Lesson 6 · 12 min
The AIS annual test
You will know what the AIS annual test covers, who may carry it out, how to time it with the safety equipment survey and how to keep AIS data right between tests.
Start here
The 2-minute primer
New to this? These 6 cards explain the lesson in plain words. Go through them first and the lesson will make sense.
Primer done.
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1/6Picture this
A name badge that must be spelled right
At a conference, everyone wears a name badge. If yours shows the wrong name or company, people talk to you as someone else.
AIS is a ship’s electronic name badge. Every few seconds it tells nearby ships and the shore who it is, where it is and where it is heading.
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2/6The big idea
Once a year, check the badge is true
Small errors cause big confusion. A wrong ID number, a wrongly entered satellite aerial position or a lost heading feed makes the ship appear in the wrong place, or pointing the wrong way.
So once a year a qualified radio inspector tests the AIS with special equipment and on the air, and leaves a report on board. Between tests, officers check the data themselves.
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3/6Words you'll meet
Six words, in plain English
- AIS
- automatic identification system, which broadcasts the ship’s identity, position and movement to others nearby.
- MMSI
- Maritime Mobile Service Identity, the ship’s unique radio identity number.
- Static data
- details that rarely change, such as name, call sign, size and ship type.
- Dynamic data
- live details from the ship’s sensors, such as position, speed and heading.
- On-air test
- confirming that another ship or a shore station really receives the ship’s signal.
- Survey window
- the months around a due date when a test or survey may be done.
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4/6Why it matters
Others build their picture from you
Nearby ships, traffic control centres and coastal authorities rely on AIS. A ship showing the wrong name or position confuses everyone around it.
Port inspectors find ships sending wrong details. A missing test report or an AIS switched off without a logged reason can also bring a deficiency.
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5/6In this lesson
What you’ll be able to do
- Know who may carry out the yearly test.
- Name the six checks in the test.
- Plan the test date within the survey window.
- Check the AIS data on board between tests.
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6/6Quick check
What must stay on board after the yearly AIS test?
Right: the ship keeps a copy of the test report, and port inspectors ask to see it.
The basics
The automatic identification system (AIS) is the ship’s electronic name badge. Every few seconds it broadcasts who she is, where she is and what she is doing, and every nearby ship, vessel traffic service and coastal authority builds its picture from those messages. If the MMSI is wrong, the GPS antenna position is entered wrongly, or the gyro input has dropped out, the ship appears to everyone else with the wrong name, in the wrong place or pointing the wrong way.
SOLAS regulation V/18.9 requires an annual test of the AIS, and the IMO circular MSC.1/Circ.1252 sets out how. In the Tokyo MOU’s 2017 PSC campaign on safety of navigation, 107 inspections in the Asia-Pacific region alone found an AIS not transmitting the correct particulars. This lesson covers the test and how to plan it.
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In the rest of this lesson
- Try it: When is the next AIS annual test due?
- In plain words
- In detail
- What the rules say
- Flag and class notes
- Key numbers
- What inspectors find
- Work it out: a calculator
- 4 questions people ask
- Quiz: 6 questions
- Ask our engineers about this lesson
Familiarisation training from Al Safwan Academy. Finishing a course shows completion of online familiarisation training: it is not an STCW, flag-approved or manufacturer qualification, and these courses don't replace that training. The manufacturer's manual and your flag's rules always come first.