Gunnar Mangs News

Saab - a supplier of maritime Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) – has just unveiled its fifth-generation R5 family of products. “Our new R5 AIS products are the first to incorporate software-defined radio (SDR) transceivers together with newly developed high-speed analog-to-digital converters,” says Gunnar Mangs, Vice President Saab TransponderTech. The company plans to roll out the new R5 technology in a wide range of AIS products to meet different market requirements, including inland waterways, coastal fishing, deep-sea shipping, military and coastal surveillance. The products will be brought to market in phases during 2011 and 2012. www.saabgroup.com/transpondertech

The SMM exhibition in Hamburg has once again proven that it is the cradle of marine technology and the grand-daddy of all marine exhibitions. On display in 12 separate halls were more than 1,300 exhibitors from more than 50 countries, launching new products and discussing business with an estimated 37,000 visitors. More telling that sheer numbers, in this case, is the feeling of the exhibition and the ubiquitous marine technology theme. The quality of attendee and exhibitor is always high, but this edition of the bi-annual exhibition seemed especially charged due to the many positives currently running throughout the full spectrum of the maritime market.

Saab TransponderTech introduced a new type-approved GPS as an integrated part of the R4 ship AIS transponder system. Gunnar Mangs, business director for mobile systems, said, “This fully compliant GPS receiver is intended to provide a fully qualified backup to the SOLAS class ship’s main DGPS, and adds GPS navigation functionality to the AIS transponder. The GPS receiver is embedded inside the R4 transponder. It provides the necessary GPS outputs to the AIS, and also provides navigation functions on the R4 display unit.

Last week in Oslo at Nor-Shipping 2005, Saab TransponderTech introduced a new family of integrated DGPS and AIS solutions based on Saab’s highly successful R4 technology. The redundant DGPS package, aimed at high-end non-SOLAS applications, consists of two R4 control and display units and two DGPS sensors. Waypoints, routes and other navigation information is replicated between the two units. Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) status is constantly output from each unit, and the second DGPS will take over immediately if the main unit fails or delivers incorrect position information. The combined AIS/DGPS package comprises an R4AIS transponder, R4 DGPS sensor and a shared R4 control and display unit.

Saab TransponderTech, a supplier of automatic identification systems (AISs) reports continued brisk sales of its AIS products, including shipboard transponders and base stations. Saab achieved two major milestones this year when it shipped its 10,000 shipboard AIS transponder and also installed the 1,000 shoreside AIS base station, according to Gunnar Mangs, vice president sales and marketing for Saab TransponderTech. Saab TransponderTech was one of the original pioneers in AIS technology and is currently offering its fourth-generation AIS products. The Saab R4, introduced in 2003, is the leading marine AIS transponder on the market. The product is type-approved to meet the IMO carriage requirements for AIS, and is fully licensed under the Swedish patent for AIS technology.