USA: Sperry Marine has been awarded type approval for its electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) by UK certification authority, QinetiQ.
The type-approval certificate was granted for Sperry Marine's VisionMaster FT ECDIS products, following tests to ensure conformance with the new International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) performance standards IEC 61174 Edition 3 and IEC 62288. The new performance standards came into effect on January 1, 2009, in accordance with International Maritime Organisation (IMO) recommendation MSC.232(82).
"The QinetiQ type approval assures our customers they are navigating with state-of-the-art equipment meeting the latest IMO and IEC specifications with our VisionMaster FT ECDIS products," said J Nolasco DaCunha, Vice President of Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine.
Introduced in 2007, the Sperry Marine VisionMaster FT series incorporates advanced networking technology to provide a seamless solution, combining the ship's radars, ECDIS and other navigation and ship control sensors in a tightly integrated package for control and display at multi-function workstations. The open-ended architecture forestalls obsolescence by providing a built-in upgrade path for future enhancements.
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