The AIS is an electronic system that allows to communicate from boat to boat many information such as its position, its name or its MMSI number, automatically.
AIS has had a significant impact on the safety of short-handed and night-time navigation. They enable an alarm to be triggered when another vessel enters a collision zone. But they do not do everything and a careful watch with a regular overview remains essential. Moreover, even during races, when all the boats are equipped with them, accidents happen. First, because the boats that cross their path are not necessarily equipped with them, and second, because they may deliberately make their position disappear... During the last Route du Rhum, for example, Thomas Coville with Sodebo Ultim collided with a cargo ship. The alarm had been triggered... ( see the pictures )
On the market, there are many systems divided into 2 classes. The first one, class A, is reserved for vessels subject to the SOLAS conventions, mainly intended for professionals. For pleasure boats, class B is sufficient.
There are systems at all prices. The cheapest, those that only receive the position of transmitting vessels, are available from a few hundred euros or built directly into the radio. Dual channel" AIS can also transmit your own position, but are more expensive.
To operate, the AIS must be connected to the VHF antenna that it usually shares with the radio. This requires the installation of an antenna splitter or a second antenna. Next, the AIS must have screens or displays for viewing data.
3000 Nucleus of DigitalYacht
The new 3000 Nucleus Class B has its own antenna splitter allowing the main antenna to be shared with AIS and VHF. It has also been designed with the ability to interface to NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000, USB networks and incorporates a WiFi server to allow smartphones and PC-based chartplotters to connect to it. In addition, the 3000 Nucleus allows multiplexing of other data from the NMEA network such as windvane or other loch, speedo or sounder data.
The 3000 Nucleus is the first to include ZeroLoss technology for signal distribution quality on VHF. Digital Yacht also offers a free application as well as mapping applications.
Price: 1120 euros.
M10W AiS Class B SmartFind from Navicom
Navicom offers a solution whose interfacing capabilities are quite similar to the 3000 Nucleus: NMEA 0183, 2000 and WiFi. However, it has replaced the USB output (no longer really useful with WiFi) with the possibility of integrating a memory card to record all AIS information for more than 30 days, which is useful in case of an accident.
The installation will require an investment in an external antenna splitter (approx. 300euros) or in a dedicated antenna.
Price : 800,00 euros
