Royal Air Force reservists have been in remote Norway being put through a
strenuous week of extreme cold weather survival training and cross-country
skiing by Norwegian forces.
Nearly 50 reservists from 17 squadrons across the UK trained as part of
Exercise Wintermarch from 12 to 18 March.
The main focus of the week was learning how to travel effectively through the
harsh winter landscape by cross-country skiing. Personnel are also learning
skills such as avalanche survival, crevasse rescue, first aid and basic mountain
safety.

Around 120 UK troops have arrived in Estonia as part of one of the biggest British deployments to Eastern Europe in decades, it was reported by the Ministry of Defence on 17 March. Soldiers from the 5th Battalion The Rifles Battlegroup (5 RIFLES), including members of an Armoured Engineer Squadron, Military Police Detachment, Artillery Group and Port Task Group, arrived at Amari airbase the previous evening.

Troops, having flown from RAF Brize Norton by Voyager aircraft, were welcomed by Estonia’s Defence Minister Margus Tsahkna.

The first chalk of 120 soldiers are fundamental to setting up a UK headquarters in the country before the rest of the UK deployment arrives next month (April), increasing the total number of troops in Estonia to around 800.

The UK is taking a leading role in NATO’s
enhanced Forward Presence, alongside several other contributing nations. Deployments are designed to assure NATO allies of the mutual commitment to collective European security. Working alongside the UK forces this year will be French personnel, and from next year, Danish partners. All are there at the request of the Estonian Government.

A reminder: RIN’s 11th GNSS conference in Baška, KrK Island, Croatia, 7-9 May 2017. This year’s Baška conference focuses on the latest GNSS topics including:

– The development and modernisation of core systems

– Space-based augmentation systems

– Applications across land, air, sea and location-based services

– Receiver design and GNSS education

It was announced by EUROCONTROL on 8 March at the close of the World ATM Congress in Madrid that its workshop on the latest developments in the implementation of Free Route Airspace (FRA) in Europe will allow aircraft to fly more direct routes, reducing fuel burn and cutting delays.

FRA is most effective when it operates cross-border, with aircraft not constrained by specific crossing points on the borders between countries. Two existing cross-border initiatives in the important south east region of Europe are SAXFRA (Slovenia/Austria) and SEAFRA (Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia). At the workshop, representatives from the five air navigation service providers from these countries signed a memorandum of cooperation aimed at merging SAXFRA and SEAFRA, which will generate even greater benefits for European aviation and is a significant step towards achieving a common European Free Route Airspace by 2022.

In a joint effort with Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA), OMC International’s realtime
DUKC® e-Navigation technology helped enable the largest ever iron ore shipment to leave Port Hedland (illustrated) at a record sailing draft of 19.95 metres, Executive Director Dr Terry O’Brien AM said on 7 March.

Dr O’Brien said: ‘Under DUKC® advice a record 270,006 tonnes of iron ore left Port Hedland – the world’s largest bulk export port – on the Fortescue Metals Group loaded ship HL Tubarao on 1 March.’

‘Our technology, which has been operating at Port Hedland for more than 20 years, safely allowed an increased draft of 0.70m over the traditionally conservative static rule, which meant an extra 12,000 tonnes of iron ore could be loaded.’

It was announced from Washington, DC on 8 March that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is inviting developers of counter-unmanned aerial system (CUAS) technologies to participate in technology assessments.

It is understood that a Request for Information – Participation (RFIP) was released for the 2017 Technical Assessment of Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems Technologies in Cities (TACTIC) programme. Apparently, Selected C-UAS technology solutions will be assessed in an operationally relevant environment.

The International Harbour Masters’ Association (IHMA) and Informa Australia have announced details of the 11th IHMA Congress, to be held at the Lancaster Hotel in London from 25-28 June 2018. This will be the first time the Congress has been held in London.

Addressing the theme: Ports – Essential for Safe, Efficient and Secure Global Trade, the Congress programme will be designed to appeal to all responsible for the safe, secure and efficient conduct of marine operations in ports and industry organisations working with, or within, ports across all levels of the industry. This is likely to be an attractive event in 2018 for all those with responsibility for port and marine operations and the industry that supports them.

