International Journal

on Marine Navigation

and Safety of Sea Transportation

Volume 6

Number 3

September 2012

303

1 INLAND NAVIGATIONAL DATA

TRANSMISSION BY THE SHIP

ELECTRONIC REPORTING IN THE RIVER

INFORMATION SERVICES

Data transmission of messages by ship reporting in

the RIS system Management Centre has following

tasks [2.4]:

1 Facilitation of data structure transfer with EDI (

Electronic Data Interchange) standards.

2 Exchange of information between inland naviga-

tion partners.

3 Sending dynamic information on a voyage at the

same time to many participants.

4 Consistent use of the EDIFAC standard (Elec-

tronic Data Interchange for Administration)

5 Inland traffic management.

6 Transfer of complete information on locks and

bridges and calamity situation.

7 Loading / unloading management and container

terminal operation monitoring.

8 Border crossing control.

9 Services to passengers of inland ships.

1.1 The principles of co-operation between the RIS

System Management Centre and an inland VTS

stations [2.7].

General purpose of VTS center is to improve the

safety and efficiency of sea and inland navigation,

safety of life and the protection of the environment

from possible adverse effects of vessel traffic.

A part of these objectives of a Vessel Traffic Ser-

vice include promoting efficient transport and the

collection of data that may be required in order to

evaluate the Vessel Traffic Service.

The benefits of implementing a VTS are that it al-

lows identification and monitoring of vessels, strate-

gic planning of vessel movements and provision of

navigational information and assistance.

It can also assist in reducing the risk of pollution

and coordinating pollution response. The efficiency

of a VTS will depend on the reliability and continui-

ty of communications and on the ability to provide

concise, accurate and unambiguous information.

The quality of accident prevention measures will

depend on the capability of the system to detect de-

veloping dangerous situations and on the ability to

give timely warning of such dangers.

Navigation Data Transmission in the RIS

System

A. Lisaj

Maritime University of Szczecin, Szczecin, Poland

ABSTRACT: The paper presents processing and transmission navigation data in inland navigation. Data

transmission of messages by ship electronic reporting in the RIS (River Information Services) system is ana-

lyzed. The principles of reporting data navigation in the RIS Management Centre are defined. Furthermore,

the RIS communication architecture is analyzed. Finally, the author presented new standard – BICS 2.0 for

the processing and navigation data transmission in inland navigation.

304

For inland navigation vessels cooperating with

the RIS Management Centre, there is a need to har-

monize inland VTS through international application

on all inland waterways in a waterway system.

2 COMMUNICATION AND REPORTING

Communication between inland VTS centre and par-

ticipating vessels or between participating vessels

should be limited to information essential to achieve

the objectives of the VTS [1.5].

Communication should be clear, easily under-

stood by of all participants. Standard reports and

phrases should be used when necessary. Where lan-

guage difficulties exist, use should be made of a

common language as determined by the VTS author-

ity.

In any VTS message directed to a vessel or ves-

sels it should be made clear whether the message

contains information, advice, warning, or an instruc-

tion.

2.1 The RIS Communication Architecture[1.3];

The RIS Architecture consists of seven components:

− Reference Model, in which inland shipping and

River Information Services is defined and the RIS

architecture s build;

− Organization Architecture, in which the roles

responsible for the use and operation of River In-

formation Services are defined. For the roles that

actually use RIS to strengthen the execution of

their task in inland shipping the intended coopera-

tion is drawn. This cooperation is the basis for the

information and functional architecture.

− Information Architecture, in which the infor-

mation exchange coming with the cooperation as

drawn in the organization architecture.

− Function Architecture, in which the functions

are derived which have to be performed to actual-

ly make the cooperation work. At this stage these

functions can be performed by the responsible

roles, by those roles supported by an application

or autonomous by a system.

− Data Architecture, in which the data is defined

from which the information in the information ar-

chitecture can be build.

− Physical Architecture, in which an first example

is given of the way the functions from the func-

tional architecture can be allocated to a system.

− Communication Architecture, in which the link

is out between the data and information on the

one hand and the standardised message on the

other hand.

Road Transport

Shipping on Inland

Waterways

Rail Transport

Maritime Transport

Organisation Architecture

Reference Model &

Objective and Scope of RIS

Information

Architecture

Function

Architecture

Physical

Architecture

Communication

Architecture

Data Architecture

Outline of the

RIS Architecture

Figure 1. Structure of the data architecture in the RIS [3.6]

3 DATA TRANSMISSION IN THE RIS

SYSTEM.

