AIS has been a revolutionary product and, regardless of your opinion on its use, has changed the way mates handle heavy traffic situations. Jotron, makers of various SOLAS compliant marine safety electronics, is looking to bring this revolution to Search And Rescue operations with the introduction of an AIS enabled Search And Rescue Transponder (SART).
The device will work similar to traditional SARTs but, rather than show the position of a lifeboat on your 3cm radar, will transmit the exact GPS coordinates to all AIS enabled devices within VHF range.
We are excited not only by the product itself but the advancement of new ideas for sharing of data among the AIS network. gCaptain recently discussed the topic with the Coast Guard’s office for marine safety and is working with them to outline ideas to take AIS and data sharing from a point-to-point system to a web of collaborative sharing. Here is a basic summary of our question to marine safety: [Continue Reading →]
This post was written by Richard Rodriguez, Rescue Tug Captain, and US Coast Guard approved instructor for License Training. You can read more of his articles at the 
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