel, a pelorus is used to measure a relative bearing between a feature and a reference direction such as the heading of the vessel, commonly called the ship’s head.
If a line is drawn on a chart through the sighted feature at an angle equal to the measured bearing, the vessel must be somewhere along this so-called line of position. If a second bearing on another feature significantly displaced from the first is measured in quick succession, a second line of position can be drawn on the chart, crossing the first.
The intersection point gives the (two-dimensional or horizontal) location, or position fix, of the vessel. Since the measured bearings will have some error, generally at least three lines of position are established with their intersections forming a small triangle, sometimes called a “cocked hat.” The location of the vessel is either inside the triangle or nearby depending on the similarity of the bearing errors.
Position fixes can also be obtained from instruments that measure ranges. In this case, the lines of position are circles for terrestrial systems providing two-dimensional fixes or spheres of position in the case of three-dimensional fixes obtained from GNSS measurements.
But let’s get back to the pelorus. Most vessels of a certain size are equipped with a pelorus. Frequent use of the pelorus helps to maintain situational awareness and being a completely passive device, it is not dependent on receiving an electronic signal of any kind. Only an acceptable level of visibility is required. And it can provide a manual check on any automated ship’s systems such as a GNSS receiver.
However, determining position fixes using a pelorus and a paper chart is laborious and time consuming and it is cumbersome to manually add lines of position to an electronic chart. What is needed is an electronic pelorus, which measures bearings electronically and automatically generates a line of position on an electronic chart.
The General Lighthouse Authorities of the United Kingdom and Ireland, the agencies responsible for aids to navigation in the U.K. and Ireland, have developed such an instrument. Dubbed the BinoNav, it is poised to become a useful tool in any mariner’s toolbox of resilient PNT systems and in this month’s column, we learn about its genesis, how it works, and the benefits it brings to position fixing at sea.
The overreliance on GNSS is well known and widely publicized. While GNSS is generally available, concerns remain on how maritime operations, and safe navigation in particular, are affected should GNSS not be usable, or become denied for any reason.
The General Lighthouse Authorities of the United Kingdom and Ireland (GLA) have been working on resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) for many years. This work has included a comprehensive review of different potential solutions and their availability. One option proposed is the development of a ship-based positioning system that makes use of a modernized pelorus to work with a modern bridge.
Pelorus systems work by providing bearings from fixed positions, normally on the vessel bridge wings, to specific targets visible to the mariner and identified on the navigation chart. By taking several bearings in quick succession, intersecting lines can be drawn on the navigation chart, providing a position estimation. Clearly, there are limitations to this approach — these are explored within this article, but can be summarized as:
Automation. The time taken to measure the bearings can limit the achieved accuracy.
Visibility. Performance is limited by the mariner’s ability to see unique targets.
Paperless bridges. Many vessel bridges are moving away from paper, limiting the mariner’s ability to take bearings and plot them.
e-Navigation. More bridge systems require electronic values of latitude and longitude.
In an attempt to resolve most of these limitations, the GLA has been working on the development of an enhanced pelorus, or ePelorus, with its name registered to the Research and Radionavigation Directorate (R&RNAV) as BinoNav.
Prototype BinoNav systems have been developed and installed on all GLA vessels for trial. They enable the navigator to take visual bearings to known targets, from anywhere on the bridge using a handheld device — they are no longer confined to the bridge wings and targeting port or starboard objects.
Measured bearings are automatically registered and drawn on an electronic chart. Multiple bearings can then be made with ease, each of which is displayed on the chart and the intersecting “cocked-hat” position (to be discussed later), calculated automatically. This information can then be used to feed other bridge systems and confirm the vessel’s position.
