An Important Mark of Quality
.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced on 1st April that all
224 of its member airlines, comprising 93% of all scheduled international air
traffic, are listed on the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registry.

It was announced from ICAO HQ in Montreal on 1st April that major
stakeholders of the world aviation community had signed a Declaration
calling for the rapid implementation of Performance-based Navigation
(PBN), a new air navigation concept that will contribute to further
improving the safety, efficiency and sustainability of the global air transport
system.

On 7th February the US Department of Homeland Security announced that it
is to begin implementing an independent national positioning, navigation
and timing system that complements GPS in the event of an outage or
disruption in service.

It was announced in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, on 16th March that HITT had
been selected by the Air Traffic Management Bureau of the People?s Republic of
China that it had been selected to supply a ground surveillance safety system to
Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, the second airport of Shanghai…

Radionavigation is a global business with a global footprint and the US
Global Positioning System (GPS) has been the jewel in the crown for nearly
a generation. The US has established such a level of trust in its operation of
GPS that governments, service providers, and users worldwide have
included it in their critical infrastructure, safety-critical, and mass-market
applications, and have decommissioned many other aids to navigation. In
making decisions on GPS and other systems, the international community
takes careful note of the US Federal Radionavigation Plan (FRP): ?the
official source of U.S. radionavigation policy and planning?.

IMO has used its navigational warning system to advise of an experimental communications satellite launch by the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea (DPRK). In a letter sent to IMO on 11th March 2009, the Maritime Administration of the DPRK said that the launch would take place between 4th and 8th April between the hours of 0200 and 0700 (UTC). The letter also identified the co-ordinates of two potential dangerous areas (see below), in the Sea of Japan and the Northern Pacific Ocean, which ships should avoid during those times.

The European Commission and the European Space Agency look forward to firstrate
co-operation to bring the European satellite radio navigation project to a
successful conclusion, it has been reported.

On 10th February the Commission Vice-President responsible for transport,
Antonio Tajani, met Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European
Space Agency, in order to give official endorsement to their continued cooperation in the Galileo programme. This meeting comes after the signing of a
delegation agreement covering Galileo?s deployment phase by the European
Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) on 19th December 2008 .

Vienna 16th February 2009

IAIN was represented by Elisabeth Klaffenboeck (OVN), participants were:
the European Community, the United States, the Russian Federation, Japan,
the People?s Republic of China, Italy, India, the European Space Agency,
the Bureau international des poids et measures (BIPM), the International
Association of Institutes of Navigation (IAIN), the European Position
Determination System (EUPOS) and the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU).

On October 31, 2008 the XXVI General meeting of the International Academy
of Navigation and Motion Control (ANMC) was held in Moscow. At present
384 persons are the members of the Academy, and it has the branches in
Russia (St. Petersburg, Moscow, Perm, Saratov and Tula) and in the Ukraine.
Among the Academy members beyond the branches there are 24 notable
scientists from the USA, Germany, France, Canada, South Korea, China,
Turkey, Serbia and India.

The Formal Board dates are 14th and 15th May and 5th and 6th November
with the same Thursday and Friday combination for the formal
meeting, and one preparatory day the Wednesday before. There has been much
good work conducted by the Board over the last two years, and Dr. AJ Oria is
finalizing the PNT Board Report from the 1st charter period
2007-2008.

The international symposium CERGAL (CERtification of GALileo System &
Services), jointly organised by the German Institute of Navigation (DGON)
and GZVB, takes place on 18th and 19th March 2009.

The ENRI International Workshop on ATM/CNS (EIWAC2009) will be
organized by the Electronic Navigation Research Institute with the
support of the Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan. The workshop will open
on 5th March 2009 at the Otemachi Sankei Plaza, Tokyo, and conclude
the following day.

The 2008 Federal Radionavigation Plan published by the Department of
Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of
Transportation was issued on 26th January 2009.
The document can be found on the Web site: www.pnt.gov see column
one, click on ?Public Releases,? see centre column ?2009 Releases? and
the date ?Jan 26 Federal Radionavigation Plan.?

Malaysia
It was announced on 5th February that Saab TransponderTech has been awarded a
contract to supply a coastal Automatic Identification System (AIS) network for the
east coast of the Malaysian peninsula and an integration of all AIS systems in the
country.

We are very happy to present you our new website. Please also consider this announcement as an invitation to contribute to our common goals. We have build in a platform four YOUR contribution on our website. We invite you to send in opinions, ideas, concerns, or any other information that relates to the objectives of the IAIN.
You can share with us by sending an e-mail with your contribution to the IAIN webmaster.

On 22nd December 2008 the US Coast Guard’s Acquisition Directorate announced the award of a contract to Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Systems Corporation to deliver the core Nationwide Automatic Identification System data exchange capability.

VT Communications (VTC), part of VT Group plc announced on 28th
October at the RIN-ILA Conference that it had been awarded a GBP 4 million
contract by the General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) to upgrade and
enhance 14 Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) reference
stations in the UK and Ireland. The DGPS system operated by GLAs
delivers correction messages to maritime users, providing dramatically
improved accuracy and integrity of navigation around the UK coast.

The meeting was held in the newly refurbished IMO headquarters in July with a very heavy agenda.
The dominating issue concerned the mandatory carriage of Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) which had been under discussion for some years. After very considerable debate mandatory carriage was finally agreed for new ships after 2012 of size 500 gross tonnage for passenger ships and 3,000 gross tonnage for cargo ships. A timescale for existing ships down to 10,000 gross tonnage for cargo ships was agreed extending out to 2018. A further mandatory carriage requirement was agreed for a Bridge Navigational Watch Alarm System for passenger ships and cargo ships of 150 gross tonnage starting from 2011.

The United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) issued an update in July.

On 8th July an Agreement was signed in Prague enabling the Czech Republic’s accession to the ESA Convention. Signatories were Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA, and Mirek Topolanek, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic already has a strong tradition of space exploration. For example, Vladimir Remek of Czechoslovakia went into space in 1978. Since the early 1990s, ESA has negotiated and concluded framework co-operation agreements with a number of central and eastern European countries. The Czech Republic signed such a Co-operation Agreement with ESA in 1996, requesting more specific collaboration.

A further step towards the deployment of Europe?s Galileo global navigation satellite system was taken on 27th April with the successful launch of ESA?s second Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element (GIOVE-B) satellite, carrying what has been described as the most accurate atomic clock ever flown into space. The GIOVE-B satellite was lofted into a medium altitude orbit around the earth by a Soyuz/Fregat rocket departing from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by launch operator Starsem. Lift-off occurred at 04:16 local time on 27th April (00:16 Central European Summer Time).

The 2008 IAIN Officers’ Meeting was held on 22-Apr-2008 in Toulouse.

Since the last meeting of IAIN Officers, the principal item on the ICAO Agenda has been the 36th (triennial) Assembly of Member States, Montreal 18-28th September 2007. The Assembly sets the work program, and agrees the budget for ICAO for the next 3 to 6 years. With the decline in the value of the US dollar, and increasing demands made on the Organization in the fields of Air Safety, Aviation Security, and Environmental Protection, ICAO has been facing a severe budget challenge. This is being met by internal reorganization, and refocus of resources to priority action programs against deliverables and performance standards, with reduced emphasis on the more traditional industry standard setting role.

Review of COLREGS regarding the right of way of vessels over pleasure craft.

The next IAIN Officers’ Meeting will be held on 22nd April 2008 in Toulouse, France.
Captain Rein van Gooswilligen MSc MBA FRIN provides us with an update on IMO activities.