SeaFi sets course for marine communications revolution

SeaFi Horizon the future of lighthouses

With ECDIS the future of lighthouses is somewhat compromised.

Ships at sea hardly need anymore lighthouses to find their position at sea.

Once used to flash light at sea, they can easily be turned into a powerful hotspot for ship, from flashing light to wireless marine data communication the conversion is painless...

To prove it we are working at setting a world record for the longest ship to shore marine (big) data marine data communication without assistance from satellite or cellular connection...

From Irish Examiner by Eoin English

A marine engineer and inventor has set what he hopes could be a world record for the longest ship-to-shore email using his own special WiFi system.

The Ocean Spey vessel just passed Roches Point Lighthouse

While 200 metres is considered long-distance in most ordinary WiFi networks, like a modern-day Marconi, Arnaud Disant used his SeaFi network to send an email at 4.18pm yesterday from a ship about 15.5 nautical miles, almost 29km, off Roche’s Point in Cork Harbour to a computer in the Roche’s Point lighthouse.

 Lt Cdr Martin Brett email setting out a distance of 19.4 nautical miles...

The email, which included data and maps charting the vessel’s precise location, was sent without any support from satellites or cellular network.

And just as Marconi’s pioneering work in the early 1900s on long-distance radio transmission led to the telegraph system and ultimately radio, Mr Disant hopes his work will lead to a revolution in marine communications.

“People have little interest for marine telecommunications. It’s not trendy,” he said.
“Beside few people have ever spent more than a few hours at sea — heading to the UK or France on a car ferry is as far as it gets. And who needs to keep in touch with the office while heading on holiday?
“So understanding the needs for modern data communication at sea is really remote for most people.
“But SeaFi is something that could put Ireland on the forefront of modern marine technology. It really takes Marconi into the 21st century.”

Mr Disant, a lecturer in marine data communication at the National Maritime College of Ireland, founded SEATech Evolution in 2007, a company which specialises in network infrastructure and electronic engineering.
The firm has spent the last decade developing SeaFi.

 Official distance of the furthest maritime broadband transmission without satellite or cellular network using SeaFi wireless maritime communication system: 19.4 nautical miles (35.9 kilometres). The world record was established on 6 June 2018

The key to the system is powerful ship antennas which transmit wirelessly and securely over a private wireless network to special receiving shore antennas, one of which is attached to the Roche’s Point lighthouse.

Roche’s Point lighthouse

“To put it simply, WiFi is more like a bare light bulb while SeaFi is more like a focused flashlight,” said Mr Disant.

The system has been tested successfully for the last few years in Cork Harbour in a partnership with the Port of Cork.
The LE Orla and LE Niamh helped test SeaFi ship antennas in seagoing conditions.

SeaFi is the main link to shore for the Port of Cork’s vessels, MV Denis Murphy and MT Gerry O’Sullivan; is used by crews of cruise ships visiting Cork; and has been successfully tested on a data buoy for two years.

Its network covers the navigational areas from 10 nautical miles off Roche’s Point all the way up the river Lee to Tivoli Dock container terminal.

It has been tested to a distance of 15 nautical miles and has achieved constant speeds of between five and 15 mbps — about three times faster than real 3G speeds and five times faster than the latest generation of satellite communications, and at a fraction of the costs.

And while final confirmation is expected today, it is believed Mr Disant sent his last ship-to-shore email yesterday as Ocean Spey sat just over 15.5 nautical miles off Roche’s Point.

The record attempt was witnessed by several independent experts both on board and on shore.
A raft of technical data will now be submitted to the Guinness Book of Records for consideration.

Links :

• SeaTech : Furthest maritime broadband transmission without satellite or cellular network 
• GeoGarage blog : S@iLink, stay connected at sea !

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‘Unofficial Charts’ on the horizon?

Atlantic Ocean (1786)

Dépôt général des Cartes Plans et journaux de la Marine publiée par ordre du Ministre pour le service des vaisseaux Français

From Hydro by Gilles Bessero

In the article entitled ’How Blockchain Will Have an Impact on Navigation’ published in the March/April 2018 issue of 'Hydro International', Gert Büttgenbach explains how the new blockchain technology could be potentially beneficial for the production and distribution of nautical charts.
One of the conclusions of the article indicates that the new technological environment calls for reconsidering the ’exclusive domain of national Hydrographic Offices’ (HOs) and suggests that the private sector could in future produce ‘unofficial charts’ that would be superior to ’official’ charts produced by the HOs.
But these views reflect a misunderstanding of the situation, according to Gilles Bessero.

