EP2571006B1 - Boat monitoring system - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a monitoring system for monitoring vessels of shipping traffic, comprising AIS ship-to-ship units and / or AIS ship receiving units for transmitting and / or receiving AIS radio signals containing vessel traffic data of shipping traffic. The invention also relates to a method for producing such a monitoring system and to a method for monitoring the shipping traffic for this purpose.

The monitoring of the worldwide increasing shipping traffic is based today predominantly on radar surveillance, intercom and the use of AIS (Automatic Identification System). Since 2000, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set the AIS as a binding standard in order to increase the safety of international shipping. This locally limited radio system serves to exchange navigation and other ship data, which should enable the ships to get a comprehensive overview of the neighboring shipping traffic. The primary goal is to avoid collisions between ships.

The AIS transmits alternately on two channels in the VHF maritime radio range, namely on one to 168.975 MHz and on the other to 162.025 MHz. The transmission of the individual AIS ship data takes place in fixed time frames, the assignment of which is coordinated independently by the respective participants becomes (so-called SOTDMA: Self-Organizing Time Division Multiple Access). Thus, there are only 2,250 time slots per minute for transmitting data to the individual subscribers.

Due to the FM band used, AIS radio range is approximately 40 to 60 km from ship to ship, which is a little more than normal visibility at sea. Coastal stations can cover a radius of up to 100 km due to their higher position. Due to the limited range and the SOTDMA transmission protocol used, ships that can see and receive each other form an AIS radio cell within which the participants can transmit and receive without collision.

Thus, the AIS is merely a local radio system that provides sufficient data for a ship on the high seas, but is not suitable for the worldwide survey of increasing shipping traffic. For shipping companies, shipping organizations or environment ministries, however, a timely collection of the worldwide AIS shipping data would be of great interest, in particular to counteract illegal activities on the high seas.

In recent years, attempts have been made to place AIS receive antennas on satellites so as to be able to receive the globally transmitted AIS radio signals that are regularly transmitted by the ships. While this would allow a worldwide survey of AIS shipping data, in practice it has considerable difficulties and disadvantages since the AIS has not been developed for satellite reception.

Due to the extremely high altitude of a satellite, a reception area with a diameter of approximately 5,000 km is generated. Since the AIS as local Radio system independently organized into individual radio cells, all of which transmit on the same frequency bands, it comes with such a large reception radius for receiving a plurality of radio cells with identical transmission frequencies. The AIS radio signals of the various AIS radio cells are thus superimposed on the receiver, which makes normal data processing impossible. Rather, the received radio signal must be processed consuming and computationally intensive in order to determine the individual AIS radio signals from the superimposed AIS radio signals can. With such a large reception area, however, this is no longer possible on the satellite alone, so that the signal processing on the earth's surface must be carried out in large data centers.

Furthermore, the AIS radio signals are severely disturbed by the atmosphere when they are received on the satellite, which significantly affects the signal quality and thus reduces the number of receivable and evaluable AIS radio signals.

These disadvantages caused by the satellite system finally lead to only a fraction of the AIS radio signals transmitted worldwide being receivable and evaluable with the aid of AIS receiving antennas arranged on the satellite, so that worldwide coverage is only possible to a limited extent. In addition, the use of satellites and the associated complex signal processing is very costly, so that for economic reasons alone the use of satellites for the reception of AIS radio signals seems questionable.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a monitoring system with which at least most of the AIS radio signals transmitted worldwide can be evaluated and timely evaluated.

• zumindest ein Teil der von den AIS-Schiffssendeeinheiten des Schiffsverkehrs ausgesendeten AIS-Funksignale von mindestens einer der auf einem Verkehrsflugzeug angeordneten AIS-Empfangseinheiten empfangbar sind und/oder
• die von mindestens einer der auf einem Verkehrsflugzeug angeordneten AIS-Sendeeinheiten ausgesendeten AIS-Funksignale von zumindest einem Teil der AIS-Schiffsempfangseinheiten des Schiffsverkehrs empfangbar sind,

wenn die Verkehrsflugzeuge in Richtung ihrer Bestimmungsorte im Luftverkehrsraum fliegen.This object is achieved with the monitoring system of the type mentioned According to the invention solved in that a plurality of AIS transmitting units and / or AIS receiving units are provided, which are arranged on commercial aircraft such that

• at least part of the AIS radio signals emitted by the AIS ship-to-ship units of vessel traffic can be received by at least one of the AIS receiver units arranged on a commercial aircraft and / or
• the AIS radio signals emitted by at least one of the AIS transmission units arranged on a commercial aircraft can be received by at least part of the AIS ship reception units of the vessel traffic,

when the airliners are flying towards their destinations in the aviation area.

