
4 Automatic Radar
Plotting Aids (ARPA),
specified faculties
4.1 Introduction
With computers developing at an ever increasing pace,
it was only a matter of time before their capabilities were
harnessed to assist the mariner in resolving the continu-
ing problem of tracking targets and analysing their
movements when faced with heavy traffic.
In the past, many semi-automatic devices were
developed to assist in this task but only those systems
which conform to the IMO Performance Standards for
Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPA) are rightfully
entitled to be classified as ARPAs (see Section 10.3).
The IMO Performance Standard for an ARPA
require ...