FCC Proposed Rulemaking affecting e-Nav

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing changes to Parts 80 and 95 of their rules.  The proposals include:

1. require emergency position indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) to be capable of broadcasting position data when activated, which will improve the ability of rescue personnel to locate distressed ships;
2. update the equipment standards for Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) to ensure that PLBs meet updated functional and technical parameters;
3. authorize equipment certification and use of Satellite Emergency Notification Devices (SENDs) that comply with RTCM standards, providing for the use of additional technologies for safety of life and rescue scenarios;
4. permit equipment certification and use of Maritime Survivor Locating Devices (MSLDs) that comply with RTCM standards, in order to enhance maritime safety;
5. provide for equipment certification and use of Automatic Identification System Search and Rescue Transmitters (AIS-SARTs) that comply with international standards, which will contribute to maritime safety;
6. clarify the rules regarding radar equipment;
7. permit the use of portable marine VHF radio transmitters by persons on shore;
8. permit VHF digital small message services (VDSMS) on certain maritime VHF channels;
9. allow assignment or transfer of control of ship station licenses, removing a regulatory hurdle to secondary market transactions; and
10. correct certain typographical errors.

You can submit comments on or before June 2, 2014, and reply comments are due on or before June 30, 2014.

Call for Papers – Innovative Technologies for the Marine Transportation System

From the Executive Director of the Committee on the Marine Transportation System (CMTS):

“A friendly reminder that the deadline to send abstracts for the upcoming Resilient MTS conference is nearing.  We expect that the deadline may be extended a bit.  Please forward this information to your staff and stakeholders.  Sincere thank you!

“We are pleased to announce the call for papers for the upcoming TRB-CMTS conference, “Innovative Technologies for a Resilient Marine Transportation System” to be held June 24-26, 2014, at the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.  Persons interested in submitting a paper or presenting relevant research should submit an abstract of 300 words or less by 28 February. We sincerely appreciate if you would forward this information to your innovative technology and resiliency experts and to interested stakeholders.

Further information:  Call for Papers

Sincere regards,

Helen A. Brohl”

e-Navigation Underway 2014

The 4th annual e-Navigation Underway conference is being held, once again, aboard a DFDS ferry sailing between Copenhagen and Oslo 28-30 January 2014. The theme this year is “Waypoints beyond the Strategy Implementation Plan” building upon the work that IMO has progressed to deliver an e-Navigation implementation plan in 2014.

This is a first-rate conference and probably the premier e-Navigation event dedicated to showcasing e-Nav test beds. I’ve participated in two of the previous three events, and hope to be able to join this one. Stay tuned for more details.

eNavigation 2013 – see you in Seattle!

As it has for the past 12 years, Pacific Maritime Magazine will be hosting eNavigation 2013 in Seattle, WA 19-20 November 2013. This promises to be yet another excellent conference, with a finely focused agenda and participation from across the spectrum of e-Navigation stakeholders.

As always, this is an outstanding forum to find out about recent developments in e-Navigation from the perspective of regulators, technology developers, training providers, the legal world, and the industry that will have to deal with whatever e-Navigation becomes. More importantly, it is also an opportunity to have your voice heard by those shaping those developments. Central to every eNavigation* conference has been the opportunity for feedback from the audience and dialog with them. This occurs during the usual Q&A sessions during each panel presentation, but unique to this conference there is also a significant portion of the agenda dedicated to an interactive review of what has been heard and the opportunity for anyone to present their perspective, questions and concerns.

This will be my 13th consecutive eNavigation conference (including when it was called the “AIS conference”) and it is certainly not a lucky number, owing to various obstacles placed in my path that nearly precluded my participation. However, as always I am looking forward to the conference, the spirited exchange of ideas, hearing from everyone there, and of course the opportunity to experience the joys of Seattle.

I hope to be providing frequent updates on the conference proceedings – keep an eye here and @maritimespatial

*Observant readers may notice the differing use of “eNavigaton” and “e-Navigation” in this post. The former is the name of the conference (as trademarked by Pacific Maritime); the latter the “official” spelling/punctuation for the concept as used by IMO, IALA, and other bodies developing the e-Navigation concept.

Help shape US e-Navigation implementation

The Committee on the Marine Transportation System (CMTS) e-Navigation Integrated Action Team (“e-Nav IAT”) has been working for nearly a year to implement the US e-Navigation Strategic Action Plan.  The Strategic Action Plan says that “A core element of successful e-Navigation implementation is partnering across the spectrum of stakeholders” and among the principles supporting that are: “Focus on meeting users’ requirements. Develop a collaborative partnership with the MTS community. Encourage and support regular and frequent communications. Be thoroughly transparent in decision-making activities.“

The e-Nav IAT has announced that they are conducting an online dialog through 28 February 2013 on the future of e-Navigation in the United States.

Go to http://enav.ideascale.com to register and start participation in the dialog.  You can review current focus areas, see suggested actions, comment on proposed actions and suggest your own.

According to the site: “Users submit their ideas. Our community discusses and votes for ideas. The best ideas bubble up to the top.”

So what will be done with the outcome(s) of the dialog?  The site says:

“Comments provided to this dialogue will be considered by the CMTS e-Nav IAT along with other stakeholder input to inform the IAT’s work plan and recommendations. An analysis of the feedback received through this effort will be made available at the conclusion of this dialogue at http://www.cmts.gov.”

Whether this “analysis” will consist of a report, statistics or suggestions for what will be included in the action plan is not stated. But, it is certainly a chance for you to have your voice heard if you have any interest in e-Navigation, so go ahead and check it out.