Accordingly, it is proposed that conventional airliners are equipped with corresponding AIS transmitting units and / or AIS receiving units, which can then receive on their flight to their respective destinations the AIS radio signals emitted by the ships or also corresponding AIS radio signals using the Send out transmission units. Since conventional commercial aircraft usually have a much lower altitude than communication satellites, the possible reception range is much smaller and is approximately up to 350 km. This ultimately leads to fewer AIS radio cells can be received simultaneously, which reduces the superposition of the individual AIS radio signals and thus reduces the cost of signal processing after receiving the radio signals. In addition, the reception quality is increased due to the lower altitude of the commercial aircraft. Thus, the reception rate can be increased due to the smaller reception area. On the other hand, however, a sufficient plurality of AIS radio cells are still covered by a single AIS flight reception unit or AIS transmission unit, since the commercial aircraft usually have a cruising altitude of several thousand meters (usually between 8 and 12 km). The number of AIS radio cells that can be received in this case is sufficient to be able to derive a corresponding situation image.

The inventors have recognized that with a sufficient number of equipped commercial aircraft almost complete monitoring of the busy international shipping routes is possible because on the one hand most shipping routes are covered by the routes of the commercial aircraft and on the other hand due to the high volume of flights always a certain number of airliners in the air, ensuring the reception of AIS radio signals.

In addition, the equipment of commercial aircraft compared to the construction of a satellite system is much cheaper, since known technology can be used and the retrofitting can take place inexpensively on the ground.

Advantageously, in addition to the AIS transmitting and / or receiving units, AIS signal processing units are arranged on the respective commercial aircraft, which are set up for determining AIS radio signals from superimposed AIS radio signals of different AIS ship transceivers. Because of the lower altitude of the aircraft compared to the satellite and fewer SOTDMA cells are received, resulting in a lower superposition of the AIS radio signals from the individual cells result. Because of this, the signal processing or signal processing is much simpler, so that this would already be feasible on board the commercial aircraft. With the aid of an AIS signal processing unit, it is thus possible to calculate the individual AIS radio signals from the superimposed AIS radio signals of the different cells already during the flight of the airliner, and thus to base their further use.

Furthermore, it is particularly advantageous if an AIS data processing unit is provided on the commercial aircraft, which is set up to extract the vessel traffic data contained in the AIS radio signals. Thus, the received shipping traffic data from the AIS radio signals can already be determined during the flight of the airliner, so that they can be used for further use. For example, the shipping traffic data may now be forwarded to a ground station as AIS radio signals are sent back to the ships or transmitted to the ships using other communication and radio systems.

Advantageously, an AIS data memory for storing received shipping traffic data is provided on the commercial aircraft, in order to collect the received shipping traffic data, for example in the event of a lack of contact with a ground station. The AIS data memory can either store the AIS radio signals in raw format or store the vessel traffic data already extracted from the AIS radio signals as data records. Also, from other aircraft forwarded shipping traffic data can be stored in this data store for further use.

Advantageously, the AIS receiving units are designed such that they generate a time stamp when receiving shipping traffic data, which is then stored together with the vessel traffic data in the AIS data memory. Thus, in a later use of the vessel traffic data of the temporal aspect, in particular the age of the corresponding data, are taken into account.

It is particularly advantageous if the commercial aircraft have a communication unit which is used to transmit received and / or deposited Ship traffic data is set up at a receiving station directly or by using intermediate stations. Such a communication unit may be different from the AIS transmitting and / or receiving units in order to forward, for example, received shipping traffic data to other ships, aircraft, satellites or ground stations directly or using intermediate stations. For this purpose, it is advantageously possible to resort to already existing means of communication. Thus, vessel traffic data received by means of the AIS receiving unit on the commercial aircraft can also be transmitted to the ships by means of these already existing communication means, so that it is not absolutely necessary to have an AIS transmitting unit on the commercial aircraft.

Of course, the communication units other than the AIS are also adapted to receive vessel traffic data from a transmitting station in order, for example, to receive vessel traffic data from other aircraft, satellites or ground stations. This shipping traffic data, which receives a commercial aircraft via the communication unit can then be sent, for example, using the AIS transmission units to the ships of shipping in the transmission range of the AIS transmission unit of the airliner, which the situation and situation awareness of the individual ships within the reception area on the own reception and transmission horizon increased.

