Steering clear of other vessels on water is a very crucial consideration in marine transportation. For smaller vessels, it is especially our best interest to avoid any other ship, not to mention the gigantic shipping vessels that constantly roam the oceans. It is also vital to remember that larger ships have restricted maneuverability and halting range thus, when you go into a collision course with one of these guys, you’re in for the ride of your life, so to speak. Having ready related reviews of the AIS I can say that it really does the job well.

	Raymarine AIS 250 E03015 AIS Receiver (Black) List Price: $799.00 Sale Price: $611.72
	AIS250Automatic Identification System (AIS) Receiver with VHF splitter and NMEA multiplexerThe Raymarine AIS250 Receiver module is a listen only AIS receiver that easily integrates with an existing VHF antenna using a built in VHF splitter...

	Garmin Ais 300 Automatic Identification System Rx Only Sale Price: Too low to display
	The Garmin AIS 300 enables monitoring of other nearby AIS-equipped vessels that may pose a collision risk. When connected to a Garmin chartplotter and Garmin VHF radio by NMEA 2000, mariners can display AIS target data and initiate a call to a target directly from the chartplotter screen...

AIS Black Box Automatic Identification System Receiver List Price: $707.98 Sale Price: $326.89

AIS Black BoxAutomatic Identification System ReceiverAssists in Traffic Monitoring, Management and Collision Prevention!The AIS Black Box receiver connects to your SI-TEX ColorMax 6, ColorMax Wide, ColorMax 11, Navmate, Trawl Plot 12 or Explorer Plus Charting Systems to receive VHF transmissions from vessels carrying AIS transponders to display target data from an unlimited number of vessels and overlay AIS target data on marine charts...

	ICOM Dual channel AIS (Automatic Identification System) Receiver Sale Price: $764.98

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	Gas turbines play an important role in power generation and aeroengines. An extended survey of methods associated with the control and systems identification in these engines, Dynamic Modelling of Gas Turbines reviews current methods and presents a number of new perspectives...

Here are three instances that would reflect the importance of AIS:

1. You are in a channel and you have poor visibility, and then, worst comes to worse, the weather turns nasty carrying heavy rain and strong winds. When you are trapped in this situation, the ships that were once easily seen on deck are now invisible rendering you oblivious of the surrounding.

2. You are out on the wide ocean and a ship appears on the horizon. Let’s say that the watch is not looking and you have no wind and cannot start the engine which means you can’t evade the incoming vessel. This is a true-to-life scenario. In this case, your AIS signal would be picked up by the ship’s radar and with that, alarm can be signaled on the bridge.

3. AIS allows you to see around bends. Imagine a channel where you are coming up to a bend and there is a ship coming your way. You cannot see around the bend with your naked eye due to the raised shoreline, but with an AIS, you would be able to pick up the ship’s signal on your chart plotter.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) previously reported a mid-channel collision between a commercial Ferry and a small sailing vessel which resulted in the sailboat sinking and the loss of life. Investigation showed that the sailing vessel did not appear on the radar and because of the bridge’s height, the sailboat wasn’t seen. MAIB later recommended use of better radar reflectors so smaller vessels can be seen and also AIS use was mandated in all marine vessels.