In this article, I will provide a comprehensive overview of the BinoNav system, provide the results of initial trials and explain the planned development of the proposed resilient PNT solution.
e-NAVIGATION
Much has been written about e-Navigation elsewhere, but briefly, it is the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) concept for the future of navigation, instigated by the U.K. Department for Transport in 2004. It will lead to the integration of systems and data — for the exchange of relevant geolocated information — faster and more cost effectively, and it will do this in the context of larger, faster vessels operating in ever more constricting shipping lanes and increasing offshore obstacles such as renewable energy infrastructure as well as the legacy of non-renewable energy infrastructure.
e-Navigation is designed to enhance safety of life for the mariner, improve protection of the environment, and increase energy efficiency in terms of shorter routing for fuel-efficient shipping. Moreover, it will allow more effective use of resources and integration across transport modes, including the more effective provision of integrated port operations.
Since its inception in 2004, development and delivery of e-Navigation services has been slow. Even now, some 14 years later, only a few prototype projects have delivered anything like what was anticipated in the original e-Navigation vision. This sluggishness has been caused by minimal leadership and drive from the IMO.
Despite this, some initiatives have been successfully delivered on a local or regional basis. These initiatives have come largely through projects such as Accessibility for Shipping, Efficiency Advantages and Sustainability (ACCSEAS), Efficient Safe and Sustainable Traffic at Sea (EfficienSea) 1 & 2, Motorways and Electronic Navigation by Intelligence at Sea (MonaLisa) 1 & 2, and Sea Traffic Management (a MonaLisa project), all of which have been supported by funding from the European Union.
Resiliency in PNT has been identified by the IMO as a lead area in the delivery of e-Navigation, and all these projects have used resilient PNT as the basis of what they have delivered.
REQUIREMENT FOR RESILIENT PNT
FIGURE 1. Ships’ systems affected by GPS jamming. (Data: Author)
It is now well recognized that all GNSS are vulnerable to interference, whether these interferers are from natural causes such as space weather or from synthetic sources such as jamming or spoofing devices. GNSS receiving units and satellite failures also occur. There are many examples of each of these problems affecting GNSS worldwide.
Resilient PNT information is needed to ensure continuity of maritime operations and safe navigation — especially for e-Navigation, management of sea traffic, and autonomous vessels.
GPS jamming trials were conducted by GLA’s R&RNAV in 1994, 2008, 2009 and 2012. These trials showed the real-time vulnerability of maritime systems to jamming. They identified that many ships’ systems were affected by GPS jamming. However, some systems we did not expect to be affected actually were (see Figure 1). Devices such as the helicopter-deck stabilization system and the ship’s gyrocompass are good examples.
GLA Work on Resilient PNT. GLA, through R&RNAV, has conducted a program of work that has looked at the issues of GNSS vulnerability and what they can do about it through a series of studies. These have looked at a number of systems such as
enhanced Loran, absolute radar positioning (two different methods)
ranging mode or R-mode, which is the use of ranging signals from existing marine infrastructure (two different methods)
signals of opportunity (many methods)
hybrid systems
dead reckoning
inertial
other on-board systems.
The timeline for the introduction of some of these systems into operational use, as well as current and new GNSS, can be seen in Figure 2. This article deals with equipment that falls into the “other on-board systems” category.
FIGURE 2. Timeline for resilient PNT (GNSS and complementary systems). (Diagram: Author)
A DRIVER FOR OPTICAL NAVIGATION SYSTEMS
The need for new optical navigation systems has been driven by a number of marine incidents, one of which I will discuss in detail.
MV Tricolor Incident. On Dec. 14, 2002, in early morning thick fog, on its way from Zeebrugge to Southampton, the MV Tricolor, with a load of almost 3,000 BMW, Volvo and Saab cars, collided with a Bahamian-flagged container ship named Kariba, about 20 miles north of the French coast in the Dover Strait Traffic Separation Scheme.
Albeit damaged above the water line, the Kariba could continue, while the MV Tricolor remained wedged on her side in 30 meters of water in a busy area of navigation. No lives were lost and the crew were rescued by the Kariba and a tugboat. Nevertheless, approximately 2,862 cars and 77 units of cargo, consisting mainly of tractors and crane parts, could not be salvaged.