However, it is also conceivable that the AIS transmission units or AIS reception units or additional AIS transmitters and receivers already arranged on the commercial aircraft are used as communication means for communication with other stations such as commercial aircraft or satellites. Thus, for example, the already equipped with AIS satellites can be used as intermediate stations to exchange information about AIS between the aircraft and the satellites.

Due to the high number of civil air movements and the fact that most of the navigated and navigated shipping and aviation routes essentially coincide, a real-time AIS signal monitoring can be performed, such as by means of a ground station receiving the corresponding data , a worldwide awareness of the shipping traffic can be determined. In contrast, the current AIS satellite systems offer only a daily contact several times, with the number of actually receivable vessel traffic data is greatly reduced due to the overlapping signal problems.

By using commercial aircraft as transmitting and / or receiving stations for the transmission and / or reception of AIS radio signals, a worldwide spanning AIS surveillance network or surveillance system is formed by the aircraft, which allows a timely, global survey of AIS shipping traffic data. The intercommunication between the commercial aircraft and the exchange of the received shipping traffic data thus a comprehensive attitude awareness is possible.

Incidentally, the object is also achieved with a method for producing a monitoring system of the above by arranging AIS receiver units and / or AIS transmitter units on commercial aircraft.

• Empfangen von Schiffsverkehrsdaten enthaltenen AIS-Funksignalen, die von zumindest einem Teil der AIS-Schiffssendeeinheiten des Schiffsverkehrs ausgesendet wurden, mittels zumindest einer auf mindestens einem Verkehrsflugzeug angeordneten AIS-Empfangseinheit und/oder
• Aussenden von Schiffsverkehrsdaten enthaltenen AIS-Funksignalen, die von zumindest einem Teil der AIS-Schiffsempfangseinheiten des Schiffsverkehrs empfangbar sind, mittels zumindest einer auf mindestens einem Verkehrsflugzeug angeordneten AIS-Sendeeinheit,

wenn das mindestens eine Verkehrsflugzeug in Richtung seines Bestimmungsortes im Luftverkehr fliegt.In addition, the object is also achieved by a method for monitoring ships of a shipping traffic, which can transmit and / or receive AIS radio signals contained in the vessels by means of AIS ship-to-ship units and / or AIS ship receiving units arranged on the ships

• Receiving vessel traffic data contained AIS radio signals that have been sent by at least part of the AIS ship-ship units of shipping, by means of at least one on at least one Airliner arranged AIS receiver unit and / or
• Transmitting AIS radio signals contained in vessel traffic data which can be received by at least part of the AIS ship receiving units of the vessel traffic, by means of at least one AIS transmitting unit arranged on at least one airliner,

when the at least one airliner is flying in the direction of its destination in air traffic.

Advantageous embodiments of the method can be found in the corresponding subclaims.

Figur 1

- Blockdiagramm der AIS-Flugzeugeinheit;

Figur 2

- Darstellung der Funktionsweise des Überwachungssystems;

Figur 3

- Darstellung der Funktionsweise des Überwachungssystems bei mehreren gleichzeitig empfangbaren Funkzellen.

The invention will be explained in more detail by way of example with reference to the attached figures. Show it:

FIG. 1

- Block diagram of the AIS aircraft unit;

FIG. 2

- presentation of the functioning of the monitoring system;

FIG. 3

- Presentation of the functioning of the monitoring system with several simultaneously receivable radio cells.

FIG. 1 shows an AIS aircraft unit 1, as it can be used for arrangement on a commercial aircraft to form the monitoring system. The AIS aircraft unit 1 has an AIS transmission unit 2 and an AIS reception unit 3. The AIS transmission unit 2 and the AIS reception unit 3 are set up in such a way that they can transmit and receive AIS radio signals.

The AIS aircraft unit 1 further has a signal processing unit 4, which is connected to the AIS receiving unit 3. The AIS signal processing unit 4 is configured to process the superimposed AIS radio signals received by the AIS receiving unit 3 in such a way as to disperse the superimposed radio signals of different AIS radio cells. Thus, even when receiving a plurality of radio cells, which transmit on the same frequency band, the superimposed radio signals can be determined individually, whereby the reception rate is substantially increased.

The AIS signal processing unit 4 is further contacted with an AIS data processing unit 5 which receives as input the AIS radio signals processed by the AIS signal processing unit 4. The AIS data processing unit 5 of the AIS aircraft unit 1 now extracts the vessel traffic data contained in the received AIS radio signals from the Ships was sent out. This received vessel traffic data can now be sent out again via the AIS transmission unit 2 to the ships located in the transmission and reception area of the AIS aircraft unit 1, so as to increase the situational awareness of the ships, since a much larger transmitting and receiving area for the ships set up becomes. However, the extracted vessel traffic data may also be fed into an AIS data store 6, advantageously along with a receive timestamp to hold it for later use.