The 16th World Congress® of the International Association of Institutes of Navigation (IAIN) will be hosted by the Japan Institute of Navigation (JIN). It will be held from November 28 to December 1 at the world-class Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

Since 1976 the IAIN World Congress has been held in a different region every three years to discuss technical navigation issues. A scientific programme will address all subspecialties and related interests in navigation.

Makuhari New City centres around Makuhari Messe, one of Japan’s world class convention facilities, and spreads out with offices, academic facilities, housing, parks, shopping, and entertainment facilities. It is a city of diverse potential that sees many people from all over Japan and the world every day. Around the skyscrapers, there are the Japanese gardens of Mihama-en and Makuhari Kaihin-koen Park along Makuhari Beach. Walking along the promenade will offer a chance to feel the sun, sea breeze and nature in Tokyo bay area.

In a major speech at the University of Oxford on 27 February, the (UK) Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon announced the formation of a world class Panel which will help challenge and drive the innovation agenda at the Ministry of Defence (MoD), it has been reported.

Addressing engineering students, academics, and apprentices, Sir Michael announced members of the new Panel. They will be charged with driving forward the MoD’s Innovation Initiative, which aims to encourage imagination, ingenuity and entrepreneurship, in pursuit of maintaining a military advantage in the future. Sir Michael said: ‘Backed by an £800M innovation fund, we want to transform defence and work with small firms, academics and others to find solutions to the threats to our security. This panel of world class innovators will bring their drive and expert insights to the vital task of keeping the UK ahead of our adversaries and boosting our prosperity.’

IAIN Corporate Member ECDIS Ltd report that they have extended their Type Specific ECDIS ACAT (Annual Competency Assurance Training) portfolio to include the new JRC 7201/9201 and Furuno FMD ECDIS equipments (demonstrated in the nearby illustration).

Available online as well as by the new offline downloadable version, ECDIS ACAT is used daily by shipping companies globally. At an average of only £8 per officer per year, the not-for-profit ACAT courses are fast becoming an essential tool for refreshing all training crew in the safe and efficient use of their onboard ECDIS systems.

Commented George Ward, Project Support, ECDIS Ltd: ‘The idea of ECDIS ACAT came from the realisation that crew may use their ECDIS systems for many years after their initial generic training. Companies and vessels have no way of keeping track of their knowledge and ensuring the safety of their crew. With ACAT, ship managers can review, in real-time, the competency levels of their crew by seeing where their weaknesses are. There is significant evidence now that albeit trained and certificated, crews still do not understand the key navigation menus which is failing them during inspections. These modules train them in the top 20 inspectors’ questions.’

A reminder has been received for abstracts for ION GNSS+ 2017: GNSS + Other Sensors in Today’s Marketplace. This is the 30th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation.

The conference will take place from 25-29 September, 2017 (with Tutorials on 25 / 26 September) at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon.

ION GNSS+ 2017 is said to be the world’s largest technical meeting and showcase of GNSS technology, products and services, and will bring together international leaders in GNSS and related positioning, navigation and timing fields to present new research, introduce new technologies, update current policy, demonstrate products and exchange ideas.

The Airbus A400M Atlas, the Royal Air Force’s advanced tactical and strategic airlift aircraft, impressed the public, international air forces, and defence chiefs alike in New Zealand over the weekend 25/26 February.

This year marks the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s 80th anniversary and the RAF is proud to have been invited to take part in the celebrations at the Ohakea Air Tattoo.

Atlas, a highly-capable aircraft, provides a wealth of options in both operational and humanitarian environments. The aircraft played host to a meeting between the heads of the Royal New Zealand Air Force and of the Royal Air Force. Later, gifts were exchanged and both thanked the crew and engineers for bringing the aircraft 11,600 miles from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, to Ohakea to celebrate a great partnership between the two nations.

Trinity House welcomed The Rt Hon John Hayes to its Harwich (England, East Coast) depot on 23 February 2017, visiting in his capacity as the Minister of State for Transport, the Shipping Minister.

