| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The proliferation of transportation-related technology and maritime users has created an opportunity to provide mariners with a whole new way of operating. U.S. waterways are shared by people who have a wide range of experience, training, and technology, from licensed commercial operators with years of experience, electronic charts, global positioning systems (GPS), radios, and radar, to unlicensed recreational boaters venturing on the water for the first time with little more than a handheld foghorn and a cellphone. While this diversity creates an imbalance that can threaten everyone's safety, all mariners have knowledge that could benefit the well-being of all if effectively shared in real time.
The real-time sharing of maritime operators' individual knowledge, combined with other sources of relevant information, creates an enhanced state of situational awareness we call "mariner situational awareness." This is the tactical cousin of "maritime domain awareness," which has come to represent a more strategic, wide-area, and therefore less time-critical awareness of the vast maritime domain. In today's complex maritime operating environment, rife with both safety and security risks, it is critical that we develop a system where maritime situational awareness is synchronized and shared across the full expanse of maritime users.
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