Finally, the AIS aircraft unit 1 also has a communication unit 7 different from the AIS radio system, so as to forward the received or deposited shipping traffic data to other aircraft or ground stations directly or by using intermediate stations such as satellites or other flying objects. In addition, vessel traffic data of other aircraft from other transmission and reception areas can also be received via this communication unit 7, so that a common transmission and / or reception area, which is composed of the individual transmission and reception areas of the respective AIS transmission units and / or AIS Receiving units is formed.

If, for example, the airliner arrives in the reception area of a ground station, it is for example quite advantageous if the vessel traffic data stored in the data memory 6 are now transmitted via the communication unit 7 to the ground station, so that a complete picture of the world-wide ship traffic can be established over time ,

FIG. 2 shows the operation of the monitoring system according to the invention. Commercial aircraft 21 and 22 are each equipped with an AIS aircraft unit 1, as in FIG. 1 shown. Each of these commercial aircraft 21 and 22 forms with the aid of this AIS aircraft unit 1 a transmitting and / or Reception area 21a, 22a, within each of which AIS radio signals from ships 23a, 23b, 24a, 24b received and corresponding signals can be sent to this.

Thus, a plurality of AIS transmission units and / or AIS reception units are provided which are used on a multiplicity of commercial aircraft to form a common transmission and / or reception area which consists of individual transmission and / or reception areas of the respective AIS transmission units and / or or AIS receiving units are arranged. The individual transmission and / or reception areas 21a and 22a of the respective commercial aircraft 21 and 22 thus form a common transmission and / or reception area for transmitting and receiving AIS radio signals when the commercial aircraft fly on their predetermined trajectories in the aviation space in the direction of their destinations ,

The vessel traffic data determined by the commercial aircraft 21 and 22 can be exchanged with each other via a first communication link 25, so that, for example, the commercial aircraft 22 receives vessel traffic data of the ships 23a, 23b of the transmitting and / or receiving area 21a. The airliner 22 may then provide these vessel traffic data to the vessels 24a, 24b of the transmit and / or receive area 22a formed by the airliner 22 via the AIS radio signals so that the ships 24a and 24b receive information about the vessels 23a and 23b, although they are located in another radio cell and outside the radio range of the AIS.

The communication link 25 is a direct communication link between the two commercial aircraft 21 and 22. It is also conceivable, however, a communication link 26, which takes place via a satellite connection.

In the vicinity of a ground station 27, it is also conceivable that the airliner 21 transmits each of the vessel traffic data received, either directly via the AIS radio signals or indirectly via other commercial aircraft 22, to this ground station 27, so that there is a worldwide situation picture of the Ships and shipping can be built. This is done by way of example via the communication link 28. However, it is also conceivable here that a satellite communication 26 is used for the communication with the ground station 27, so that 27 data can be transmitted to them outside the reach of the ground station.

FIG. 3 finally shows the operation of the monitoring system according to the invention in a commercial aircraft 31, which can receive at least two AIS radio cells 32 and 33. The participants of the first radio cell 32 are two ships 32a and 32b, while the participants of the second radio cell are two ships 33a and 33b. The participants of the radio cells 32 and 33 can not see each other and neither receive nor detect their corresponding transmitted AIS radio signals.

Due to the high altitude of the airliner 31, the airliner 31 may receive more than one radio cell, such as in FIG FIG. 3 represented by the reception of the two radio cells 32 and 33. Since, however, the subscribers of the respective radio cells transmit on the same frequency band, corresponding signal superimpositions arise upon receipt by the aircraft 31, since the subscribers of the respective radio cell 32 and 33 transmit on the same frequency bands. Therefore, the radio signal received by the airliner 31 must first be processed by signal technology in order to be able to individually determine the individual AIS radio signals emitted by the individual subscribers of the radio cells 32 and 33.

Once this has been done, the vessel traffic data of the subscribers 32a, 32b, 33a and 33b can be extracted from the AIS radio signals and thus stand of further use available. For example, the airliner 31 can now transmit AIS radio signals to the transmission and / or reception area 34 on its own, so that the subscribers of the first radio cell 32 can receive vessel traffic data of the subscribers of the second radio cell 33, although they do not receive them under normal circumstances could. The same applies to the participants of the second radio cell 33, the vessel traffic data of the participants of the radio cell 32 received from the airliner 31.