This visit served to familiarise the Minister with the functions and operations of Trinity House – specifically in its role as a General Lighthouse Authority – highlighting risk in UK waters and the Service’s ability to respond to that risk. He was able to take a close look at operational delivery and technological innovation.

With presentations by Trinity House executives and staff, Hayes’ visit also included the modern Planning Centre from which Trinity House operates and monitors its aids to marine navigation.

Designed, built, and operated by ASV Global, C-Worker 5 is a platform to support construction and survey operations in combination with advanced hydrographic, positioning and communication systems from leading manufacturers such as Kongsberg Maritime.

The 5.5metre loa ASV (illustrated) is designed for up to seven days’ endurance at survey speeds of up to 7 knots, minimising launch and recovery operations and increasing survey efficiency, it is claimed.

C-Worker 5 will be hosting a variety of Kongsberg Maritime systems during the demonstration at Ocean Business, including the EM2040P multi-beam echosounder; the Seapath 130 heading, attitude and position sensor, the MicroPAP compact and portable acoustic positioning system and maritime broadband radio. Underwater positioning will be provided by Kongsberg Maritime’s cNODE transponders. This selection of sensors will show C-Worker 5’s capabilities as a survey and subsea positioning platform and enable visitors to see the ASView® control system in action.

The (US) Institute of Navigation Satellite Division announced from Manassas, Virginia on 16 February the winners of the Seventh Annual ION Autonomous Snowplow Competition during the Saint Paul Winter Carnival.

ION’s Satellite Division held its Seventh Annual Autonomous Snowplow Competition on 26-29 January at Rice Park in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota in conjunction with the 131st Saint Paul Winter Carnival. Sponsored by the ION Satellite Division and held in cooperation with the ION North Star Section, the ION Annual Autonomous Snowplow Competition is an international event open to college and university students, as well as the general public, that challenges teams to design, build, and operate a fully autonomous snowplow using state of the art navigation and control technologies to rapidly, accurately and safely clear a designated path of snow. Eight of initial thirteen teams ended up successfully completing all the phases of the competition and participated in frigid, yet snowless, temperatures during the four day competition, each using use state of the art navigation systems such as LIDAR, optical navigation systems, inertial instruments, magnetic sensors, ultra wide-band radio reflectors, visual odometry, GNSS, and differential GPS.

On 8 February IAIN Secretary General Simon Gaskin signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Comité International Radio-Maritime (CIRM), led by Frances Baskerville, Secretary General. At the same time we welcomed CIRM as a Corresponding Member of IAIN and send good wishes for a long and fruitful association.

Established in 1928 CIRM exists to promote the application of electronic technology for the safety of life and efficient conduct of vessels at sea. Furthermore, the organisation strives to foster relations between all organisations concerned with electronic aids to marine navigation, communications and information systems.

The organisation, with its origins in Spain in 1928, was first formed by eight companies engaged in the application of radio to sea transport. It was reconstituted in Belgium in 1947 and subsequently moved to London where it is now based at 202 Lambeth Road, SE 1 within the same building as the Nautical Institute and not far from IMO where it has consultative status.

IAIN Corporate Member ECDIS Ltd have further developed their successful, not for profit, Annual Competency Assurance Training (ACAT) courses by introducing an offline version.

Listening to the requirements of many of their clients with little or no internet onboard, ECDIS Ltd have developed an efficient offline solution of all of ACAT courses, removing the need for constant internet connection. It is understood that the courses share the exact same content as their online counterparts. However the courses can be purchased and downloaded ashore or when Internet is available, and run on any Windows PC for up to 365 days, making this a highly versatile solution for many shipping companies, who do not yet have internet access at sea for their seafarers to complete their training needs when away from home/college.

The (US) ION announced from Manassas, Virginia, on 2 February 2017 its Executive Committee and Council for 2017-2019. Committee and Council consist of a wide range of professionals in the field of positioning, navigation and timing.

Lisa Beaty, Executive Director of ION commented: ‘ION is excited with the talented and distinguished group of professionals that hail from all segments of the PNT community who are giving their time to serve on the ION Executive Committee and Council.‘

The sixth meeting of the Resilient PNT Forum took place in Glasgow, prior to the Royal Institute of Navigation’s (RIN) International Navigation Conference (INC). Martin Bransby (GLA R&RNAV) chaired the meeting, which drew approximately 50 participants.