The shipping lane, being the busiest in the world, was marked by buoys and guarded by the French police vessel Glaive and HMS Anglesey, thereby warning other vessels of the MV Tricolor’s presence. Despite the marking and patrolling, only two days later a cargo ship, Nicola, followed by another vessel, Vicky (carrying 70,000 tonnes of highly flammable gas oil) collided with the wreck of the Tricolor, after failing to heed several French naval warnings. In between the two further collisions, more buoyage and patrol vessels were deployed. On Jan. 22, a third accident happened when a salvage tug knocked a safety valve off the Tricolor, resulting in a massive oil spill.
Besides the heavy economic losses, including the estimated operation cost of around £25M (roughly $40M), the incident caused massive marine pollution and environmental contamination by spilling large quantities of oil. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds estimated more than 1,000 birds were found dead or damaged by oil spilled from Tricolor.
Why Did It Happen? The incident was blamed on declining professional standards among seafarers, which was leading to scores of near misses in the area every day. Indeed, Andrew Linnington of the National Union of Marine Aviation and Shipping Transport Officers is quoted as saying that ship owners had been cutting costs by reducing use of deep-sea pilots to guide vessels through the world’s most crowded shipping lanes. Ships were increasingly crewed by one trained officer and a few poorly paid sailors from parts of the developing world.
“We know of at least four cases in the past year of ships going the wrong way in shipping lanes against the flow of traffic,” Linnington said. “Complaints are made to the states where the ships are registered, but they are often small countries used as flags of convenience and don’t have the resources to take action.”
It is clear from the incident and the ensuing investigation that navigators were not looking out the window, despite various radio navigation warnings and other methods, not the least of which was deploying wreck-marking buoys and virtual aids to navigation.
A very good way of mitigating the failure of any navigation system is by using reversionary methods of navigation, like looking out the window! This was a big driver in the GLA development of the BinoNav.
WHAT IS BINONAV?
FIGURE 3. A pelorus. (Photo: Author)
BinoNav is an electronic pelorus. A pelorus is a device that is completely independent of any other system or electronic position fixing system (EPFS), and this is important for providing resiliency.
Pelorus. A standard pelorus (see Figure 3) is used to take relative (to the vessel’s head) bearings to charted objects in the vicinity. The navigator then draws a line on the relevant navigation chart through the charted object. It is clear now that the vessel lies somewhere on this “line of position” from the charted object. This process is then repeated several times using different charted objects, with a minimum of three iterations.
This process then creates a “cocked hat” (a triangle in the case of three lines of position) generated from the intersection of the lines. Accounting for systematic errors, the vessel should lie somewhere within this cocked hat (see Figure 4 for an example).
This process is laborious and time consuming, but it does have the advantage of getting the navigator to look at real features outside the vessel — not just a red line on an electronic chart that they follow without question.
FIGURE 4. An example of positioning using a pelorus. (Chart: Author)
What about Electronic Chart Display? Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDISs) are excellent, when used correctly, and have driven innovation in the shipping industry. However, they do have disadvantages: If you are using a pelorus, you cannot very easily draw on a screen. You can generate an electronic bearing line (EBL) on an ECDIS, but it is a very long, convoluted way of providing a position not derived from an EPFS, such as a GNSS fix.
Any system that needs to generate an EBL on an ECDIS needs to do it electronically. Moreover, it needs to do this without having to rely on GNSS for position or time to avoid the issues of GNSS vulnerability: it should be completely independent. It should also be able to carry out optical to electronic integration to ensure that the mariner is looking out the window. Another GLA requirement was that it should be relatively low cost to make and distribute to enable take up across all users. So the idea of BinoNav was born. BinoNav fulfills all these criteria easily, intuitively and quickly, updating the electronic position of the vessel. Furthermore, with its wireless connection, bearings can be taken anywhere on the bridge of a vessel.
