GMDSS

Capt.Vikrant Nagarkar
 GMDSS
• Safety of life at sea is the highest concern in the shipping
industry and therefore several norms and regulations have
been laid down to meet the minimum level of safe operation
and procedures to avoid any mishap. In spite of all the
regulations, some accidents are hard to avoid. Thus, SOLAS
clearly describes the minimum criteria for Global Maritime
Distress Safety System (GMDSS) so during a mishaps or
accidents, maximum number of lives can be saved.
• All the ship travelling in international seas must comply with
the SOLAS chapter IV for a smooth and clear operation of
distress system all over the world.
 Basic Concept of GMDSS
• The basic concept of the GMDSS is that search and rescue authorities
ashore, as well as shipping in the immediate vicinity of the ship in
distress, will be rapidly alerted to a distress incident so they can assist in
a co-ordinated search and rescue operation with the minimum of delay.
• When a ship uses GMDSS, it basically sends a distress signal via a
satellite or radio communication equipment. It's also used as a medium
for sending or receiving maritime safety information and general
communication channel.
 SOLAS Requirement of GMDSS
• Transmission of distress signal from ship to shore by at least two separate and independent
methods
• Every ship under GMDSS must have at least two separate communication method for ship to shore
distress transmission from the following-
 EPIRB, Digital Selective Calling (DSC), Inmarsat C.
• Receiving of distress alert from shore to ship
• Every ship under GMDSS must be capable of receiving shore to ship warnings and distress alerts by
either of two means- DSC and NAVTEX.
• Transmission and receiving of distress alerts in between ship to ship
• Every ship under GMDSS must be capable of transmitting and receiving distress signal between ship
to ship by two methods – VHF channel 13 and DSC.
• Transmission and receiving of search and rescue coordinating communications
• Every ship under GMDSS must be capable of receiving and transmitting search and rescue
coordinating communications by any of the following means- NAVTEX, HF/MF/VHF, Inmarsat.
• On scene communication transmission and receiving
• Every ship under GMDSS must meet the requirements to co-ordinate search and rescue and other
distress communication in between vessels at the scene of incident. Normally MF/HF or VHF is
used.
 GMDSS EQUIPMENTS
• List of GMDSS Equipments: • GMDSS EQUIPMENTS
• Emergency position-indicating radio
beacon (EPIRB)
• NAVTEX.
• Satellite.(INMARSAT C)
• High frequency (HF DSC/RT)
• Search and rescue locating device.
(SART & EPIRB)
• Digital selective calling.(VHF/MF/HF
DSC/RADIO TELEPHONE)
• Power supply requirements.(110-220v
50-60hz – 24v/12v)
• GMDSS radio equipment required for
coastal as well as ocean voyages
depending upon sea areas the vessel
trading.
 
 Area Coverage of GMDSS
AREA RANGE EQUIPMENT
A1 20 to 50 M VHF DSC
A2 50 to 400 M VHF + MF
A3 70° N to 70° S VHF + MF + One INMARSAT
A4 Above 70° N or S HF + MF + VHF
 What is VHF/MF/HF Frequency Band

• To understand the frequency band, following are the

ranges with regard to the frequencies in a specific band:
• Medium Frequencies: 300 KHz to 3 MHz
• High Frequencies: 3 MHz to 30 MHz
• Very High Frequencies: 30 MHz to 300 MHz
• Very High Frequencies (VHF)
 Elements of GMDSS
• The different elements of GMDSS are as follows:
•  INMARSAT:  It is a Satellite operated system that includes ship earth station terminals – Inmarsat B, C
and F77. It provides telex, telephone and data transfer services between ship-to-ship, ship to shore, and
shore to ship along with a priority telex and telephone service connected to shore rescue centres.
• NAVTEX: NAVTEX is an internationally adopted automated system which is used to distribute MSI-
maritime safety information, and includes weather forecasts and warnings, navigational warnings, search
and rescue notices and other similar safety information. (518 Khz)
• Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB): EPIRB is an equipment to help determine the
position of survivors during a SAR operation. It is a secondary means of distress alerting. Read about 
EPIRB here.(406.025 Mhz 121.5 Mhz homing signal for aircraft)
•  Search and Rescue Locating Equipment: Primarily the Search and Rescue Radar Transponder. This is
used to home Search and Rescue units to the position of distress which transmits upon interrogation. Read
about Search and Rescue equipment here.
•  Digital Selective Calling (DSC): This is a calling service between ship to ship, ship to shore or vice versa
for safety and distress information mainly on high or medium frequency and VHF maritime radio.
•  NBDP (Narrow Band Direct Printing) is a telex. A way to communicate with text rather than by voice. It
is said that NBDP was introduced in the GMDSS to help seafarers whose first language was not English.
They did not have to speak to broadcast their distress message, instead they could type and send.
INMARSAT & COSPAS SARSAT
 Documentation required for GMDSS
• Ship’s Radio License
• Radio Operators Certificates
• Safety Radio Certificate
• GMDSS Radio Log Book
• ITU List of Cell Signs and Numerical Identities of Stations used by Maritime
Mobile and Maritime Mobile Satellite Services
• ITU List of Coast Stations
• ITU List of Ship Stations
• ITU List of Radio determination and Special Service Stations
• Antenna Rigging Plan
• Valid Shore Based Maintenance Certificate
International Marine/Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT)
 (INMARSAT)
• The Inmarsat system consists of three components:
• (1) the space segment and its support structure;
• (2) gateway earth stations for maritime, land, and aeronautical mobile satellite services
(respectively MMSS, LMSS and AMSS); and
• (3) Mobile terminals of various classes suitable for operation on all kinds of vehicles.
Earth segment includes:

