Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a standard for exchanging vessel location and other information using VHF radio signals.
SEAiq can acquire information about vessels either from VHF-based AIS receiver/transponder, or indirectly over the internet via SEAiq AIS Sharing. Additionally, SEAiq Pilot supports connection to a separate network feed. Note that SEAiq allows any or all of these AIS data acquisition methods to operate at the same time.
AIS targets from Settings / NMEA & AIS are colored a blue or red color (depending on Settings / Vessels / Use Red for Targets). Targets from Settings / AIS Network Feed and AIS Sharing are colored orange.
On this tab, you can see AIS targets. Tap on one in order to get detailed information.
Once you have AIS configured, you should be able to see vessels on your Navigation Tab that are reporting their position via AIS. You may notice that after first turning on AIS, the ships are shown according to their MMSI number. After a brief wait, you should see the ships name appear in place of the MMSI number. The delay is because the detailed vessel information is not broadcast as often as the ships location information.
The number of current AIS targets is displayed as a badge on the AIS tab.
The Settings / Vessels menu affects display of AIS vessels, as well as your own vessel. For instance, enabling Beam Lines will turn on Beam Lines for your vessel and for AIS vessels.
If you enable the True-scale Display under Vessel settings, then you can see the actual shape of the ship as adjusted for antenna location, but only when zoomed in sufficiently close for the ship to be at least 6mm long.
You can see all AIS targets by selecting the AIS tab. The targets are listed according to the distance from your vessel, with closest first. By selecting one of the vessels, you can access all the detailed information that is reported by AIS. If you have a connection to the internet, you can press the search button at the top to look up the vessel at www.vesselfinder.com.
You can select a vessel by single tapping it. A selection box will wrap the vessel and information about the vessel will appear in a box next to it. The vertical status bar will display information about this vessel until you select a different AIS target. Double tapping the selected vessel provides detailed AIS data for that vessel. Yet more detail can be found by further selecting Full Information.
Alternatively, you can double tap a vessel and select "Details for this Location." You will the vessel listed along with other nearby features.
The following data is available for AIS target vessel. In many situations, only some of the data may be available for a particular target.
Accurate Rate-of-Turn: Indicates whether this vessel appears to have an accurate Rate-of-Turn indication. ROT is considered "accurate" if a non-zero ROT has been reported in the last 6 minutes. Vessels that have only reported non-numerical To Starboard, To Port, and Zero ROT are considered to be "inaccurate." Note that this is not a evaluation of the actual accuracy of the ROT being reported, only whether the vessel seems to be reporting values indicating it has an accurate ROT sensor.
The accuracy information is used to determine how course information for vessels is displayed. If ROT is inaccurate, the course vector is drawn from the GPS antenna position along the centerline of the vessel. If ROT is accurate (and other conditions are met), the course vector is drawn from the center of the vessel (which requires accurate ROT information to correct the COG/SOG for any rotational movement of the GPS antenna.
Vessels can be organized in several different ways. The current format is indicated in a button on the toolbar at the top. Different formats may be selected by pressing the button.
AIS targets are listed in multiple groups. The targets are assigned to groups in this order of precedence:
Vessels are listed in alphabetical order according to the vessel name. Vessels whose names are unknown are listed in a separate section at the bottom according to their MMSI number.
Vessels are listed according to their distance from Own-Ship, with closer vessels listed first. For vessels whose distance is unknown, they are listed in a separate section at the bottom.
Vessels are listed in three different groups:
The Route Traffic display is intended for use when you are following a route. The idea is to display information about Own-Ship, Waypoints, AIS Targets, and Meeting Points with AIS Targets in a simple format.
If you are not currently following a route, no useful information will be shown.
All information is displayed in a table format. The table is oriented according to the position on the route relative to the location and direction that Own-Ship is following. Each item other than Own-Ship itself is shown with distance from Own-Ship. Except for waypoints, only objects from 10nm astern of Own-Ship to 50nm ahead of it are displayed.
Own-Ship and AIS targets are shown using unscaled icons that are oriented relative to the direction of the route. For example a vessel that is crossing the route at 90 degree angle will be shown on the table oriented sideways, regardless what the direction of the route is at that point. A vessel that is following the route exactly will be shown oriented vertically.
Each row in the table corresponds to one of the following items:
The Route ETA display is intended for use in monitoring ETA of vessels at particular waypoints in a route. Two waypoints can be specified, an Incoming and an Outgoing waypoint. The route does not need to be your active route.
All information is displayed in a table format in 3 sections. The first section shows ETAs of vessels at the Incoming waypoint. The second section shows ETAs of vessels at the Outgoing waypoint. The final section allows you to specify the route and two waypoints.
Only vessels moving in the direction of the route are listed as Incoming. Only vessels moving in the opposite direction of the route are listed as Outgoing.
Vessels must be at least the Meeting Point "Small Vessel Length" to be listed. This allows small vessels to be filtered out.
Vessels outside the actual route may be listed. Their position must be in a 270 degree arc centered on the direction of the first or last segment in the route. The vessels course must be within 30 degrees of the first/last waypoint.