Above deck unit for automatic identification system

• US 6,522,301 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2001
• Issued: 02/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Japan Radio Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Japan Radio Company Limited
• Inventors: Takayama, Masaki, Yokoyama, Naoki, Goto, Naohisa, Haga, Masanori
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): VANNUCCI, JAMES
• Application Number:
  US09/972,581
• Publication Number:
  US 20020050952A1
• Time in Patent Office: 501 Days
• Field of Search: 343/709, 343/710, 343/700.MS, 343/900, 343/725, 343/885, 343/724, 343/726, 343/727, 343/728
• US Class Current: 343/709
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 49/00 Arrangements of nautical instruments or navigational aids nautical measuring instruments G01C; radio navigation, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/35 Constructional details or hardware or software details of the signal processing chain
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/36 relating to the receiver frond end
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/34 Adaptation for use in or on ships, submarines, buoys or torpedoes for subaqueous use H01Q1/04
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/28 Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems multiple beam H01Q25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/0407 Substantially flat resonant element parallel to ground plane, e.g. patch antenna dipole H01Q9/285; monopole H01Q9/40
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/32 Vertical arrangement of element H01Q9/40 takes precedence

Abstract

An above deck unit for an AIS (automatic identification system) is externally installed on a ship. The above deck unit includes a radio circuit and an associated antenna for transmitting and receiving a message, a position detector and an associated antenna, associated controller and power supply, and a container for storing these elements. An inboard transmission path, e.g., a cable, connects the outdoor unit for the AIS and an AIS display serving as an interface means for the crew. A signal to be transmitted through the inboard transmission path is a processed, for example, an amplified signal, rather than an unprocessed output of a VHF antenna. Therefore, problems of signal loss or degradation along the inboard transmission path are unlikely to occur. Because the unit is incorporated within a single container, it can easily be installed and transferred. With this antenna complex, it is also possible to suppress interference between antennas.

Claims

1. An above deck unit for an aotomatic identificaton system contained in shipborne facilities installed on a ship, the shipborne facilities being part of the automatic identification system, comprising:

a container,

a messaging antenna mounted on the surface of said container and used for transmitting and receiving a message, said message being communicated automatically on a wireless manner between ships or between a ship and a coast station, said message containing static information, such as a name of a ship, and dynamic information, such as a current position of the ship,

a radio circuit stored in said container and using said messaging antenna for transmitting and receiving said message, said container and said radio circuit being externally installed on the ship so as to allow said transmitting and receiving of said message to and from another ship or a coast station, and

a controller installed for controlling said transmitting and receiving operations of said radio circuit, said controller supplying information to be contained in said message to the other ship or the coast station to said radio circuit, thereby transmitting said message from said radio circuit, said controller outputting information contained in said message received by said radio circuit from the other ship or the coast station through an inboard transmission path, thereby supplying information to be provided to a crew to an interface means for the crew connected via said inboard transmission path.

2. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 1, further comprising

a measuring device stored in said container for generating the dynamic information to be transmitted.

3. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 2, further comprising a positioning antenna mounted on the surface of said container and used for receiving said position signal, and wherein

said measuring device includes a radio determination device for generating the dynamic information including a position of the ship based on a navigation signal received in a wireless manner.

4. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 3, wherein said positioning antenna is a planar antenna arranged on the outer surface of said container, said above deck unit for the automatic identification system includes a radome covering said positioning antenna, and said messaging antenna is a whip antenna having a plane of polarization extending orthogonal to that of said planer antenna, said whip antenna having an end passing through said radome and extending externally.

5. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 4, wherein said outdoor unit further includes a cable for connecting said whip antenna with said radio circuit, and said planar antenna and said whip antenna have different radiators and share a grounded conductor supplying a ground potential, said cable connecting said whip antenna with said planar antenna configured such that said grounded conductor serves as the grounded conductor for both said planar antenna and said whip antenna.

6. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 5, wherein

said container includes a conductive part occupying a part of the surface of said container for electrically conducting with the surface of said planar antenna, said conductive part serving as the grounded conductor of said whip antenna.

7. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 5, further comprising

a coaxial cable connecting said whip antenna and said radio circuit, and, a coaxial connector for detachably connecting said whip antenna and said radio circuit, said coaxial connector having an outer conductor connected to the grounded conductor of said planar antenna.

8. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 5, wherein

said cable is a coaxial cable having an outer conductor and an inner conductor insulated from said outer conductor, said outer conductor being connected with said grounded conductor and said inner conductor being connected with said radiator of said whip antenna, to thereby connect said whip antenna with said radio circuit.

9. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 8, wherein

said coaxial cable has a tip end part where said outer conductor is removed for a predetermined length and said inner conductor is connected with said radiator of said whip antenna, and

said tip end part of said inner conductor serves as the radiator continuing from said radiator of said whip antenna.

10. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 8, wherein said planar antenna has a through hole penetrating through said grounded conductor, and said whip antenna has an in-container extension conductor passing through said through hole and extending into said container, said in-container extension conductor connecting said inner conductor of said coaxial cable with said radiator of said whip antenna at a position closer to the interior of said container from said through hole of said planar antenna, said inner conductor of said coaxial cable provided in the interior of said container and extending from said through hole.

11. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 4, further comprising

a coaxial cable connecting between said whip antenna and said radio circuit, and a coaxial connector detachably connecting between said whip antenna and said radio circuit,

wherein said radome has a through hole for externally extending one end of said whip antenna to the outside of said radome, and

said coaxial connector seals said through hole in a watertight manner.

12. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 1, wherein said container is partly formed by a heat conductor, and said above deck unit for the automatic identification system includes a heat generating member stored in said container for generating heat during operation, said heat generating member being arranged in contact with or in proximity to the inner surface of said container so as to allow heat to be discharged to surrounding air via said container.

13. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 1, further comprising

a long range antenna mounted on the surface of said container and used for wireless communications of a long range aiding signal, and

a long range aiding device stored in said container and using said long range antenna for transmitting and receiving said long range aiding signal,

wherein said controller permits said long range aiding device to transmit a portion of the information supplied from said interface means for the crew via said inboard transmission path as said long range aiding signal, while supplying said long range aiding signal received by said long range aiding device to said interface means for the crew via said inboard transmission path.

14. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 1, further comprising

a connector for detachably connecting the elements stored in said container with said inboard transmission path, and

a power supply means for feeding power to the elements stored in said container,

wherein said power supply means is formed by one or a combination of one or more of a connector for connecting the elements stored in said container to an external power supply, a cell stored in said container for supplying a discharge output of said cell as a power source to the elements stored in said container, and a generator means associated with said container for supplying a generated power of said generator means to the elements stored in said container.

15. A shipborne facility for an automatic identification system, comprising:

an above deck unit for an automatic identification system according to claim 1,

said interface means for the crew, and

said wired or wireless inboard transmission path.

16. A ship, comprising:

the shipborne facility for the automatic identification system according to claim 15, wherein said ship sails by obtaining a name, a position, of another ship from that ship or from a coast station by transmitting and receiving said message.

17. An above deck unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 1, further comprising a planar antenna mounted on the surface of said container and used for receiving said position signal, and a whip antenna stored in said container for generating the dynamic information to be transmitted.

18. A waterborne complementary unit for an automatic identification system installed on a waterborne structure arranged fixedly in a water area or a floating object floating on the water, comprising:

a container,

a messaging antenna mounted on the surface of said container and used for transmitting and receiving a message,

a radio circuit stored in said container and using said messaging antenna for automatically transmitting and receiving said message to and from a ship or a coast station, and

a controller for controlling said transmitting and receiving operations of said radio circuit, said controller supplying information to be contained in said message destined for the ship or the coast station to said radio circuit,

wherein said waterborne complementary unit for the automatic identification system transmits the static or the dynamic information, such as the current position, concerning said waterborne structure or said floating object by transmitting said message.

19. A waterborne complementary unit for the automatic identification system according to claim 18, further comprising a planar antenna mounted on the surface of said container and used for receiving said position signal, and a whip antenna stored in said container for generating the dynamic information to be transmitted.