BINONAV FEATURES
In this section, I will describe the BinoNav and how it is used.
FIGURE 5. The BinoNav configuration. (Photo: Author)
Easy to Use. BinoNav comprises two parts: the “Bino” unit, which is a modified pair of binoculars, and a “base” unit that performs the communication link between the Bino unit and the electronic chart. Pick up the Bino unit from the base unit (see Figure 5 for overall configuration of the BinoNav).
Line up the graticule inside the Bino unit with a charted feature of use, press either of the buttons to automatically generate a line on the displayed electronic chart, which is relative to the ship’s head. As with a standard pelorus, one needs at least another two of these EBLs to generate a cocked-hat position on the electronic chart. Using either the touch screen or the mouse, “hover” over the cocked hat to generate a triangle. Now, right click to drop a marker at the center of the cocked-hat position and delete all lines. Once the vessel has moved (and dictated by the operating environment at the time), this process can be repeated. When two or more of the markers have been dropped, a line is drawn between the marks, thereby showing a track on the chart.
Features. From the use of the BinoNav unit as described above, a track is produced on an electronic chart that is not derived from an EPFS. This is important as it shows the integration of visual navigation into e-Navigation, something which e-Navigation has tried to do from the very beginning, as described by Brian Wadsworth in his earliest vision of e-Navigation (see Further Reading).
Another feature of BinoNav is “radar mode” for charted feature recognition. This feature draws a continuously moving line on the display that points at the position relative to the ship’s head. This is useful for the recognition of charted features when in unfamiliar territory.
The BinoNav is very easy to install, with only a connection for power and a connection for a suitable National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) protocol data feed for heading. Many of its electronic components are available off the shelf and are widely available commercially with bespoke printed circuit boards. Some modification to the binocular unit has been necessary, with the addition of a bespoke unit, which links to the base unit for both orientation measurement and power when the unit is docked. The binoculars are readily available for around $500. The gyros incorporated in both the base unit and the binocular unit are high-grade microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices giving an angular resolution of 0.25-0.5 degrees, similar to that of a standard pelorus.
Currently, the BinoNav is 3D-printed, which allows for the quick production of one-off units. However, this approach is clearly not a suitable solution for long production runs and would require a different method of production.
FIGURE 6. The BinoNav installation on THV Alert. (Photo: Author)
Something for the Future. R&RNAV has received a lot of interest in the BinoNav not only from our own mariners, but also from a variety of influencers in the maritime world. We have had a great deal of positive feedback on potential improvements and additional features that we plan to develop.
We will also seek to gain approvals through IMO and the International Electrotechnical Commission to integrate BinoNav with ECDIS, so there will be no need for separate displays (unless being used on non-SOLAS vessels; that is, ones to which the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea does not apply.)
CURRENT GLA INSTALLATIONS
FIGURE 7. Using the BinoNav on ILV Granuaile. (Photo: Author)
The BinoNav has been installed on all six GLA vessels: ILV (Irish Lights Vessel) Granuaile, NVL (Northern Lighthouse Vessel) Pharos, NVL Pole Star, THV (Trinity House Vessel) Alert, THV Galatea and THV Patricia. The installation on Alert is shown in Figure 6 and BinoNav use on Granuaile is shown in Figure 7.
CONCLUSIONS
The key points made in this article can be summarized as follows:
e-Navigation is based on the premise of electronic navigation from “berth to berth.”
Many accidents happen because crews do not look out the window.
There is a need for electronic positioning from non-GNSS sources.
The BinoNav integrates visual navigation and electronic navigation through an ECDIS.
The BinoNav provides an independent verification of position with or without EPFS.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
BinoNav is a registered trade mark and carries unregistered design rights. BinoNav has patents pending.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author thanks the masters, officers and crews of all the GLA vessels for their help and for the benefit of their experience throughout the whole process of the BinoNav development. Special thanks go to those who helped during the various development trials on ILV Granuaile and THV Alert prior to the mainstream installations.