I believe that encouraging the community to think about the impact of new technologies is always a good thing, especially in an environment that is often considered, whether rightly or wrongly, as rather conservative.
The question as to which organizations should be entrusted with the production of nautical charts as a key enabler of safe navigation is the subject of recurrent debate.
As a matter of fact, this was originally an activity run mostly by private chartmakers and chart information was considered a trade secret.

Detailed Depot De La Marine's sea chart of the region centered on Jamaica, with the southern part of Cuba and western end of Hispaniola.
This detailed map of Jamaica, shown divided into parishes, includes strong topographical details with many coastal toponyms, as well as the coastlines of southern Cuba and western Haiti.

The Dépôt de la Marine, known more formally as the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine, was the central charting institution of France.

The centralization of hydrography in France began in earnest when Jean-Baptiste Colbert became First Minister of France in 1661.

Under his watch, the first Royal School of Hydrography began operating, as did the first survey of France’s coasts (1670-1689).

In 1680, Colbert consolidated various collections of charts and memoirs into a single assemblage, forming the core of sources for what would become the Dépôt.
The Dépôt itself began as the central deposit of charts for the French Navy.

In 1720, the Navy consolidated its collection with those government materials covering the colonies, creating a single large repository of navigation.

By 1737, the Dépôt was creating its own original charts and, from 1750, they participated in scientific expeditions to determine the accurate calculation of longitude.
In 1773, the Dépôt received a monopoly over the composition, production, and distribution of navigational materials, solidifying their place as the main producer of geographic knowledge in France.

Dépôt-approved charts were distributed to official warehouses in port cities and sold by authorized merchants.

The charts were of the highest quality, as many of France’s premier mapmakers worked at the Dépôt in the eighteenth century, including Philippe Bauche, Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, Rigobert Bonne, Jean Nicolas Buache, and Charles-François Beautemps-Beaupré.
The Dépôt continued to operate until 1886, when it became the Naval Hydrographic Service.

In 1971, it changed names again, this time to the Naval and Oceanographic Service (SHOM).

Although its name has changed, its purpose is largely the same, to provide high quality cartographic and scientific information to the France’s Navy and merchant marine.

France was the first country to establish a national Hydrographic Office in 1720.
The rationale behind this initiative was that more warships were being lost at sea because of lack of access to charts than in combat.
The benefit of assigning a dedicated public organization to the task of collecting all available information, compiling it and making it available through ’official’ nautical charts was progressively recognized and all maritime nations followed the lead of France more or less rapidly.
Some private chartmaking continued into the 20th century but it was generally focused on the specific needs of the leisure market.
The obligation for ships to carry adequate and up-to-date nautical charts and publications was introduced in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) of 1974 (regulation V/20) but the provisions related to the production of adequate nautical charts and publications were left at the discretion of the Contracting Governments.

Carte de la rade de Brest en 1779.

 Chart of Brest with the GeoGarage platform (SHOM 2018)

In the late 1980s, the advent of the digital era created a new opportunity for private entrepreneurs who were keen to develop electronic chart systems (ECS) and proposed digital nautical charts generally obtained simply through digitising the paper charts produced by HOs.
When the progress of ECS technology led to the consideration of using such systems not only as navigation aids complementing paper charts but as meeting as such the SOLAS chart carriage requirement, the International Maritime Organization adopted Performance Standards for Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) in 1995.
Considering the liability aspects, the Performance Standards included a provision that the associated Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) had to be issued ’on the authority of government-authorized hydrographic offices’.
This provision was refined in the amendments to the SOLAS Convention that were adopted in 2000 and entered into force on 1 July 2002.
These amendments include a definition of a nautical chart or publication as ’a special-purpose map or book, or a specially compiled database from which such a map or book is derived, that is issued officially by or on the authority of a Government, authorized hydrographic office or other relevant government institution and is designed to meet the requirements of marine navigation.’ (regulation V/2.2).
They include also the requirement that ’Contracting Governments undertake to arrange for the collection and compilation of hydrographic data and the publication, dissemination and keeping up to date of all nautical information necessary for safe navigation.’ (regulation V/9).

