4.9 Facilities for broadcasting Maritime Safety Information
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Resolutions - Assembly - IMO Resolution A.1001(25) – Criteria for the Provision of Mobile Satellite Communication Systems in the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) – (Adopted on 29 November 2007) - Annex – Criteria for the Provision of Mobile Satellite Communication Systems in the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) - 4 Criteria and Requirements for Earth Stations - 4.9 Facilities for broadcasting Maritime Safety Information

4.9 Facilities for broadcasting Maritime Safety Information

  4.9.1 Satellite systems forming part of the GMDSS should technically be capable of offering facilities for broadcasting Maritime Safety Information (MSI) from MRCCs and authorized providers of MSI, such as Hydrographic Offices and Meteorological Offices, to ships at sea.

  4.9.2 Such facilities for broadcast of MSI should provide for automatic, continuous and reliable reception on board ships and should, as a minimum, fulfil the requirements specified in sections 4.9.3 to 4.9.8 below.

  4.9.3 The facilities should provide for recognition and processing of the four levels of priority specified in paragraph 3.3.1.

  4.9.4 It should be possible to address the broadcast of MSI to all properly equipped ships within a specified area for at least the following types of areas:

  • .1 the entire region covered by the satellite or system over which the transmission is made;

  • .2 the NAVAREAs/METAREAs as established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) respectively; and

  • .3 a temporary area chosen and specified by the originator of the MSI message, including circular or rectangular user-specified areas appropriate for broadcast of distress alert relays and search and rescue co-ordinating communications.

  4.9.5 The facilities should provide for transmission of at least the types of Maritime Safety Information required by SOLAS, as follows:

  • .1 search and rescue co-ordination information, including distress alert relays;

  • .2 navigational warnings; and

  • .3 meteorological warnings and forecasts.

  4.9.6 The facilities for broadcast of navigational and meteorological warnings should include possibilities for:

  • .1 scheduling the broadcast at fixed times or transmitting messages as unscheduled broadcast transmissions; and

  • .2 automatic repetition of the broadcast with time intervals and number of broadcast transmissions as specified by the MSI provider, or until cancelled by the MSI provider.

  4.9.7 The facilities should provide for marking MSI messages with a unique identity, enabling the shipborne equipment that receives these broadcasts to automatically ignore messages already received.

  4.9.8 The broadcasting service should in addition provide facilities for broadcasts similar to NAVTEX to coastal areas not covered by the International NAVTEX Service, in accordance with the identification system (i.e., the identification characters B1, B2, B3, B4) used in the International NAVTEX Service.

Parent topic: 4 Criteria and Requirements for Earth Stations
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