Introduction to

Spire Maritime’s
Small Vessel Tracking
(SVT) Service

© Spire Global Inc., 2024. Strictly Confidential and Proprietary - Not to be Further Disseminated
Background

Confidential and proprietary – disclosure subject to restrictions on cover page.

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A world-wide problem – safety of life
This boat, with a crew of ~20, will sail out 100
miles from the coast of Ghana, and fish for five
days. Apart from cell phones, and the outboard
engine, it carries no navigational aids.

Some do not return home . . .

Confiden'al and proprietary – disclosure subject to restric'ons on cover page. 3

A world-wide problem – small-scale fisheries
As development takes place under the ‘blue economy’ umbrella, small-scale
fishers are typically overlooked. Often ranking amongst the most marginalised
groups in many countries around the world, they face myriad social, ecological
and economic challenges.

Catch traceability, as part of local ‘hook to cook’ initiatives, can enhance

fishers’ financial position, market visibility and status. It can also assist in
positive small-scale local fisheries management.

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A world-wide problem – maritime security

Smuggling people, drugs, arms and resources

(e.g. rosewood) is endemic world-wide and
often involves small vessels

Similarly, IUU fishing is a global issue, and small

boats are often involved

Tracking in near real time assists with all of

these, especially if the carriage of a suitable
tracking device for small vessels is mandated
(e.g. Madagascar and Mauritius)

Confiden'al and proprietary – disclosure subject to restric'ons on cover page. 5

‘Hook to Cook’ and Financial Incentivisation

• As well as ‘hook to cook’ concepts, there are other financial incentivisation initiatives, e.g. in Zanzibar, the anchovy
fishing fleet will be paid more for their catch if they provide catch traceability than if they do not
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Work Boat Tracking
• SVT does not have to be used for small scale fishing boat tracking – it can be used for work boats not easily detected on satellite AIS.
• For example, the Malaysian company (Hai Iain) owns a small fleet of tugboats that they hire out across SE Asia. The boats do have Class
B AIS transceivers onboard, but are very rarely seen via satellite AIS. This means the company loses sight of them once they are
travelling outside T-AIS range (although of course they may be detected by D-AIS now and then).
• The company had been using LRIT terminals and associated services. However, this is very expensive and if they don't poll the terminals
(which costs) they only get a position update every few hours (LRIT has a base annual subscription cost too).
• Spire SVT transponders have now been installed on each tug, and these transmit regular real-time position reports. The transponder
uses the boat's existing MMSI, but does not interfere with the boat's existing AIS as SVT uses the ASM-1 channel.
• The satellite hit rate for SVT in SE Asia is very good and therefore now gives the company real-time frequent updates as to their
fleet's deployments, wherever the boats are.

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Service Overview

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Introduction to Spire Real-Time S-AIS
• Spire Global Inc, founded in 2012 and with offices around the world, operates AIS payloads on the Iridium
NEXT satellite constella9on, providing real-9me access to global AIS data from AIS-equipped vessels,
wherever they are operaHng in the world.

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Introduction to ‘Automatic Identification System’ (AIS)
• AIS is a VHF radio-based safety system (i.e. collision avoidance), but also provides real-<me tracking informa<on from AIS-
equipped vessels.
• AIS is an interna<onal standard and is mandated by the IMO for all ships over 300 GTs in interna<onal waters
• AIS-equipped vessels carry an AIS transceiver that transmits a set of standard messages providing informa<on on loca<on,
speed, course, etc. These are detected by neighbouring vessels and coastal and satellite receivers
• terrestrial AIS (T-AIS) requires coastal receivers to detect AIS-equipped boats (nominally within a ~30 nau<cal mile range)
• satellite AIS (S-AIS) however, provides global tracking, without the need for coastal AIS infrastructure
• Spire provides its real-time S-AIS data to end users within one minute of transmission
and a satellite is generally overhead at any location in the world every few minutes

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Benefits of Using S-AIS for Small-Scale Fishing & Work Boats

i. provides real-time tracking information to end users, with boat

positions being reported many times an hour – supports legal
activity and fisheries management
ii. supports safety of life, both through transponder SOS
functionality and collision avoidance. Anecdotal evidence from
West and East Africa confirms that bigger boats will avoid small
fishing boats equipped with AIS
iii. provides a very cost-effective system compared to a full satellite-
based industrial VMS – AIS transponders are generally cheaper to
procure than typical VMS terminals, and the airtime charges for
AIS can be considerably less than satellite-based VMS.

