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Purpose

AIS-catcher is designed to be a dynamic platform that fosters the continuous improvement of AIS receiver models. We highly value and welcome any suggestions, observations, or shared recordings, especially from setups where current models face challenges.

Join the aiscatcher.org Community

AIS-catcher is a free and open-source project dedicated to transforming computers equipped with Software-Defined Radios (SDRs) into robust Automatic Identification System (AIS) receivers. Our mission is to enhance AIS data decoding, provide a versatile tool that supports various input and output methods, and aggregate AIS data at aiscatcher.org to enable real-time global visualization. Integrating this aggregated data into local web viewers offers a powerful tool to calibrate and improve station performance by identifying its limitations and blind spots.

How to Get Involved

Update to the Latest Version:
Ensure your AIS-catcher installation is up-to-date to benefit from the latest features and improvements.

Add Your Station:
Register your station by visiting Register Station. Upon registration, you will receive a unique sharing key.

Share Your AIS Data:
Run AIS-catcher using the -X option followed by your sharing key: 

ais-catcher -X YOUR_SHARING_KEY
This command shares your station's raw AIS data with the community hub/ More details can be found in the Configuration section.

Explore Community Data in local Web Viewer
Sharing activates additional features. Start exploring in your station's web viewer, see below.

Web Viewer Benefits

Enhancing your AIS-catcher experience, the Web Viewer offers two additional map overlays when sharing a community feed:

1. Community Feed

Community Feed

Features:

  • Displays vessels and objects reported by the AIS-catcher community using grey icons.
  • Helps identify potential blind spots and assess the reception area of your station.

Benefits:

  • Improved situational awareness by visualizing community-reported AIS data.
  • Enhanced understanding of your station's coverage and limitations.

2. AIS Tropo Ducting Conditions

AIS Tropo Ducting

Features:

  • Provides an overlay of AIS tropo ducting conditions, refreshed every six hours.
  • Explains AIS observations that typically occur beyond the line-of-sight, extending into hundreds of miles.

Benefits:

  • Enhances the interpretation of long-range AIS signals.
  • Assists in distinguishing between direct and ducted AIS receptions.

Get Started Today

Become a part of the AIS-catcher community to contribute to and benefit from a collaborative effort in improving AIS reception and data visualization. Together, we can enhance maritime situational awareness and advance AIS technology for everyone.

For more information and to join, visit aiscatcher.org.