River Information Services (RIS) is a set of information technology (IT) services, to optimize traffic and transport processes in inland navigation, by providing a swift electronic,in-advance and real-time information transfer between water and shore.
RIS streamlines the information exchange between waterway operators and users. Since 2005, an EU framework directive provides minimum requirements to guarantee cross-border compatibility of national systems.

River Information Services are based on four RIS Key Technologies:

• • Notice to Skippers
  • Inland AIS
  • Inland ECDIS
  • Electronic Ship Reporting

The relation between the RIS Services and RIS Key Technologies is shown in the figure below.

ALSIC is involved in different expert groups as Notice to Skippers, Electronic Ship Reporting, Inland AIS and Inland ECDIS. They take the lead in defining technical specifications for the European Standard for RIS Key Technologies.

ALSIC has done different studies, consultancy assignments and implementations for River Information Services and RIS Key Technologies: 

• • Study for the Implementation of RIS, based on the existing systems and their functionalities, for the Westerscheldt River (RIS GNB) for the Scheldt Radar Network (SRN) – BET organization.

  • Extending the website www.vts-scheldt.net of the Westerscheldt River (RIS GNB) for the Scheldt Radar Network (SRN) to a RIS – FIS Portal.

  • Development of an AIS-XML converter for the Scheldt Radar Network (SRN). This allows the different systems of the Scheldt Radar Network (SRN) to communicate with the Inland AIS network via an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) in a XML format without knowing the details of typical protocols like NMEA or the ins and outs of the Inland AIS network.

  • Realization of Notice to Skippers based on the EU standard 416/2007 for the Scheldt Radar Network (SRN – RIS GNB). The realization contained a study to define how the existing messages like BASS (Messages for the Scheldt Traffic) and SSB (Scheldt Traffic Message) can be automatically converted in to Notice to Skippers messages. The implementation of NtS messages was done through the RIS-FIS Portal of RIS GNB (SRN).

  • Realization of Notice to Skippers based on the EU standard 416/2007 for the Flemish waterway authorities “nv De Scheepvaart” and “Waterwegen en Zeekanaal NV”. The realization contained a study to define how Notice to Skippers can be integrated in the existing organizations and their methods of distributing information to the skippers. The study was followed by the implementation through a web application, http://nts.flaris.be, running on a cluster solution which is geographically separated.

  • Realization of a Calamity Abatement Support system, C@LRIS, based on the four RIS Key Technologies for the Flemish waterway authorities “Waterwegen en Zeekanaal NV” and “nv De Scheepvaart”. The realization contained a study to define the Vision Statement, gather information of the Primary and Secondary Stakeholder, integration of electronic emergency plans, …. The study was followed by the implementation through a web application, running on a cluster solution which is geographically separated.

  • The existing AIS Maritime network of the Scheldt Radar Network (SRN – RIS GNB) was extended to an Inland AIS network based on the EU standard 415/2007. The information of the Inland AIS network can be integrated in the different applications of RIS GNB via the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and the AIS-XML converter.