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Spire’s SVT Service for Small-Scale Fishing and Work Boats
• Full ‘Class A’ AIS transceivers are expensive, and require integration
with a ship’s bridge systems
• ‘Class B’ AIS transceivers are simpler and cheaper, but also require
some integration and on-board power; they also transmit at less
power than Class A devices, such that they can be harder to detect
by satellite AIS
• Spire has therefore partnered with several AIS equipment
manufacturers to develop ‘SVT’
• SVT is a combination of low-cost battery / solar-powered AIS
transponders (extremely easy to deploy on any boat, from non-
powered pirogues to semi-industrial / industrial vessels), single-slot
binary messages (supports high satellite detection rates of low
power transmission devices) and use of the ASM-1 VHF channel for
satellite reception (less noisy than AIS channels)

Confidential and proprietary – disclosure subject to restrictions on cover page. 12

End to End & Simple to Use Service

SVT
transponder

NB: SVT transponders’ standard Class B AIS transmissions are op8onal

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Detection Rates
• SVT satellite detecIon rates on ASM-1 are very high in most areas
of the world – with mul$ple real-$me posi$on reports an hour /
every hour
• Example QoS from MauriIus:
Mean position report count per hour 42

Mean interval between position reports (minutes) 1.25

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Example Deployments
• SVT is operational in Tristan da Cunha (rock lobster boats), Brazil
(river pilots) and Malaysia (tugboats) and has been operational
in South Africa (all small-scale fishing boats), Ghana and the
Gambia (semi-industrial fleets).
• SVT has been evaluated positively in the Comoros, Sierra Leone
& Liberia via World Bank funding
• successful trials, via UK government funding, have also been held
in Madagascar, Senegal, the Seychelles, Zanzibar, Mauritius,
Mozambique, and Namibia.
• Spire is currently trialing the service with local partners in Kenya,
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the USA and Peru

Confidential and proprietary – disclosure subject to restrictions on cover page. 15

Other SVT Service Elements
• data access via ‘ShipView’ (web data viewer) or via direct NMEA data stream / Spire web service APIs into
3rd party data systems
• SOS service – visual alerts in ShipView and optional SMS / email alerts
• smarteTrax – Android and Apple smartphone app for data viewing
• traxSMS – SMS service for retrieving latest vessel position information

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SVT SOS Service
• If the SOS bu+on on an SVT device is ac6vated, then:
- The transponder will transmit a standard AIS safety message (Message 14). As
this is an interna6onal standard, a Message 14 can be detected by neighbouring
boats equipped with AIS, coastal AIS base sta6ons and Spire’s satellites
- Message 14’s are included in Spire’s data stream
- ShipView / smarteTrax users will see an SOS alert automa6cally ac6vated on their
screen – the latency for this will be no more than 2-3 minutes
- In addi6on, ShipView / smarteTrax users will receive hourly alerts as an SMS texts
to a registered phone and/or an email to a registered account.

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Configuration Options – Transmission Modes
Normal Repor8ng Mode SPIRE satellites
Option 1 - Using a SVT (supports collision avoidance):
transmitter in Dual AIS / ASM exactTrax Msg
ASM Transmission
Mode SPIRE satellites
local vessels SVT transmitter
AIS Msg 18
coastal base stations
VTS

Emergency Reporting Mode SPIRE satellites

(uses international AIS standard):
ASM exactTrax SOS Msg

SPIRE satellites
local vessels SVT transmi-er
AIS Msg 14
coastal base staEons
VTS

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Configuration Options – Transmission Modes
Normal Repor8ng Mode SPIRE satellites
Option 2 - Using a SVT (private repor8ng):
transmitter in ASM Only ASM exactTrax Msg
Transmission Mode
SVT transmi-er

Emergency Reporting Mode SPIRE satellites

(uses international AIS standard):
ASM exactTrax SOS Msg

SPIRE satellites
local vessels SVT transmitter
AIS Msg 14
coastal base stations
VTS

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Configuration Options – Track History

Message 18 at T0
Message 18 at T0 – 15 minutes
Message 18 at T0 – 30 minutes

SV
Tt
Posi%on at T0

ra
ns
m
Posi%on at T0 – 15 minutes

is s
io
Posi%on at T0 – 30 minutes

n
T0 - 30 T0 - 15 T0

T0 – 15 minutes and T0 – 30 minutes are default values – can be changed on a device basis