Technical specifications of the message structure for

data processing and transmission of ship reporting in

the RIS system are composed of segments shows on

figure 2. The structure of a message is described in a

branching diagram indicating the position and the re-

lationship of the segments and segment groups.

For each segment the data elements are defined

which are to be used in a message [3.6].

Figure 2. Processing and transmission navigation data in the

RIS system [3]

3.1 New standard – BICS for the processing and

navigation data transmission in inland

navigation.

In conformity with the EDIFACT (Electronic Data

Interchange for Administration), data processing in

the RIS system makes use BICS standard [2.4].

BICS ((BICS-Binnenvaart Informatie en Com-

municatie System-inland shipping information and

communication system)) used to transmit navigation

data about transported voyages and cargos of ships.

The port authorities and all inland shipping wa-

terway management centers need adequate infor-

mation for security and safety handling of inland

shipping. In the distress and emergency situations all

vessels must also be able to protect people and envi-

ronment.

305

Standard BICS transfer navigation data infor-

mation faster and confidential.

BICS usually transmitted electronic declaration of

ship and data cargo to the inland waterways man-

agement system.

When BICS standard is installed, all details of the

ship (official of the ships number, name of the ship,

dimensions and other) are defined in BICS software.

BICS contains the names of all loading and un-

loading points, all cargo types and the precise names

of, and indications of the risks associated with, each

dangerous substance that is allowed to be transport-

ed over water. It is therefore only necessary to enter

the variable information for each voyage, e.g. port of

departure and destination, type and amount of cargo,

draught and number of persons on board.

New standard –BICS is responsible for the gener-

ation, maintenance, use and delivery processing of

data. All information should be clear, understanda-

ble and logical for public authorities.

Figure 3 shows architecture of the BICS standard

using on the board of the vessel.

Figure 3.The data communication and information system on-

board of a vessel in the BICS standard [4,8].

In line of these layers there should be a distribu-

tion layer for the co-ordination of the communica-

tion between the vessel-bound systems (e.g. echo

sounder, rudder monitor, radar).

An analogous topology is drawn for the RIS-

system in back-offices and control rooms cooperat-

ing with VTS-centres, locks and bridges in figure 4.

For back-offices and control rooms an extra distribu-

tion layer can be of interest.

The competent authorities are allowed to distrib-

ute information based on vessels’ reports to bridge

and lock operators in order to optimise the traffic

movements.

Figure 4. The processing communication and navigation in-

formation system in back-offices and the RIS control rooms

management centres in the BICS standard [4.8].

4 CONCLUSION

The RIS management centres are responsibility for

the storage of the all navigation data and for pro-

cessing of the distribution in the BICS standard.

This standard of electronic data transmission pro-

vides rules for the interchange of electronic messag-

es between partners in the field of inland navigation:

ship owners, skippers and ports authority. For the

different services and functions of River Information

Services processing of the data transmission con-

tains the most important regulations for electronic

ship reporting. Standard BICS describes the messag-

es, data items and codes to be used in the navigation

data transmission.

LITERATURE

[1] Technical specifications including: inland Automatic Iden-

tification System (AIS) and International Standards for

Electronic Ship Reporting in Inland Navigation.

Commission Directive (EC) no 416/2007 of 20.03.2007

[2] Lisaj A.: Electronic Reporting of Ships in the RIS System.

TransNav - International Journal on Marine Navigation and

Safety of Sea Transportation, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 127-130,

2009

[3] Guidelines for planning, implementation and operation of

River Information Services. Official Journal Commission

Directive (EC) no 414/2007 of 13 .03.2007.

[4] Technical specifications for ship traffic management on

harmonized River Information Services (RIS) on inland wa-

terways. Official Journal Commission Directive (EC) no

415/2007 of 13.03 2007.

[5] Harre I., AIS and VTS. European Journal of Navigation,

Vol. 1, No 1, 2003.

[6] Zieliński T.P., Cyfrowe przetwarzanie sygnałów - od teorii

do zastosowań. WKił Warszawa 2005.

[7] Trögl J., Experiences with River Information Services in

the Danube Region. Conference Smart Rivers ’21, The Fu-

ture of Inland Water Navigation, Vienna, Austria, 2009.

[8] http://www.bics.nl