It is of course also conceivable that the vessel traffic data to be sent to the ships are also transmitted via alternative communication links, so that, for example, the AIS flight transmitting unit can be saved on the satellite.

As a result, situation and situational awareness can be increased for each individual ship, as now much more data and information is available than is possible under normal circumstances, since normally only an exchange of data among each other is assumed in the field of vision.

Claims (13)

1. Monitoring system for monitoring ships of a shipping traffic which

   - have AIS ship transmitting units for transmitting AIS radio signals which contain shipping traffic data of the shipping traffic, wherein a plurality of AIS receiving units (3) are provided which are arranged on commercial aircraft (21, 22, 31) in such a way that at least a portion of the AIS radio signals transmitted by the AIS ship transmitting units of the shipping traffic can be received by at least one of the AIS receiving units (3) arranged on a commercial aircraft (21, 22, 31), and/or

   - have AIS ship receiving units for receiving AIS radio signals which contain shipping traffic data of the shipping traffic, wherein a plurality of AIS transmitting units (2) are provided which are arranged on commercial aircraft (21, 22, 31) in such a way that the AIS radio signals transmitted by at least one of the AIS transmitting units (2) arranged on a commercial aircraft (21, 22, 31) can be received by at least a portion of the AIS ship receiving units of the shipping traffic,

   when the commercial aircraft (21, 22, 31) are flying in the direction of its destination in the air traffic area.
2. Monitoring system according to claim 1, characterized in that, in at least one commercial aircraft (21, 22, 31), an AIS signal processing unit (4) is provided which is set up to ascertain AIS radio signals from superimposed AIS radio signals of different AIS radio cells (32, 33) which have been received by the AIS receiving unit (3) arranged on the commercial aircraft.
3. Monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one commercial aircraft is provided with an AIS data processing unit (5) which is set up to extract the shipping traffic data contained in the AIS radio signals received by the AIS receiving unit arranged on the commercial aircraft.
4. Monitoring system according to one of the previous claims, characterized in that at least one commercial aircraft has an AIS data memory (6) for storing received shipping traffic data.
5. Monitoring system according to claim 4, characterized in that the AIS receiving unit arranged on the commercial aircraft is set up to generate a time stamp when receive the shipping traffic data and the AIS data memory are further arranged to store the generated time stamp in conjunction with the corresponding shipping traffic data.
6. Monitoring system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one commercial aircraft is provided with a communication unit (7) which is set up to transmit shipping traffic data to a receiving station directly or using intermediate stations and/or which is set up to receive shipping traffic data from a transmitting station.
7. Monitoring system according to Claim 6, characterized in that the intermediate, transmitting and/or receiving stations are a ground control station (27) for monitoring shipping traffic, other commercial aircraft and/or satellites located in the airspace and having a communication unit.
8. Monitoring system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the AIS transmitting unit in the commercial aircraft is designed to transmit AIS radio signals which contain at least the shipping traffic data received and/or stored in the respective commercial aircraft.
9. Method for establishing a monitoring system in accordance with one of claims 1 to 8, characterized by arranging AIS receiving units and/or AIS transmitting units on commercial aircraft.
10. Method for monitoring ships of a shipping traffic which

    - can transmit AIS radio signals containing shipping traffic data by means of AIS ship transmitting units arranged on the ships, with receiving of AIS radio signals containing shipping traffic data by means of at least one AIS receiving unit arranged on at least one commercial aircraft, and/or

    - can receive AIS radio signals containing shipping traffic data by means of AIS ship receiving units arranged on the ships, with transmitting of AIS radio signals containing shipping traffic data which can be received by at least a portion of the AIS ship receiving units of shipping traffic by means of at least one AIS transmitting unit arranged on at least one commercial aircraft,

    when the at least one commercial aircraft flies in a direction of its destination in air traffic.
11. Method according to claim 10, characterized by storing the received shipping traffic data in an AIS data memory arranged on the commercial aircraft and forwarding the stored shipping traffic data by means of a communication unit arranged on the commercial aircraft to a receiving station when the receiving station comes into radio range of the communication unit.
12. Method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized by receiving shipping traffic data transmitted from a transmitting station by a communication unit arranged on the commercial aircraft and transmitting AIS radio signals containing at least these shipping traffic data received from the transmitting station by means of the AIS transmission unit arranged on the commercial aircraft.
13. Method according to one of the claims 10 to 12, characterized by receiving AIS radio signals containing shipping traffic data from a first AIS radio cell (32) by means of the AIS receiving unit arranged on the at least one commercial aircraft and transmitting the shipping traffic data from the first AIS radio cell (32) to ships of at least one second AIS radio cell (33).

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