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SVT Devices

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SVT-Enabled Class B AIS Transponders
(typically for use on unsophisticated small vessels without onboard power / infrastructure)

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(i) ‘AngelFish’ Class B AIS / ASM Transponder with SVT

• Hybrid Class B AIS / ASM Transponder

• Solar-Powered BaPery – lasts 10 days from full
charge if no sun
• Few hours of reasonable sunlight a day / every other
day will maintain charge – ‘fit and forget’
• MounEng bracket
• Transmits at 2 WaPs
• SVT-compliant
• SOS Alert FuncEon
• AIS transmissions can be disabled
• Manufactured in South Africa

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(ii) ‘VMS TrackPro’ Class B AIS / ASM Transponder with SVT

• Hybrid Class B AIS / ASM Transponder

• Battery – lasts 4-5 days from full charge
• ‘Power Box’ available for connection to on-board
12-24 Volt DC power source
• Power box also acts as charging unit if the
transponder is manually charged
• Transmits at 2 Watts
• SVT-compliant
• external solar panel option available
• SOS Alert Function
• AIS transmissions can be disabled
• Manufactured in Germany

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(iii) ‘TB560’ Class B AIS / ASM Transponder with SVT

• Hybrid Class B AIS / ASM-1 Transponder

• Battery – lasts ~5 days from full charge
• Supplied with an AC to 12 Volt DC adaptor for manual
charging
• Adapter can be removed for direct wiring into on-board
12V DC power source
• Transmits at 2 to 5 Watts
• SVT-compliant
• External solar panel option available
• SOS Alert Function
• AIS transmissions can be disabled
• Bluetooth enabled
• Manufactured in Taiwan

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(iv) ‘KSNT33’ Class B AIS Transponder with SVT

• Class B AIS Transponder

• Two models available – with external antenna or
integral antenna
• Battery – lasts ~6 days from full charge
• Supplied with an AC to 12 Volt DC adaptor for
manual charging
• Transmits at 5 to 12 Watts
• SVT-compliant
• External solar panel option available
• SOS Alert Function
• Manufactured in China

Confidential and proprietary – disclosure subject to restrictions on cover page. 26

(v) ‘i-ais-TRK’ Class B AIS Transponder with SVT

• Class B AIS Transponder

• Battery – lasts ~3 days from full charge
• Supplied with an AC to 12 Volt DC adaptor for manual charging
• Transmits at 5 Watts
• SVT-compliant
• SOS Alert Function
• AIS transmissions can be disabled
• Manufactured in Turkey

Confiden'al and proprietary – disclosure subject to restric'ons on cover page. 27

SVT-Enabled Class B AIS Transceivers
(typically for use on Class B vessels with onboard power / infrastructure, but operating in areas where Class B
satellite detection rates can be low)

Confidential and proprietary – disclosure subject to restrictions on cover page. 28

Current SVT Platforms – powered Class B AIS Transceivers

Widelink B600 / Camino 108 KS-200A / KS200A_SART

(manufactured in Taiwan) (manufactured in Hong Kong)

• All of these require on-board power to operate and need to be attached to separate GPS and VHF antennas
• As full Class B transceivers, they can all be connected to on-board chart plotters, etc.
• Note that the AMEC B600 and Onwa KS-200A products are 5 watt SOTDMA devices and therefore can also transmit AIS Message 27
position reports on the AIS-3 and AIS-4 channels

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Summary
• SVT benefits:
- tried and tested in Africa, SE Asia, Latin America and Oceania; currently operational in Africa
- airtime charges very inexpensive and excellent QoS in most areas of the world
- wide range of transponders/transceivers available – most are solar powered - all easy to deploy on any type of
boat (even very simple artisanal fishing boats)
- based on an international maritime standard, so supports safety of life ‘out of the box’
- will support catch reporting / catch traceability
- very low data latency (generally < 1 minute), i.e. real time tracking
- wide range of data access services:
- data can be viewed / downloaded via Spire’s real-time data display ‘ShipView’ application and viewed on
Spire’s ‘smarteTrax’ smartphone app
- data available via a variety of services to end users for integration into third-party systems
- SVT devices can be configured to transmit on ASM only and can therefore act as VMS terminals if data privacy is
required

Confidential and proprietary – disclosure subject to restrictions on cover page. 30

Thank you / Merci / Gracias

Confidential and proprietary – disclosure subject to restrictions on

cover page.contact Richard Proud (richard.proud@spire.com) – Director, Advanced Maritime Applications
For further information, please

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