• 1. Control and management facilities for satellite constellation:

• 2. System control and management facilities:
Network Operation Center – NOC), main and reserve. NOC is responsible
for general performance of Inmarsat system.
• 3. Land Earth Stations
Land Earth Stations (LES) — belong to national operators of Inmarsat network and
provide switching of subscribers terminals with land line networks  (PSTN, Internet, x-25,
Telex).
 INMARSAT
Inmarsat system operates within
frequency ranges allocated by the
International Telecommunications
Union for mobile satellite service.
For communication with subscriber
terminals L-frequency is used,
including:
direction «Earth —
satellite»    1626.5-1660.5 MHz
direction «satellite – Earth» 1525.0-
1559.0 MHz
Feeder lines operate within C-range:
direction «Earth —
satellite»     6425-6450 MHz
direction «satellite – Earth»    3600-
3623  (3600-3630) MHz
Difference between INMARSAT & EPIRB
EPIRB(EMERGENCY POSITION
INDICATING RADIO BEACON) • The objective of this system is accomplished through the use
of four LEOSAR (Low earth Orbit) Cospas-Sarsat
satellites which receive the transmissions of radio-beacons
operating on 406.025 and 121.5 Mhz and relays to Ground
Stations (LUT's: Local User Terminals) on 1544.5 Mhz
and GEOSAR (Geostationary Earth Orbit) satellites which
receive the 406.025 Mhz transmission from beacons and
relays the data to GEOLUT's.
• The EPIRB signals are detected by COSPAS-SARSAT polar
orbiting satellites (LEOSAR) at a distance of 1000 km from
earth, equipped with suitable receivers / processors. Each
Satellite makes a polar orbit of Earth in 100 Minutes. From
any point on earth the satellite is in view for 15 minutes.
• COSPAS-SARSAT EPIRB The signals received by the
satellite are then relayed to a ground receiving station,
termed a Local User Terminal (LUT), which processes the
signals and calculates the position of the EPIRB using
Doppler shift Principles (using relative motion of the satellite
with respect to the EPIRB).
• An alert is then sent to a Mission Control Centre which then
contacts the appropriate MRCC of the SRR (Search and
Rescue Region) in which the EPIRB is located to initiate
SAR activities.
BNWAS (Bridge
Navigational Watch
Alarm System)
A Bridge Navigational
Watch Alarm System,
abbreviated BNWAS, is an
automatic system which
sounds an alarm if the watch
officer on the bridge of a
ship falls asleep or becomes
incapacitated, or is absent
for too long a time. The
BNWAS is automatically
engaged when the ship's
autopilot is activated.
LRIT (Long Range
Identification Tracking)
The Long-Range Identification and
Tracking (LRIT) system provides for
the global identification and tracking
of ships.
The LRIT system consists of the ship
borne LRIT information transmitting
equipment, the Communication
Service Provider(s), the Application
Service Provider(s), the LRIT Data
Centre(s), including any related
Vessel Monitoring System(s), the
LRIT Data Distribution Plan and the
International LRIT Data Exchange.
 GPS
GPS- consist of 24 Orbiting satellites,
The GPS signal consist of a Pseudo
random code, ephemeris &Almanac
data.
The Pseudo random code identifies the
Satellite because each satellite is having
unique code.
Ephemeris data is constantly transmitted
by each satellite and contains important
information such as status of satellite,
current date, and time.
The Almanac data tells GPS receiver
where each satellite should be at any
time throughout the day. Each satellite
transmit almanac data showing the
orbital information for that satellite and
for every other satellite in the system.
 Difference between LRIT & AIS

