Australian Institute of Navigation

Diary

New timing for Monthly Meetings - 13 March 2023

A number of members of both the Company of Master Mariners and the Australian Institute of Navigation have indicated that the current late evening timing for the monthly meetings makes attendance challenging. In recent months, low attendance at the monthly dinners/presentation has made it difficult to meet the minimum numbers required by the venue. As a result, the monthly meetings are being changed from a dinner on the second Thursday of each month to a lunch on the third Thursday of each month. The meeting (lunch and presentation) will occur on the third Thursday of each month 1200 for 1230, and will conclude NLT 1500 (of course the presentation will conclude well before then and those that need to leave earlier to return to their work or other activities can do so). The venue will be the Occidental Hotel, 43 York street, with the lunch to be held in the Glenmore Room, 2nd floor. The cost remains $50 per head, paid on arrival. The RSVP for the lunches is CAPT John Bradley who can be RSVP'd to via bradleyJ@Ymail.com or text to 0415600519, normally by the Monday before the lunch.

AIN Membership Fees Due Now - 28 July 2016

Australian Instute of Navigation membership fees are now due.
To view the lateset fees associated with AIN membership please click here to access the members page.

IGNSS 6-8 December 2016 @ UNSW

The IGNSS Society runs the SE Asian region’s premier conference on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and related Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) technologies. This year’s IGNSS conference will be in Sydney, Australia from 6 to 8 December 2016 and will bring together leaders in GNSS and PNT to examine the latest technology, present cutting edge research and discuss in open forums the implications for policy, market development and positioning infrastructure deployment.
IGNSS 2016 will showcase a number of contemporary topics including, the role of PNT in automated land and aerial vehicles, the growing range of commercial precise positioning services, hard infrastructure issues such as space based augmentation systems, and soft infrastructure issues such as datum modernisation and mitigation of system vulnerabilities. These hot topics will be discussed in the context of the latest system developments fuelling the Multi-GNSS Era.
Closing date for submission of abstracts 4 July 2016
Closing date for papers requiring peer review 26 September 2016 http://ignss2016.unsw.edu.au

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Events

Graduation of Mission Aircrew from RAAF East Sale - 15 December 2022

The Secretary of the AIN presented the AIN Award at the 15th December 2022 graduation ceremony for members of No 54 and No 55 Mission Aircrew Course at the Air Mission Training School at RAAF East Sale. The Reviewing Officer for the parade was AIR VICE-MARSHAL Stephen Meredith, AM, DSM Deputy Chief of Air Force who trained as an air navigator himself at East Sale in the late 1980s.

AIN Dinner - 13 July 2016

Dave Pyett, Kym Osley and Bernard Larkin

Dave, Martin, Bernard, Bob, guest Gordon Ketelby and John

Guest speaker WgCdr Craig Stallard with AIN Members

Ian Watkins, Elaine and Ken Doolan, Kym Osley and Guest speaker Craig Stallard

AIN Dinner Meeting - 8 June 2016

Intermediate Navigation Course Graduated at HMAS Watson - 20 May 2016

Kym Osley, Secretary of the AIN attended the Graduation and presented a Plaque to the DUX of the Course LT Daniel James.
Also in attendance from the AIN was Peter Martin.

Graduates Lt Matthew Stobo and Lt Jennifer Neuhaus with CMDR Matthew Shand

Kym Osley with Lt Daniel James - Dux of the Intermediate Navigation Course

Peter Martin - AIN attended the Graduation

Peter Martin with LCDR Simon Latus and CMDR Darron Rowe

AIN Annual General Meeting - 10 March 2016

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Tom Davidson, Peter Martin, Kym Osley and Ian Watkins

HMAS Watson Graduation - 7 March 2016

Capt Craig Powell, Lt Mathew Wilson, Lt Seagar Clarkson, Kym Osley and Lt Simon Murray

Debbie Osley. LtCdr Simon Latus, RN, Kym Osley and Capt Ian Watkins

Kym Osley presnting to Lt Mathew Wilson RNZN

Lt Jessica O'Brien with CDRE Michael Rothwell

Lt Mathew Wilson with CDRE Michael Rothwell

Lt Seagar Clarkson with CDRE Michael Rothwell

Lt Simon Murray with CDRE Michael Rothwell

AIN and Merchant Navy Dinner - 10 February 2016

Guest Speaker was Kendal Carter on ‘Marine Operations at Lord Howe Island’

