Responding to the need for a specialized PNT community job board, the Institute of Navigation has launched a new ION Online Job Board. This was reported by ION from its HQ in Manassas, Virginia on 1 June.

Lisa Beaty, ION Executive Director, commented: ‘To meet the burgeoning demand for a targeted talent pool specific to the PNT community, the new ION Online Job Board will help connect qualified job seekers with exciting and diverse employment opportunities for this niche audience, and in turn will help our corporate members continue to build talented teams to better ensure the success of their business.’

It was announced from Amsterdam on 27 May that the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) will provide Metron Aviation’s commercial demand prediction tool – Horizon – to global air navigation service providers (ANSPs) on a complimentary basis until the end of October 2020. It is understood that the enhanced information regarding traffic demand the tool provides will be particularly helpful to ensure efficient management of traffic flows as travel restrictions are lifted and air traffic levels restored.

Horizon is a web-based application that provides demand predictions for arriving, departing and en route aircraft based on scheduled, planned and actual data. The system combines flight plan and surveillance feeds to offer strategic, pre-tactical and tactical demand predictions for traffic flying through airspace. It will enhance ANSPs’ situational awareness and increase the predictability of airport and airspace usage.

As the world continues to be in quarantine, provision of aids to navigation are essential services vital for the safety of marine navigation and the continuous flow of trade be it food, fuel and medical supplies, along with the many other commodities and raw materials upon which we all depend daily.

One of IALA’s national members, the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) of India has produced a video reassuring the general public of their commitment to keeping their service fully operational and to ensure safety of marine navigation along India’s coastline despite the confinement.

In response to news in week ending 23 May of job cuts at Rolls-Royce, Andrew Bradley, Chair of the Aerospace Board at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, commented: ‘This week Rolls-Royce has announced plans to reduce its workforce by 9000, the vast majority of which will be in its Civil Aerospace division. This is a sad reflection of the hit to the Civil Aviation market by Covid-19. Boeing has estimated that for 2020 worldwide Revenue Passenger Kilometres will reduce by 50% from 2019 levels.’

On 18 May the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) reported that the 2019 Alexander Dalrymple Award has been presented to Vice-Admiral Vinay Badhwar, National Hydrographer to the Government of India, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Indian hydrography and across the wider Indian Ocean region.

As National Hydrographer, Vice-Admiral Badhwar has been a pivotal member of the International Hydrographic Organization’s Capacity Building Sub-Committee since its creation. He also leads the Indian Naval Hydrographic Office’s own regional Capacity Building programmes, coordinating efforts to help Indian Ocean coastal states to develop their hydrographic and cartographic capabilities – an important step to unlocking each of these states’ blue economies.

IFSMA calls upon Governments to adopt the ‘Framework of protocols for ensuring safe ship crew changes and travel during the COVID-19 pandemic’ without delay to allow ship owners and management companies to change over their dangerously tired crews.

Governments must act now in order to avoid personal injury to, and mental breakdown of, seafarers and avoid the significant risk of accidents and consequential danger to life and the environment.

IFSMA is receiving an increasing number of reports from its ship masters’ associations around the world concerned for the welfare and safety of crews and the increased risk with which they are operating in an already high risk environment. Seafarers are feeling let down and abandoned by their Governments.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial that all personnel involved are protected from infection, including those onboard ships and shore personnel who may need to temporarily go on ships or interact with seafarers. This message was emphasised by IMO on 14 May.

IMO has circulated World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on the safe and effective use of personal protective equipment (PPE), to support decisions on use of PPE to minimize the risks of COVID-19 infection for seafarers, marine personnel, fishing vessel personnel, passengers and others on board ships. This guidance also applies to shore personnel intending to go on board (such as pilots, port workers, port State control officers, ships’ agents and so forth); and when any of these people interact with each other.

To support decision making and risk assessment, IMO has also circulated practical measures to address COVID-19 risks for all people involved on ships and in ports when they may need to interact with each other,

While over a million flights fewer have operated across the European network compared with 2019 since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe, air traffic is now slowly starting to pick up. As the recovery slowly started, on 30 April, the first edition of the NOP 2020 Recovery Plan was published.