LRIT AIS
• Long Range Identification and Tracking • Automatic Identification System
• All ships of 300 GT and above on International • All ships of 300 GT and above on International
voyages, and all ships of 500 GT on coastal voyages voyages, and all ships of 500 GT on coastal voyages
are to be fitted with LRIT are to be fitted with AIS
• Any Indian Registered Ship on Indian Coast of 1600 • Any vessel of more than 100 GT or 20 meters in
GT and less is not required to carry LRIT length along Indian coast is required to carry AIS
• LRIT works on satellite Communication • AIS works on VHF communication
• No Fixed Channel • AIS has 2 dedicated channels 87B and 88B
• Worldwide coverage is available for LRIT • Coverage for AIS is 35-40 nautical miles
• Closed Loop Communication • Broadcast System
• Response to Flag State poll call / query • Transmits automatically at fixed time intervals
• Transmits; Identity, Position, Date & Time • Transmits; Static, Voyage, Dynamic and Safety Data
• Normal Time Interval Every 6 Hours, can be changed • Time Interval Depends upon Navigational Status and
to Min Every 15 minutes or Max once in every 24 Hrs speed of vessel
• LRIT is connected to VDR and has inputs from GPS • AIS is connected to Raddar, ECDIS and VDR and has
• Track and locate ship in Long Range inputs from GPS, Gyro, ROTI, Log
• LRIT is not an Aid to navigation • Track & Locate Ship in coastal water
• LRIT information is not available to vessels in the • AIS is an Aid to navigation
vicinity • AIS information is available to ships in vicinity.
 DGPS
• Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is an enhancement to Global Positioning System that
uses a network of fixed, ground-based reference stations to broadcast the difference between the
positions indicated by the satellite systems and the known fixed positions. DGPS is used to enhance
the accuracy of the normal GPS so that it can be used for various purposes such as survey, Drilling,
oceanography etc. where high accuracy of position fixing is required.
• The DGPS reference station is situated at a fixed locations and from this position the GPS receiver
tracks all the satellites within its site, obtains data from them and then computes the corrections based
on the position obtained from the GPS & its actual position. These corrections are then Broadcast to
GPS users to improve their position accuracy. The correction signal is typically broadcast over UHF
radio modem or via the aviation VHF band.
• Why we need Differential GPS?
• That improved accuracy has a deep effect on the importance of GPS as a resource. With it, GPS
becomes more than just a system for navigating boats and planes around the world.
• This advanced version or the enhancement to Global positioning System or the GPS is DGPS i.e.
Differential Global positioning System or DGPS. DGPS provides a better and improved location
accuracy than GPS from a nominal GPS accuracy of 15 meters to that in the best
implementation of about 1-2m. It increases the accuracy of the locations or the coordinates
derived from the GPS receivers.
 Echo Sounder

Echo Sounder:
It works on the principle of
transmitting sound waves
from ship's bottom and then measuring the
time taken for the echo to be returned from
sea. If the velocity of sound in water is
known the time will be proportional to the
distance travelled.
Working:
The acoustic pulses of very short duration
are transmitted vertically at the rate of 5 to
600 pulses per minute having a beam width
of 12 to 25°. These pulses strike the seabed
and get reflected back towards the receiving
transducer as echoes. These received echoes
are converted into electrical signals by the
receiving transducer and after passing
through the different stages of the receiver,
the current is supplied to the stylus which
bums out the coating of the thin layer of
aluminium powder and produces a black
mark on the paper indicating the depth of the
seabed.
 Fog Horn

The diaphragm is contained

in a conical shaped curved
structure horn, which helps
in amplifying and spreading
the sound. When the
compressed air is allowed to
act on the diaphragm, it
vibrates to produce sound
waves which passes through
the horn and gets amplified
in it.
 Wind Tracker

Propeller anemometers
work in much the same
way. Like miniature wind
turbines, they use small
propellers to power their
generators instead of
spinning cups. ... The
generator is connected to an
electronic circuit that gives
an instant readout of the
wind speed on
a digital display.
Navigation Light