Smart-phones, AIS, and social networks

Pascal,

Thanks for asking! The development of the App has taken much longer than originally expected, and iOS is very close to release. Overall the user reactions (for Android, which has been out for a few months now) have been very positive. The recreational boating market is almost 80% iOS, and also very unforgiving of apps that are not reliable, so we're biting the bullet and not doing an iOS release until we have it right.

I think the major new aspect of this the introduction of what we call AIS Class E, essentially an AIS surrogate used over the wireless networks. The intent is to ultimately get a national, and then international standard in place that all can use. The simple fact is that traditional AIS isn't practical for the average recreational boater. We've spent a lot of effort identifying the best architecture for this, including moving away from MMSI numbers (which should still be used by large vessels), and creating an identification means by which very portable devices can still be used to enable vessel track sharing.

There are other similar products out there, but they all only talk to themselves. We are about to start offering a free interface that any chart plotter provider can use free of charge, and will be putting the protocols in the public domain as we move forward. There's lots of technical detail, and I've been in meetings with RTCM, NATO's maritime folks, NIST, plus have the support of a group that has a US patent that covers not only what we're doing but also what the other companies you mentioned are doing. Ultimately, wireless networks will carry this type of information… the real issue is a VHS vs. Beta question… and establishing standards that work for all.

I could drag on forever… but will spare you the gory details. That said, feel free to ask questions!

Chuck

The MMSI scheme was developed in the 70's and the US has <999,999 total available numbers, and over 10 million recreational users, so eventually we'd run out of numbers. On top of that the AIS RF slot is already near bandwidth saturation in busy ports… it simply can't sustain the traffic that adding the recreational community would bring. Lastly, the original scheme was based upon an AIS transceiver being bolted to a specific vessel, and false IDs from "moving" radios are becoming a significant problem.

Its the app-to-app issue. e.g. observing on your phone/tablet the other vessels in the vicinity that are running apps on their phones/tablets. All apps can reflect AIS A or B data because there's a recognized standard. But less than 1% of the vessels out there broadcast AIS A/B, and assuming 20 years from now most boats are broadcasting not VHF but wireless AIS, what's going to be the standard for interoperability? That's where AIS Class E comes in. The Smart Chart AIS app is what the industry refers to as a "reference implementation", an example of how it can be done, but that's a straw-man meant to spur affected parties to come up with an optimized solution.

Yes, but not in the first release.

The Smart Chart AIS scheme has 2 types of ID: User and Vessel. The User is you as an individual, which in our app then has "authorized" vessels. Thus, when you go down the dock and choose whether to take out the go-fast tender or the laid-back day-sailor, you get to choose from a pull down menu your "boat-du-jour". Likewise, if 4 folks are out on the same sport fisherman, they can all run the app, but all logged into the same vessel (so only one vessel is shared to other apps). You can message them individually OR as a vessel group. Once you get into the megayacht with a dozen crew, various guests, the "mothership" and a half dozen smaller craft… the possibilities get interesting.

Lastly, since the feds have paid for its initial development we offer the app for free... the intent is to get to the critical mass that will support standards development. But the real goal is to define what AIS will be in the future for the users and communities that aren't served well by the existing AIS VHF model.