Now it is up to each Contracting Government to decide which arrangements best suit its circumstances.
The requirement is solely that nautical charts and publications should be produced on the authority of a Government and this is justified by the liability issue, noting the extent and cost of the damages that could be caused by a ship’s grounding due to a charting error.
As explained in Publication M-2 of the International Hydrographic Organization on ’The need for hydrographic services’, ’Coastal States can satisfy their hydrographic needs and obligations through a variety of arrangements (…).
The use of bilateral arrangements with established Hydrographic Services and the use of commercial contract support are alternatives to establishing a full in-country Hydrographic Service.’
The reality is that a number of HOs do outsource production activities to the private sector.
Therefore, one should not oppose HOs versus the private sector and ’official’ versus ’unofficial’ charts but encourage both sides to imagine together the most efficient ways to improve future ’official’ charts for which governments continue to accept full responsibility.

In that perspective, it is worth noting that HOs are evolving from a traditional chart-centric model to a data-centric model in order to address the variety of hydrographic requirements associated with all human activities that take place in, on or under the sea and support the sustainable development of the oceans.
This means that delivering a portfolio of nautical charts covering the waters of a country is no longer an end in itself but one of the many applications of a national marine spatial data infrastructure that must be considered as a public good.
The private sector can and should play a major role in developing tools to manage efficiently the MSDI as well as in inventing and developing a variety of value-added products and services derived from that infrastructure.
But as long as shipping remains a significant component of the world trade infrastructure, there will continue to be a substantiated need for ’official’ nautical charts.

What rules apply to migrants rescued at sea?

Photo: Karpov/SOS Mediterranee/AFP

From The Local by AFP

In the standoff between Italy and Malta over a migrant ship stranded in the Mediterranean, both have insisted on their right to refuse a vessel entry to their ports.

Although Spain offered safe harbour to the boat and the 629 migrants on board, the episode has raised questions about a country's legal obligations towards those rescued at sea.

courtesy of Le Monde (Francesca Fattori & Xemartin Laborde)

Here are a few key questions.

Are the rules clear?

Generally speaking, no.
"International maritime law does not provide for specific obligations which would determine in all cases which state is responsible to allow disembarkation on its territory," the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) says.

But that does not mean a country can simply hold up a stop sign and wash its hands of the situation when a vessel packed with vulnerable migrants approaches its shores. UNHCR also pointed to "key treaties" stating that a nation which has responsibility for an area in which a search-and-rescue operation takes place is required to "exercise primary responsibility" for coordinating the migrants' safe disembarkation.

Photo: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP

The International Organization for Migration also said that while states are not forced to accept specific vessels, there is a collective duty to ensure a humane outcome.

"Regarding disembarkation, states are obliged to cooperate to find a safe place to disembark migrants rescued in their search and rescue area," IOM spokesman Leonard Doyle told AFP, citing legal experts.

What if there's an emergency on board?

This could arguably compel a state to grant access to its ports.

"If the country has control over the ship and there are migrants in dire straights aboard and no agreement with another state to take them can be found, they should not delay but accept them," Doyle said.

In the case of the Aquarius, which is operated by SOS Méditerranée, UNHCR said that the dwindling provisions on board created "an urgent humanitarian imperative" for Italy and Malta to allow the boat to dock.

Spain's intervention later appeared to defuse the crisis.

Photo: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP

What happens after the migrants disembark?

In an apparent attempt to justify Rome's stance, far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Italy's new populist government could not be forced to turn the country into "a huge refugee camp".

But UNHCR said letting a boat dock did not mean a country would have to take long-term responsibility for those on board.

"A state which allows disembarkation on its territory of rescued persons – particularly in situations involving large numbers of people – need not, in UNHCR's view, be solely responsible for providing durable solutions on its own territory."

Links :

• MarineLink : International Chamber of Shipping Concern over Italian Policy on Migrants
• WashingtonPost : The Latest: Italy: Today is turning point in EU migration
• Reuters : Italy to ask NATO to help deal with migrant flows: Salvini
• CNN : With 100 killed, Tunisia boat wreck becomes year's deadliest migrant ...
• GeoGarage blog : Greece's island of despair / Mediterranean Sea Rescue / Mediterranean rescuers accuse Europe of 'leaving ... / Mediterranean migrant deaths reach record level in ... / European Union authorizes military action against ... / Migrants can't be left to die in the seas of Europe / SAR crisis in the Mediterranean – commercial ... / A wintry sea seems a safer bet than life at home for ... / Fire at sea (trailer) : shows horror of refugee crossings / A robot life preserver goes to work in the Greek ... / 2016 deadliest year in the Mediterranean / The millionaires who rescue people at sea / Lampedusa, the Italian Island thousands are dying ... / Sea cameras scan the waves for smugglers 

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