AIS Pilot Plug - Specification
Automatic Identification System (AIS) Class A systems
Must be run to pilot's normal working position.
Used for connecting Personal Pilot Unit (PPU), normally a laptop.

http://www.imo.org/OurWork/Safety/navigation/documents/227.pdf
Section 3.2 - Pilot plug

Physical layer connector:
AMP 206486-1 9-pin male

Available from:
http://uk.mouser.com/ProductDetail/TE-Connectivity/206486-1
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/372490/
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/displayProduct.jsp?sku=593102

Drawings:
http://docs-europe.electrocomponents.com/webdocs/002a/0900766b8002a4df.pdf
http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/38077.pdf

Pin-out:
Circular male connector, seen from front:
      1
    x   x
   4  5  6
    x   x
      9

This is a little strange, that the RS-422 RX (from AIS to PPU) balanced pair
are adjacent pins, but TX (from PPU to AIS) balanced pair are not!

Pin 1 TX A-   (top) _from_ AIS unit
Pin 4 TX B+   (left)

Pin 5 RX A-   (centre) _to_ AIS unit
Pin 6 RX B+   (right)

Pin 9 GND     (bottom)

Electrical interface:
RS-422, presumably at 38,400(?)

Data layer:
NMEA-0183

Application layer:
NMEA-0183 sentences:
!AIVDM <- from other vessels
!AIVDO <- from own vessel
$  AIQ -> request to transponder
$  SSD -> data to transponder (static)
$  VSD -> data to transponder (voyage)
$  ABM -> data to other vessel (addressed)
$  BBM -> data to other vessels (broadcast)
$  AIR -> request to other vessel (interrogation)

Reverse-engineered specification:
http://catb.org/gpsd/AIVDM.html


-------------------------------------------
Programming sentences:

Input sensors:
Blue Sign status (large board for Passing on Starboard side)
IEC 61162-1 VSD sentence
AIS VDL Message 1, 2, 3 accordingly.

Designated Area Code (DAC) "200"

VSD field "regional application flags":
http://www.ccr-zkr.org/files/documents/ris/ais20_e.pdf Page 13


http://www.ris.eu/docs/File/423/technical_guidelines_inland_ais_vtt_edition1_01_ais_test_standard_edition_1_may_2008.pdf
"Blue Sign information may be derived by a direct connected switch or by the regional bits
of the periodically received PI sentence ($--VSD)."

0100b Blue sign clear
1000b Blue sign active
0000b Blue sign status unknown

See also

$PIWWSSD - Inland WaterWays Static Ship Data
$PIWWVSD - Inland WaterWays Voyage Ship Data

Given the mess, ideally a dedicated switch input would be better.


Terms:
  ABM     Addressed Binary Message
  ACA     Regional Assignment Channel Assignment Message
  ACK     Alarm Acknowledgement
  ACS     Regional Assignment Channel Assignment Message Source
  AIS     Automatic Identification System
  ALR     Alarm Message
  ASM     Application Specific Message
  AtoN    Aid-to-Navigation
  BBM     Boardcast Binary Message
  BS      Base Station
  DAC     Destination Area Code (200, 303)
  DGNSS   Differential Global Navigation Satellite System (ie. GPS)
  DSC     Digital Selective Calling
  ECDIS   Electronic Chart Display and Information System
  EUT     Equipment Under Test
  FI      Function Identifier
  FM      Functional Message
  GMDSS   Global Maritime Distress and Safety System
  GMSK    Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying
  IAI     International Application Identifier
  IFM     International Functional message
  IALA    International Association of (Marine Aids-to-Navigation and) Lighthouse Authorities
  MMSI    Maritime Mobile Service Identity
  MKD     Minimal Keyboard and Display
  RAI     Regional Application Identifier
  RFM     Regional Functional message
  RIS     River Information Services
  RoT     Rate of Turn
  SART    Search and Rescue Transmitter
  VDL     VHF Data Link
  VDM     VHF Data Link Message
  VDO     VHF Data Link Own Vessel
  VSD  

Time Division Multiple Access:
  CSTDMA  Carrier Sense Time Division Multiple Access
  FATDMA  Fixed Access Time Division Multiple Access
  ITDMA   Incremental time division multiple access
  RATDMA  Random Access Time Division Multiple Access
  SOTDMA  Self-Organized Time Division Multiple Access

Levels:
  Class A  12 watt 2-second transponder
  Class B  2 watt 30-second transponder
  Class C  Receive-only

Channels:
  87B - 161.975 MHz - Former duplex top-half
  88B - 162.025 MHz - Former duplex top-half

Encoding:
  9600 baud GMSK

Message format:
NMEA-0183
  VDM
  VDO
  ACA
  ACS
  ALR
  TXT
  ACK

  VHF Data Link Message
  !--VDM,total,this,sequence,A/B,Message,fill-bits<CR><LF>




Messages:
Good description in:
http://www.allaboutais.com/jdownloads/Technical%20fundamentals/ais_message_list.pdf

0:
1: Scheduled Position Report
2: Assigned-Scheduled Position Report
3: Interrogated Position Report
4: Base Station
5: Voyage (multipart)
6: Binary Addressed (ASM)
7: Binary ACK
8: Binary Broadcast (ASM)
9: Position
10: UTC inquiry
11: UTC response
12: Addressed Safety
13: Safety ACK
14: Broadcast Safety
15: Interrogation
16: Assignment Mode Control
17: DGNSS correction
18: Class B Position
19: Class B Extended (multipart)
20: Data link
21: Position
22: Channel management
23: Group Assignment
24: Class B/CS Part A/B (A: Name, B: Static Data)
25: Single Slot Binary (ASM)
26: Multi-Slot Binary (ASM)
27: Long-range Position Report
28: Unallocated
..
63: Unallocated

Application Specific Message

IMO Safety-of-Navigation Circulars
http://www.imo.org/blast/mainframemenu.asp?topic_id=329&offset=21
IMO Safety-of-Navigation Circular "SN.1./Circ.289"
http://www.imo.org/blast/blastDataHelper.asp?data_id=29150&filename=289.pdf