MARINE ELECTRONICS
Nothing has changed the maritime industry more than the introduction and use of electronic systems. There has been development of new equipment in nearly every area of the marine field including navigation, cargo control, communications, collision avoidance, gyrocompass, speed indicating systems, and many others.
All modern marine electronic equipment can be classified in several major categories. These include the areas of communications covering very high frequency (VHF) bridge-to-bridge radio, single-sideband (SSB) ship to shore high seas radio, satellite communications (satcom), and the traditional radiotelegraph system. In addition to communication systems, the modern vessel operator also has come to rely on the general areas of shortwave broadcast reception for time and general navigation information as well as equipment developed for the reception of weather facsimile maps.
The next major area includes the familiar radionavigation systems:
Loran-C, Decca, Omega, which can be further classified as hyperbolic radionavigation systems. Also included in this area are the satellite navigation systems including Transit satnav and the Global Positioning System (GPS). The earliest of radio navigation systems, the worldwide network of marine radio beacons designed for use with radio direction finders (RDF) and automatic direction finders (ADF) are still quite useful.
The use and design of radar has increased dramatically since its introduction to the commercial industry in the late forties. This equipment includes the 3 centimeter (cm) and 10 centimeter (cm) wavelength radars, now coupled with automatic plotting aids or collision avoidance systems.
Equipment used to determine depth or a vessel's speed, the next category of equipment, includes the indicating and recording fathometer, electromagnetic speed log, and Doppler speed log systems. Electromechanical equipment provides us with the main type of vessel control systems; within this category are the master gyrocompass, associated repeater system, gyro pilot, ship control systems, and all the various types of equipment that have become associated with these systems. These can include auto trackers and plotters, course recorders, and other similar equipment.
Then there is the computer. With the application of computers to these and many other systems, the operation of the modern commercial vessel has become almost fully automatic. Computers not only aid us in communications, navigation, and all of the other mentioned systems but they have added new dimension to the handling of cargo, supplies, personnel, and all of the other areas in the marine field that have always been slower.
