USCG 21st Century Buoy Tender

Joseph W. Spalding, Robert D. Crowell and Lee A. Luft

Abstract:	The ships that will tend USCG floating aids to navigation in the next century are being built today. The lead ship in the new class of sea-going buoy tenders, the USCG Cutter JUNIPER, underwent test and evaluation this past spring and summer. Through the use of differential GPS and an integrated approach to the ship’s navigation and control systems the ship is capable of transiting and positioning itself automatically at the assigned position to set and work on navigation buoys. This capability along with other automation on the buoy deck and in the engine room allows for a reduction in manning for this vessel to 40 as opposed to 55 people on board its predecessor, the 180’ seagoing buoy tender. This paper describes the testing of the ship’s DGPS performance and the performance of the dynamic positioning system to ensure that the ship will meet its operational requirements. The use of a real time kinematic DGPS as the truth system is detailed, along with the development and capabilities of the real time data collection and analysis program, SHIPTEST. Results of the testing, static and dynamic DGPS accuracy, and ship’s station-keeping accuracy are presented.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 9th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1996) September 17 - 20, 1996 Kansas City, MO
Pages:	325 - 333
Cite this article:	Spalding, Joseph W., Crowell, Robert D., Luft, Lee A., "USCG 21st Century Buoy Tender," Proceedings of the 9th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1996), Kansas City, MO, September 1996, pp. 325-333.
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