AIS Network Feed

Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a standard for exchanging vessel location and other information. These settings control access to a feed over a network.

This feature allows you to connect to an AIS feed over the internet. It can be used in conjunction with primary NMEA/AIS connections and with AIS Sharing, but it is treated somewhat differently.

• Data is used in this order of preference. (1) Primary NMEA/AIS feed, (2) AIS Network feed, (3) AIS Sharing.
• Only AIS data is used from your AIS Network feed. Non-AIS data (ie, generic NMEA) is ignored.
• Targets from the AIS Network feed are not counted in the count on the AIS tab at the bottom of the display.
• AIS Network feed data will not be recorded when using NMEA record/playback, unless Settings / Record/Playback / Record AIS Network Feed is enabled.
• Data for Own-Ship will only be recognized from the primary NMEA/AIS feed. Any Own-Ship data (ie, "!AIVDO" sentences) from the AIS Network feed will be treated as generic AIS targets.
• AIS Virtual Boarding can be used with any type of AIS target.
• AIS Network feed data will not be sent to AIS sharing (only AIS data from primary NMEA/AIS is used).
• AIS Network feeds are only supported using the TCP protocol. UDP is not supported.

Settings

• Enable : This switch turns on the AIS network feed. Normally, you would enable it only after first setting the other configuration items.
• Host : This is used to set the IP address of an AIS network feed. You can specify either a hostname or IP address (decimal and dot).
• Port : This is used to specify the TCP port number for your NMEA data feed. A port is an integer number in the range 1-65535.
• Connection Type : This setting selects whether to use TCP (the default) or UDP connections. Almost always this will be set to TCP.
• Status : Current status of your connection.

Authentication

• Authentication (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Select method to use for authentication. Either connection ID (default) or username/password. The username/password is for "SAAB CoastWatch AIS Network Solution."
• Export Unique ID : This is used to register this instance of SEAiq with an external AIS network feed. This exports a file that contains the unique ID used by SEAiq when connecting to AIS network feeds. This can be used to register your copy of SEAiq with that service. Currently, this is only intended for use with the Marine Exchange of Alaska (http://www.mxak.org).
• User Name (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Use this username to login to an AIS service. This is not normally required.
• Password (Only SEAiq Pilot) : Use this password to login to an AIS service. This is not normally required.

Diagnostics

• Diagnostics : This shows diagnostics describing the current status of your configuration.