WAYPOINT-Articles of note
Dr Andy Norris, an active Fellow of The Nautical Institute and the Royal Institute of Navigation, looks back on 24 issues of The Navigator and recalls some key topics
My articles for The Navigator are written on behalf of the Royal Institute of Navigation, with whom I have had long professional connections. They relay my views on the safe use of marine navigational equipment, based on my extensive technical involvement with their development – and the related international standards and legislation.
My interests – and those of the RIN – are not restricted to maritime navigation. For the first quarter of my career I was highly involved in technology to aid navigation in the air, and in my first-ever article for The Navigator, I drew parallels between marine and air navigation and explained some of the differences. I also pointed out that many air pilots today consider that they are ‘just monitoring navigators’ – largely dependent on air traffic controllers to guide them safely in terms of their height and track. This is certainly not the case in today’s maritime world!
Of particular importance to mariners, my article in the third issue of The Navigator concentrated on how far individual information sources can be trusted. This includes real-time data from sensors, such as radar and GNSS, as well as recorded data, e.g. charts and meteorological data. My article highlighted four essential questions navigators should ask about the data they are using: its validity; its plausibility; the need for comparison; and the time it takes for the data to be stored and/or retrieved, in other words, its latency.
The ‘eyes’ have it
In issue 19, I stressed the continuing importance of the optical scene, or what can be seen and processed by a human (or mechanical) eye. This is equally relevant to both conventional and autonomous vessels, since the optical scene benefits from being independent from all other available information. It is always fully up-to-date and can often offer a high level of detail.
Absolute positioning is undoubtedly very useful to safe navigation – but there are many problems involved in determining whether data is fully reliable and accurate. I looked at some of these problems in issues 4 and 23. However, readers were reminded in issue 23 that real-time hazard avoidance is fundamentally based on relative position – not absolute position.
Tools of the trade
Jumping back to issue 5, my focus here was on the huge benefits of ECDIS when operated by well-trained users. The detailed nature of maritime charts needs an appropriately sized display with good resolution in order to fully assist the navigator. Modern affordable technology allows much larger displays to be provided than those that minimally meet current ECDIS standards.
Spoofing and speculation
My article in issue 12 looked at spoofing, or the act of making it appear that you are located somewhere that you are not, or that something is occurring when it is not, in fact, the case. Fortunately, it is very difficult for spoofers to create a totally consistent picture. The vast majority of such attacks should be readily detectable as long as you maintain good navigational practice. Make sure you are fully aware of the possible causes of any inconsistencies that may crop up, and the necessary reactions.
In the future, increasing maritime autonomy may take away some of the present skills needed by bridge staff. However, when reviewing this topic in issue 24, I emphasised that qualified maritime navigators still appear to have long and interesting careers in front of them, either at sea or with ever-increasing opportunities to control vessels from the land.
I and The Royal Institute of Navigation have been proud of our association with The Navigator over the past 25 issues and look forward to continuing to work together in the future.
Contact RIN at: www.rin.org.uk | 1 Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AT | Tel: +44 (0)20 7591 3134