An address of welcome was given by Professor Yasou Arai (IAIN President). Martin Bransby read statements from Professor Bertrand Merminod (Chairman of EUGIN) and Michael Card (IALA Deputy Secretary General). The welcoming comments emphasised the need for resilient PNT and that it requires cooperation to succeed, not just cooperation in working together to promote resilience, but also between different navigation and timing systems.

The latest issue of The Navigator, number 14, published in the first week of February by The Nautical Institute, aims to raise awareness of the future of navigation technology. The Institute is working to introduce a standard setting (S-Mode) for all navigational systems and is inviting seafarers to contribute to a short online survey. S-Mode would help navigators operate and understand navigation functions in all vessels.

The S-Mode survey can be found at here and the results will be included in a report that will be presented to the IMO.

Emma Ward, Editor of The Navigator, said: ‘Imagine going to the bridge of a ship as a new arrival and finding that you are unfamiliar with the ECDIS or
radar systems. This could seriously affect competence and safety. That is why The Nautical Institute is joining with other organisations to urge the IMO to establish a single set of S-Mode guidelines, and why the topic of S-Mode is thoroughly explored in this issue of The Navigator.’

We send our congratulations to Professor Uri Shaked on his declaration as the winner of the 2017 Israel Prize in Engineering.

The President of the Israeli Association for Automatic Control (IAAC, a Full Member of IAIN) has sent the following for which we are most grateful:

Professor Uri Shaked from the Department of Electrical Engineering-Systems, The Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, is the recipient of the 2017 Israel Prize in Engineering.

Professor Shaked is a world-renowned leading scientist in control theory. His groundbreaking contributions to modern optimal control in the presence of uncertainties are pivotal in many engineering disciplines, ranging from automatic flight control to stability of distributed systems for energy management.

In common with many organisations we at IAIN have been requested by IMO to cooperate with promotion and to encourage the submission of nominations for the 2017 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea.

It is the aim of the organisers to reach a wider audience, which it is hoped, will bring to light further candidates who deserve to be nominated for this prestigious Award.
The promotional flyer contains two links: one for the guidelines (Circular Letter No.3676) and the other for the nomination form.

The inaugural World Transport Convention (WTC, flyer here), hosted by China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), Ministry of Transport of China (MOT) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), will focus on comprehensive, smart, green and safe transport with The Belt & Road initiative as a key highlight. This event will cover many technical aspects of transport systems, ranging from policy to construction, from management to cross-cutting issues.

WTC aims to establish an international platform for transportation researchers, practitioners and government officials to share academic ideas and findings, to exchange successful practices and managerial trials, and to explore business opportunities and global cooperation.

IAIN Member, China Institute of Navigation, is one of the main organizing bodies for WTC 2017 and the co-chair of the Organizing Committee is Dr Youfang Huang, President of China Institute of Navigation and President of Shanghai Maritime University.

ICAO Secretary General Dr Fang Liu participated in the 2017 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in week ending 21 January, contributing ICAO and aviation sector perspectives to panel discussions on the Future of Travel and the Roadmap to Clean Mobility.

Dr Liu was invited to join the inaugural WEF Board of Stewards meeting on the Shaping the Future of Mobility System Initiative, the objective of which was to accelerate the transformation to a clean, safe, secure, inclusive and smart global mobility system.

When mv Pearl Seaways departs Copenhagen on 31 January for her passage to Oslo, returning on 2 February, participants at the onboard conference known as e-Navigation Underway International 2017 will get a chance to learn more about EfficienSea2. Many project partners will be present at the conference to put focus on the future of e-Navigation.

This conference is co-hosted by IALA and the Danish Maritime Authority, both involved in the EfficienSea2 project, and is well-suited for highlighting latest developments in the work being carried out within EfficienSea2.

It is understood that there are some places available on this afloat conference and the organisers are doing much to ensure participants have access to the Maritime Cloud, to enable them to learn more about the first fully complete end-user service.