The Plan will be issued every Friday, and reviewed by video conference every Monday by operational stakeholders in the Ad hoc Enlarged NDOP Recovery Cell, a body that brings Europe’s Network ANSPs, airports, airlines and military Directors of Operations together to enhance performance and tackle issues on a network basis.

The second week of May marked a number of noteworthy milestones for US Naval Aviation and the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF).

Patrol Squadron (VP) 40 completed a Safe-For-Flight evaluation on 14 May for acceptance of their first P-8A Poseidon, the culminating event of a six-month transition from the P-3C Orion. VP-40 represents the twelfth and final active component VP squadron to transition from the P-3C Orion to the state-of-the-art P-8A Poseidon platform, a process that began eight years ago with VP-16 aboard NAS Jacksonville.

The last P-3C to return from that deployment now resides at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. The museum and MPRF leadership are in the planning stages of a formal ceremony and display.

From our Austrian member institute, the Österreichischer Verein für Navigation, we have received word of the latest issue of their regular publication, The Navigation Flashlight. It is published three times a year, currently in its twentieth year of publication and it is in German.

On 8 May US Naval Forces Europe-Africa / US Sixth Fleet Public Affairs reported that US guided-missile destroyers and a British frigate had departed the Barents Sea that day following seven days of Arctic operations.

As the Arctic continues to become more accessible to maritime traffic, naval proficiency in the region is critical to regional security, global commerce, and American national interests. The SAG’s operations provided the opportunity for Sailors to demonstrate their readiness for sustained Arctic operations in the unique and challenging environment.

This was announced by AMSA from Canberra on 5 May.

AMSA established its radiobeacon DGPS service in the 1990s, to improve the accuracy and integrity of GPS information for ships navigating off the coast of Australia. At the time, the publicly available GPS signal was intentionally degraded, resulting in large position errors of up to 200 metres. Augmentation was necessary to correct for these errors and meet minimum requirements for maritime positioning and navigation.

In the year 2000, the intentional error in GPS positioning was removed. Since then system technology has improved and the GPS constellation has been modernised. Observed positional accuracy for unaugmented GPS now consistently meets IMO requirements for accuracy in harbour and harbour-approach navigation.

In accordance with Article 7 of the Association’s Constitution, a meeting of the committee of Officers will take place virtually, by teleconference on 11 May 2020. This is instead of the meeting planned to take place during the European Navigation Conference 2020 in Dresden on the same date.

You are cordially invited to participate in GSC’20 – the annual meeting of graduate students in the field of Control and Systems Theory.

The event is organized by Professor A Khina and Professor M Margaliot from the School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, and will be held on-line on 4 May, 2020.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) are calling upon ship captains across the world to sound their ships’ whistles when in port at 1200 local time on International Workers’ Day, 1 May 2020, recognised in many countries around the world to celebrate and acknowledge the contribution of workers.

The initiative is especially seen in support of the ICS-ITF campaign to facilitate crew changes. It follows the ‘Horns of Hope’ solidarity campaign initiated by Abu Dhabi Ports, which calls upon ports worldwide to allow ships in port to sound their horns every day at 1830 local time, in support of all critical workers, including port workers and seafarers.

The organisation reported at the end of April that it seeks feedback on two Cyber Security documents which they published in February 2020:

– CIRM Cyber Risk Code of Practice for Vendors of Marine Electronic Equipment and Services

– CIRM Guideline GL-002 – Implementing the CIRM Cyber Risk Code of Practice

The Code of Practice consists of six guiding principles for vendors of marine electronic equipment and services to establish their role in providing a secure digital maritime environment. The Guideline GL-002 provides advice on implementing the Code of Practice.

As European governments plan their phased recoveries from the lockdown states triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the positioning delivered through satellite navigation is becoming more important than ever before. Location is a key requirement when attempting to monitor and map the spread of a disease and satnav is one of the main tools supporting this.

