AMS is proud to be ICAN’s sole supplier for Australia.   

Horizon is ICAN's shore-based vessel management solution for Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) centres, and is the cornerstone of ICAN's suite of products. It provides a complete AIS interface that includes the ability to track all vessels, display vessel specific information, and send and receive safety-related messages including text.

These standard messages can be broadcast to other VTS centers or any other participant in the AIS network. Other information in the form of text and binary data can address special functionality for specific users such as regional water level, ARPA data, and lock or canal information, which may be received as addressed or broadcast messages.

AIS offers a substantial step forward in the ability to send and receive important target information from VTS centers to vessel traffic. For example, two vessels equipped with AIS transponders navigating in close proximity to each other, can see each other's position even if the geographical terrain blocks their radar. In this case, the VTS centre can also send a message to both vessels alerting them of the existence of the other vessel and preventing a potential hazard. 

Advanced Horizon Features

Horizon also has many higher level functions for more sophisticated port operations. A Remote Guard Zone enables the VTS operator to send addressed, or broadcast, binary information to selected targets. As an ARPA or AIS target moves into a Remote Guard Zone, the VTS operator can send that particular target a message reporting that they have entered a restricted zone. This is useful as it allows the VTS operator to specify any area of interest and alarm about each target.

Advanced AIS options include the ability to set Vessel Report Assignment. This allows the Horizon operator to force report rate assignments on mobile AIS transponders. There are times when the shore-based authority requires a vessel to report at a rate higher than its designated report rate.

Radar Overlay capability is the perfect accompaniment to Horizon's ability to display and query AIS targets. Radar Overlay requires a Radar expansion card for your computer. The radar expansion card also includes an intermediary server that takes raw radar data and converts it into an NMEA sentence. Horizon is able to read this information and display the Radar image over an electronic chart complete with AIS targets. As the mandatory requirement for AIS takes effect worldwide, Radar Overlay is essential. If a vessel has their AIS transponder turned off, Radar Overlay gives authorities the ability to see the vessel and to then inquire about the reasons the AIS transponder is not functioning.