Waubadebar Plaque Unveil - 26 January 2016

Waubadebar grave is Heritage listed as a place of Worship
Note: The red painted fishing boat seen in the background is named ‘Waubs Bay’
Waubadebar plaque description

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Intermediate Navigation Course Graduation – 29 May 2015

The Vice-president of the AIN, Mr Bob Hall attended the Graduation of the RAN Intermediate Navigation Course on 29 May 2015. The Dux of the Course was LEUT Rebecca Wheldrake, RAN, who was presented with the AIN Dux award (a plaque and a book prize) by Mr Bob Hall. A total of 9 Officers graduated the Course and will post to a mixture of Patrol Boats and Minehunters. It was a challenging two weeks at sea (particularly having to steer around all of the Vivid Festival vessels)!

Seminar on Civil/Military Operations in a Satellite Navigation and Satellite Communications Denied Environment – 22 May 2015 at Canberra

All the speakers had highlighted the critical risk associated with a potential deliberate or unintentional GNSS outage and the significant impact it could have on the continuity of civilian and military operations. The next step is for the Agencies represented at the Seminar to develop an effective risk mitigation strategy. At a minimum this should include a more holistic Government and industry approach to continuity of civil and military operations in a space degraded environment. Much of the challenge is about the policy and human factors aspects of GNSS degradation, and not the technical aspects. Thus a key aspect will be determining and implementing appropriate policy, and creating a cross Government exercise and training regime to ensure Australia is as ready as it can be in the event of a serious degradation in space-based PNT.
The Seminar Key Outcomes/Actions that will be progressed jointly by the Australian Institute of Navigation and Defence are:

Share Information. Further develop cross-Government GNSS-related forums to better share developments in dealing with GNSS degradation.
Plan. Ensure that natural and human–induced GNSS degradation is adequately addressed in Government and Department contingency plans and risk registers.
Education. Develop a program for better educating the public of the dangers of jamming or interfering with GNSS.
Critical Infrastructure. Seek to have GNSS recognized as critical infrastructure in Australia.
Training. Review cross-Government exercise programs and training courses to ensure that they adequately stresses staff and processes in preparation for responding to a serious degradation in space-based PNT.
Detect. Create an Australian national system (equipment and processes) for detecting and geo-locating GNSS jamming.
Ownership. Defence and the Australian Institute of Navigation to find the most suitable cross-Government group to accept and progress these key outcomes/actions.

AIN Dinner/ Technical Lecture – 13 May 2015

The speaker for the evening was Captain Lindsay Cavenagh, who is a Senior Pilot with Sydney Ports. Sydney Ports is responsible for the safe navigation of vessels into, and within, Sydney Harbour and Port Botany. CAPT Cavanagh provided an interesting update on piloting techniques, and the activities and challenges of piloting for Sydney Ports in Sydney Harbour. There were two key points that most people took away from the presentation. The first one was the massive increase in size of vessels that they were now manoeuvring in the Sydney Harbour basin. They have only a few metres clearance in all directions, and even less clearance off the Harbour floor, for some of the big cruise ships and tankers. The second point was the ‘e-navigation in a suitcase’ that the pilots carried on board each vessel. It included e-charts and a variety of other navigation aids. Certainly a far cry from doing it manually a few decades ago! But of course there is now less room for error!

Early 2015 - 26 and 27 Air Combat Officer Courses Graduate – Winners of AIN Excellence in Navigation Award

The 26 and 27 ACO Courses graduated in early 2015. The graduations of the Courses were low key affairs due to the low numbers. However, the graduates achieved very good results and a member on each course was selected for the AIN Award based on their performance during the applied phase (where air navigation principles are taught). AIN Plaques for Excellence in Navigation were awarded to OFFCDT Liam Ryan on 26 Air Combat Officer Course (ACO) and PLTOFF Timothy Sexton on 27 ACO. Liam has now been promoted to PLTOFF, and is well into his introductory fighter training at 76SQN at RAAF Williamtown. He will start his F-18F course later this year. Timothy was promoted to FLGOFF after his graduation and has recently arrived at RAAF Williamtown for his introductory fighter training before starting his F-18F conversion course. We wish them both all the best!