Considering SBAS and Marine Radiobeacon Corrections to Support Safe Maritime Operations

Alan Grant, George Shaw and Martin Bransby

Abstract:	Today’s mariners use GNSS as their primary means of determining position, navigation and time (PNT) information. It is used throughout most vessels, from the bridge to the engine room, with the majority of vessels fitted with multiple receivers. To date no GNSS provide real time integrity alerts, which is to inform the user of any system failure or error in real time. Currently, mariners use marine radiobeacon differential GNSS (or GPS in the main) services to achieve integrity and accuracy improvements. While marine radiobeacon services have evolved since their introduction in the late 1990s, the approach is relatively straightforward and requires fixed infrastructure along the coast to broadcasts correction information to users within a few hundred kilometres. The provision of such broadcasts can be costly, both in terms of equipment provision, but also for maintenance. The use of a separate 300kHz channel requires annual licensing, international coordination and specific receiver equipment on the vessel. Across Europe there has been significant work over the past few years to consider the use of satellite based augmentation systems (SBAS) across the maritime sector. SBAS are predominately provided to support aviation users, and although they work in a different manner to marine radiobeacon services, they offer an augmentation service that can be compatible. This paper reports on the technical challenges and main considerations national competent authorities would need to consider should they seek to use SBAS. It also sets out the current position regarding international standards, maritime receiver equipment and provides comparative results between the two systems, from the GLA service area. The paper concludes by setting out potential options to move forward, calling for international collaboration to help ensure a truly international approach is achieved, recognising that multiple regional systems are not ideal for an international maritime fleet.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 32nd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2019) September 16 - 20, 2019 Hyatt Regency Miami Miami, Florida
Pages:	1496 - 1511
Cite this article:	Grant, Alan, Shaw, George, Bransby, Martin, "Considering SBAS and Marine Radiobeacon Corrections to Support Safe Maritime Operations," Proceedings of the 32nd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2019), Miami, Florida, September 2019, pp. 1496-1511. https://doi.org/10.33012/2019.16945
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