This article is based on the paper “BinoNav® – A New Positioning System for Maritime” presented at ION GNSS+ 2018, the 31st International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation, Miami, Florida, Sept. 24–28, 2018.
MARTIN BRANSBY is the head of the Research and Radionavigation Directorate at the General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ireland, stationed in Harwich, Essex. He is responsible for the delivery of its program portfolio in research and development in technically diverse areas such as resilient PNT, e-Navigation, GNSS, Automatic Identification System (AIS) and visual signaling. He is a fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation, and holds memberships in the Institute of Engineering and Technology and The Institute of Navigation. He is also a member of the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities’ AtoN (Aid to Navigation) Requirements and Management Committee.
FURTHER READING
Author’s Conference Paper
“BinoNav® – A New Positioning System for Maritime” by M. Bransby in Proceedings of ION GNSS+ 2018, the 31st International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation, Miami, Florida, Sept. 24–28, 2018, pp. 1728–1735.
“Marine eNavigation: An Orientation Paper” by B. Wadsworth, document WEND9-INF4, presented to the 9th meeting of the International Hydrographic Organization World-wide Electronic Navigational Chart Database (WEND) Committee, Monaco, April 7–8, 2005.
“The Impact of GPS Jamming on the Safety of Navigation” by S. Basker, A. Grant, P. Williams and N. Ward, presented at the 48th meeting of the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee, Savannah, Georgia, Sept. 15–16, 2008.
President Obama’s trip to Cuba this week marks a historic milestone in the normalization process between the U.S. and Cuba. At the same time, the two countries are working to improve maritime navigation safety and related areas of mutual interest to protect lives and property at sea.
Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, and Col. Candido Alfredo Regalado Gomez, chief of Cuba’s National Office of Hydrography and Geodesy (ONHG), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on maritime navigation.
The MOU calls for cooperation in the areas of hydrography, oceanography, geodesy and related services of mutual interest. One of the major focuses will be to improve maritime navigation safety including efforts to ensure the accuracy of both electronic and paper charts, eliminate charting overlaps and fill in gaps in navigational chart coverage.
In addition to updating data on domestic charts like the NOAA chart above, the U.S. and Cuba agreed to work together on a new international paper chart which will cover south Florida, the Bahamas and northern Cuba. (NOAA)
In February 2015, less than two months after President Obama announced the United States’ new approach toward Cuba, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the ONHG, through a set of reciprocal exchanges, launched what became a year-long effort to formulate the technical exchange that is a normal course of affairs between most of the other maritime nations of the world. Both agencies are working on plans for monitoring and forecasting tides and currents for ports and improving positioning networks among other related scientific and technical activities.
“NOAA has a strong interest in both improving navigational safety and in protecting the marine environment in the heavily travelled and vibrant waters between our two countries in the Straits of Florida,” said Russell Callender, Ph.D., assistant NOAA administrator for the National Ocean Service. “We welcome this agreement and the progress it represents.”
“Improved navigation services are important for commercial mariners and individual boaters alike,” said Ambassador DeLaurentis, “and it is particularly important as authorized trade and authorized travel increase between the two countries.”
“This MOU will allow us to fill gaps in essential navigational data, working on a practical level with our Cuban counterparts,” said Kathryn Ries, deputy director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. “The U.S. works with hydrographic offices of all nations that have waters adjacent to the United States and our territories, and this agreement improves the exchange of charting information with Cuba as well.”
The MOU is the first step in what is expected to be a long-term collaboration between the two countries.
In addition to aligning each country’s navigational charts, NOAA and ONHG are sharing data for the creation of a new international chart (known in mariner’s parlance as “INT chart”) 4149, which will cover south Florida, the Bahamas, and north Cuba. NOAA plans to publish the new chart this year.
