A CORS-Based Differential Correction Approach for AIS Mobile Stations

In order to remedy the inadequacy of the sources of differential corrections in current automatic identification system (AIS) and to improve the positioning accuracy of AIS mobile stations using single-point positioning, a differential correction approach for AIS mobile stations based on the continuously operating reference station (CORS) network is proposed. In the approach, AIS server derives real-time pseudo-range differential corrections from each reference station in CORS network and generates the corrections for AIS mobile stations. Then AIS base stations transmit these differential corrections to mobile stations using broadcast or addressed binary messages for positioning. Load analysis and testing show that this approach can effectively meet the need for differential corrections for most AIS mobile stations under the condition that the occupancy rate of the AIS channel is less than 1% when using broadcast binary messages. In addition, since this method is based on the existing CORS network, it is straightforward to implement in engineering projects and does not require additional hardware upgrades to the existing differential global positioning system (DGPS) and AIS infrastructure.