Automatic Identification System (AIS)
Sistema de identificación automática (AIS)
- Date
- 1992-2004 · confidence medium
- Place
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Credited to
- Håkan Lans and the International Maritime Organization
- Field
- Communication
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A VHF transponder system in which each ship broadcasts its identity, position, course and speed and receives others'. The IMO made it mandatory for large vessels from 2002-2004 for collision avoidance and maritime security.
Lans patented STDMA in 1990-1992 and had a long dispute with the Swedish state; the international standard was adopted in 2000 and implementation was gradual.
What it led to
- coastal vessel traffic control
- satellite ship tracking
- open shipping data for research and illegal-fishing surveillance