The Furuno FA50 is a Class B AIS (Automatic Identification System) capable of exchanging navigation and ship data between own ship and other ships or coastal stations. It complies with IMO MSC. 140(76) Annex 3, A.694, ITU-R M.1371-2 and DSC ITU-R M.825-3. It also complies with IEC 60945 (EMC and environmental conditions).
The Furuno FA50 consists of a transponder unit with GPS antenna. A VHF antenna is required and should be supplied separately. Also included is AIS viewer software from MaxSea, which allows basic display of AIS targets on a PC. The transponder contains a VHF transmitter, two TDMA receivers on two parallel VHF channels, interface, communication processor, and internal GPS receiver. The internal GPS is a 12-channel all-in-view receiver with differential capability. It also gives position, COG and SOG.
