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SNAME Lakes/Rivers Section Holds Spring Meeting In Louisville ELECTRONICS UPDATE Standard-C: Low-Cost Satellite Communications Terminal The Spring Meeting of the Great Lakes/Great Rivers Section of The Society of Naval Architects and Ma- rine Engineers was held recently in Louisville, Ky. On the eve of the meeting an Early Bird reception was hosted by American Commercial Barge Lines, Cummins Engine, Falk, Western Diesel, and Whayne Supply. The formal meeting opened with a brief business session at which new Section officers were elected for the 1986-87 season. They are: Thomas Mackey, chairman; John Capin, vice chairman-Great Rivers; Ralph Bertz, vice chair- man-Great Lakes; and Ian Sharp, secretary-treasurer. Attendees were then brought up to date on plans for the 1988 Spring Meeting-STAR Symposium that will be hosted by the Section in Pittsburgh in June 1988. This will be the first internationally sanc- tioned STAR Symposium; its theme will be to emphasize the truly world- wide nature of the marine industry in general and marine engineering in particular. The technical portion of the meeting featured the following pa- pers: "High-Performance Rud- ders—With Particular Reference to the Schilling Rudder," by Peter Bingham of Industramar (pre- sented in his absence by Thomas Mackey); "Aeromarine System as Installed on M/V Hoosier State," by Robert Hertzberg of Cargo Car- riers; "Waste Heat Recovery Sys- tem," by Prof. John Woodward of the University of Michigan; and "Gensets for Uni-Fuel Operation and the Flexible Layout," by Ed- ward Waryas of American M.A.N. Following lunch the members and guests departed for a tour of the General Electric appliance assembly plant, where the state of the art in both the application of large-scale industrial robotics and employee re- lations were demonstrated. The International Maritime Sat- ellite Organization (INMARSAT) has developed specifications for a new lower-cost, very small satcom system that will, for the first time, bring the benefits of satellite com- munications within the reach of all sizes and types of vessels. The Standard-C concept received an important boost in April, when the International Maritime Organi- zation (IMO) agreed to accept Stan- dard-C to satisfy the basic commu- nications requirements of the Fu- ture Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (FGMDSS) for all ships of 300 grt and over operating within the coverage areas of IN- MARSAT satellites. Unlike the normal Standard A terminal, which provides full duplex telephone and telex service, Stan- dard C will be teletype only. So far, only prototypes have been shown, but INMARSAT expects manufac- turers to be offering production models very quickly. The prototype was built at INMARSAT from read- ily available components. It meas- ures 12 X 8.5 X 5 inches and weighs only 13 pounds, excluding the bat- tery pack or main supply unit. It may be estimated that when pro- duced in volume for the commercial market, Standard-C terminals will be significantly smaller, lighter and more power efficient than the proto- type. To minimize final costs still further, Standard-C will be able to operate using a small, omnidi- rectional, non-stablilized antenna and may form part of a single unit containing all of the microwave and signal processing electronics. The unit could be mounted high on the vessel, giving it a clear, unob- structed view of the horizon, like a VHF antenna. It could be connected to the data terminal equipment be- low decks through a single cable providing the interface and power. The choice of data terminal equip- ment may range from a simple key- board entry and display device to a microcomputer system capable of preparing and displaying received messages and monitoring and con- trolling the numerous other func- tions on the vessel. INMARSAT says that production models will probably cost no more than $5,000. The Standard-C system provides data transmission between the ship and coast earth stations and vice versa, at an information rate of 600 bits per second. At the coast earth station, all messages received from the ship or terrestrial subscrib- er will be routed through a store- and-forward message switch. This may, in turn, provide access to and from a variety of telecommunica- tions services, such as telex, teletex, voice-band data, packet switched data networks and elapsed lines. Standard-C will therefore be able to access virtually any telecommunica- tions service with the excep- tion of telephone, according to INMARSAT. In addition to international telex, the potential to access such a wide variety of communication services will make possible all types of data services, such as electronic mail and public data banks, through voice- band data networks or packet switched data networks and ex- change computer files between com- patible systems on board and ashore. It may also be used for mon- itoring data collection and for con- trol purposes where totally auto- matic operation may be desirable. Standard-C, says INMARSAT, may become the "workhorse of marine communications" in the 21st cen- tury, just as Morse key was in the past. For further information, Circle 49 on Reader Service Card Recently elected officers of SNAME Great Lakes/Great Rivers Section were (L to R): Ralph Bertz, vice chairman-Great Lakes; John Greenwood (past Section chairman); Thomas Mackey, chairman; and John Capin, vice chairman-Great Rivers. 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