The Scientific development accomplished by SCA in securing the safety of transiting ships through the suez canal.
With a view to securing the highest standards of safety to vessels passing through the Canal, SCA stepped forward to execute a giant project to upgrade VTMS in order to keep up with the latest technological developments. The project conforms with the international regulations stipulated by the International Maritime organization (IMO) concerning the system of traffic in navigational channels.

Targets:

• Increasing the standards of safety of vessels transiting the Canal through a radar network covering and monitoring all vessels while arriving at the approaches or ports and while transiting the Canal.
• Radar surveillance covering an area of 30 km at Port-Said and Port Tewfik, and that gives an automatic announcement of arrival time of all vessels getting into the waiting area.
• Adopting simulating systems of the Canal traffic by using the number of vessels in waiting areas ( Ports, lakes, by-passes ) and weather conditions in programming the alternative designs for next day convoys "Ideal Transit Pattern".
• Monitoring all the vessels transiting the Canal to calculate average speed, separation distance, passage time at signal stations and to plot the real transit pattern.
• Consolidating the trust of our clients, the International Chamber of Shipping and the world maritime organizations in the safety of transit and the outstanding performance of the Suez Canal Authority.
• Participating in environment protection by decreasing the number of accidents in the Canal and dealing with them in the proper way in case they occur.

Radar Net:

• It consists of 6 radars, 3 radars, each of 100 KW output power, located in Port Fuad, Port Tewfik and the Great Bitter Lakes.
• 3 radars, each of 50 KW output power, located in Kantara, Ismailia and Geneifa.
• The network offers complete and accurate radar cover-age along the Canal and 40 km away from the harbors of Port Said and Suez.
• Each radar has main and standby equipment and power sources.
• Each radar is equipped with a remote control via a microwave link and optic fiber cable to convey command and status signals plus alarms between the remote site and the operation center.
• Radar video is transmitted from the remote site to the operation center via a wide band microwave link and an optic fiber cable.

Maintenance Display:

• Each radar site has a maintenance display with conventional circular scan" P.P.I " that displays all targets in the coverage area.
• It can be connected to any of the on line or standby radar units and can be used by radar maintenance team for preventive maintenance and technical alignment.
• It has all standard functions as; zoom, off -centering, range scales, ..... etc.

Radar Video Display:

• 28" high resolution colour monitor with radiation filter.
• It displays stationary data as; Canal map with different depths, signal stations, bridges, lighthouses, buoys, anchorage positions, in addition to mobile data as; marine units which appear in raw video with a vector resembling speed and direction.
• It has different functions; zoom, off-centering, range scale, position in latitude and longitude or in x-y or Canal kilometric signs.
• It can also calculate expected time of arrival and time-position of intersection.
• Possibility of displaying one normal view or splitting the display to 3 different areas of the Canal " mosaic display".
• It displays all alarms with audio and video alert, in case of over or under speed, separation distance violation, off Canal axis, possibility of accident, out of anchorage area.
• There are 3 displays in Ismailia, plus 2 displays in Port Tewfik and Port Said.

Informatic Display:

• It displays different lists used by harbor and movement offices as well as navigation controllers.
• It displays lists of booking vessels, arrival of vessels, vessels in harbor, vessels in anchorage, vessel particulars list, convoys list, pilots list.
• It displays statistical and navigational patterns for the traffic 0 ships in the Canal.
• It also shows Ideal Transit Pattern and plots real transit pattern where each vessel movement is plotted related to Canal kilometer axis and time axis.
• There are 3 displays in Ismailia and 2 in each harbor.

Meteorological Central Computer:

It collects all meteorological data from the 16 signal stations along the Canal. It displays statistical data per day / week / month. It feeds Ismailia main computer with meteorological data.

Informatic-Radar Interface Computer:

• It is located in Ismailia Center. It records the movement of all marine units in the Canal and replays the required movement showing their position, speed and time which is a very useful function used in analyzing accidents and studying critical navigational situations.
• It transmits the position and speed of all targets every 3 seconds to informatics network.
• It receives data of the transiting vessels including call sign, convoy order and type to be attached to each vessel on the radar display.
• It records every malfunction and system warnings.

Development Computer:

It is situated in Ismailia Center and keeps all system programs and data base of all pilots, vessels and the Canal electronic maps. It allows testing of any modification to system programs and creation of new screens or lists. It also helps in upgrading data base.

Panoramic Displays:

• They are located in Ismailia Center and consist of 10 adjacent displays showing overall view of the SC electronic map and the main marine features.
• They show all the automatically tracked marine units in the Canal approaches and waiting areas. They are managed by a computer which allows choosing the area to be displayed on each display and interchanges data with the main computer in Ismailia Center.

There are 2 computers in each of the 16 signal stations along the Canal. The first PC is connected to Ismailia main computer to display convoy lists with signal stations passage time in addition to meteorological data and navigation instructions.
The other PC collects meteorological data from the sensors fitted at the signal stations (wind speed and direction, visibility, tide and current) and transmits the data to Ismailia meteorological computer. It also displays the instantaneous meteorological data on digital LED displays in the stations.

Signal Station Board:

There is a 4-line board in each signal station to display the substantial data needed by SCA pilots on board the passing vessels.
The data is received from Ismailia main computer and displayed automatically on the board. The board shows the following information :

• The first line shows time and direction of the passing convoy.
• The second line shows meteorological data and navigational instructions.
• The third line shows the type of the preceding vessel and the time of its passing by the signal station.
• The fourth line shows type of the transiting vessel and time of passing by the signal station.
• The board is fitted with spot lights and it rotates to face the passing vessels from both directions.