UPDATING SHIPBOARD ELECTRONIC CHARTS VIA SATELLITE.

Advanced electronic navigation systems will be required for future merchant ship operations involving minimum crew manning. These systems will rely on some form of electronic chart, which will require continual and timely updating with the latest correction information. A newly developed chart correction computer system capable of automatically updating shipboard electronic chart systems via satellite data transfers has been developed. The system can provide a direct computer and the Defense Mapping Agency's (DMA) Automated Notice to Mariners System (ANMS). Author discusses the necessity of a computer data link for electronic chart correction.