It was announced from HQ in Manassas Virginia, on 23 April that the IEEE/ION PLANS 2020, originally scheduled to take place in April, has been rescheduled and renamed IEEE/ION PLANSx 2020 for later in the year. IEEE/ION PLANSx 2020 is an outgrowth of the IEEE/ION Position Location and Navigation Symposium 2020 and will be hosted by ION GNSS+ 2020 from 23 to 25 September 2020 at the St Louis Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri.

IEEE/ION PLANS is the biennial technical conference that occurs in the spring of even numbered years where mission is to provide a forum to share the latest advances in navigation technology.

The (US) Institute of Navigation, the ION, has announced that nominations may be submitted for the Johannes Kepler Award 2020. The award is sponsored by the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation to honour an individual for sustained and significant contributions to the development of satellite navigation during their lifetime.

Nominations must be received by 30 June 2020. Submissions received after the closing date will not be considered.

The (US) Institute of Navigation informs that registration is now open for ION GNSS+ 2020 with the theme GNSS + Other Sensors in Today’s Marketplace. This is the 33rd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation and the world’s largest technical meeting and showcase of GNSS technology, products, and services.
ION GNSS+ 2020 will take place from 21 to 25 September at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, featuring Commercial and Policy tracks and Research tracks with over 36 technical sessions over 23 to 25 September plus a commercial exhibit. In addition, on 21 and 22 September ION GNSS+ 2020 will offer short courses on pre-conference tutorials to provide in-depth learning of specific GNSS-related disciplines and will again facilitate the CGSIC meeting.

Just how easy is it to hack a yacht these days, which systems are most vulnerable to attack and what can be done to help prevent the risks of it happening to your yacht? Readers may gain an understanding of what signs to look out for and which systems should be secured.

Campbell Murray will be speaking to Richard Hodder about a live hacking demonstration on a super yacht in 2017 – how easy was it then and how have things changed since.

On 7 April the EUROCONTROL Member States announced agreement on a financial package enabling airlines to defer the payment of up to €1.1 billion of air traffic control fees due for payment to Europe’s air traffic management industry in the coming months.

As a result of COVID-19, the number of flights operating daily in European airspace has declined by 90%. This dramatic reduction in operations is likely to continue for a number of weeks to come and therefore the airline industry had sought the support of EUROCONTROL Member States to help it deal with its sudden and significant cash flow crisis.

EUROCONTROL Member States agreed to help airlines operating in Europe by deferring their payments of air traffic control fees worth €1.13 billion for periods between seven and thirteen months. While this provides relief for one branch of the aviation industry, it clearly shifts the burden to ANSPs, who will find it difficult to maintain financial stability without further support.

CANSO therefore supports the related proposal adopted yesterday (13 April) which enables EUROCONTROL to apply for funding which guarantees a minimum level of financing for European ANSPs until September.

In the US the Institute of Navigation (ION) announces that the ION Joint Navigation Conference 2020 has been rescheduled to 8-11 September, at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center.

The US-only For Official Use Only (FOUO) sessions will be hosted at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Kentucky (right across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio), and the US-only secret sessions will be hosted at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), WPAFB in Dayton, Ohio. The rescheduled conference will host the original program, as previously scheduled in June.

It was announced from Amsterdam on 8 April that the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) and Aireon are to deliver an initiative to produce data-driven insights and analysis to better understand how COVID-19 is impacting a broad range of stakeholders within the aviation industry. Particular emphasis will be placed on how the pandemic is impacting the air traffic management (ATM) and the flow of essential goods and services.

This partnership comes at a time when the aviation industry faces a crisis unlike any throughout its history. Starting in March 2020 the aviation industry saw the erosion of traffic from a daily average of approximately 100,000 flights to just 32,000 flights on 4 April. Daily flight hours have fallen 78% from typical global averages captured in January 2020.

The air traffic management (ATM) industry is committed to offering critical air navigation services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes enabling the safe passage of vital repatriation and cargo flights through global airspace and delivery of medical support worldwide. This was reported in a communiqué from the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation.

While air traffic has reduced significantly in recent weeks due to measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the ATM industry is continuing to ensure air navigation services are available in all regions across the world.