IEC PAS 62923-101:2022

IEC PAS 62923-101
®

Edition 1.0 2022-09
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Maritime navigation and radiocommunication equipment and systems – Bridge
alert management
Part 101: Guideline on implementation
IEC PAS 62923-101:2022-09(en)

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IEC PAS 62923-101

®


Edition 1.0 2022-09




PUBLICLY AVAILABLE



SPECIFICATION









colour

inside










Maritime navigation and radiocommunication equipment and systems – Bridge

alert management

Part 101: Guideline on implementation


























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– 2 – IEC PAS 62923-101:2022 © IEC 2022
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Purpose . 7
4.1 Bridge alert management – Implementation . 7
4.2 Structure of document . 7
5 Implementing BAM in an equipment standard . 8
5.1 Implementing a concept . 8
5.2 Implementation process . 8
5.3 Subjects for consideration when developing/modifying an individual
equipment standard . 10
5.3.1 General . 10
5.3.2 Description of subjects . 10
5.4 Role of a Central Alert Management system (CAM system) . 11
6 Alert properties . 12
6.1 Harmonization of alert sound vs legacy alarm sounds . 12
6.1.1 General . 12
6.1.2 Emergency alarms . 13
6.1.3 Sounds in standards where MSC.302(87) does not take precedence . 14
6.2 Priority . 14
6.3 Category . 16
6.4 Functional vs technical alerts . 19
6.5 Alert management using context information . 21
6.5.1 General . 21
6.5.2 Different operational modes – Different alert requirements . 21
6.5.3 Other operational sectors . 22
7 Pre-BAM power failures and alarm-outputs . 23
7.1 General . 23
7.2 Pre-BAM alerts . 23
7.2.1 Applying ALR sentences . 23
7.2.2 Pre-BAM alert ‘alarm condition’ . 23
7.2.3 Applying dry contacts to inform about abnormal conditions (e.g. system
failure) . 24
7.2.4 Pre-BAM alert ‘power failure’ . 24
7.3 Alerting on power problems . 24
7.3.1 General . 24
7.3.2 Description . 25
7.3.3 Discussion . 25
7.3.4 Resolution . 26
8 Alert Identifiers . 27
8.1 General . 27
8.2 Application . 28
9 Clarification regarding presentation of alerts in the list of active alerts . 29
10 WG16 assistance. 29
Bibliography . 31

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IEC PAS 62923-101:2022 © IEC 2022 – 3 –
Figure 1 – BAM is a concept applied to equipment rather than a piece of equipment . 8
Figure 2 – Role of a CAM system in Bridge Alert Management . 12
Figure 3 – Typical decision tree for the classification of alert priority . 15
Figure 4 – Typical decision tree for the classification of alert priority after escalation of
a warning . 16
Figure 5 – EUT scope with one or two power inputs with one or two power sources . 26

Table 1 – Blocks of alert identifier end numbers in each 10 consecutive alert
identifiers above 300 . 28

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– 4 – IEC PAS 62923-101:2022 © IEC 2022
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________

MARITIME NAVIGATION AND RADIOCOMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT
AND SYSTEMS – BRIDGE ALERT MANAGEMENT

Part 101: Guideline on implementation


FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
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rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
A PAS is an intermediate specification made available to the public and needing a lower level
of consensus than an International Standard to be approved by vote (simple majority).
IEC PAS 62923-101 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 80: Maritime navigation
and radiocommunication equipment and systems.
The text of this PAS is based on the This PAS was approved for publication
following document: by the P-members of the committee
concerned as indicated in the following
document
Draft PAS Report on voting
80/1041/DPAS 80/1044/RVDPAS

Following publication of this PAS, which is a pre-standard publication, the technical committee
or subcommittee concerned may transform it into an International Standard.

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IEC PAS 62923-101:2022 © IEC 2022 – 5 –
This PAS shall remain valid for an initial maximum period of 2 years starting from the publication
date. The validity may be extended for a single period up to a maximum of 2 years, at the end
of which it shall be published as another type of normative document, or shall be withdrawn.

IMPORTANT – The "colour inside" logo on the cover page of this document indicates that it
contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding of its
contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.

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– 6 – IEC PAS 62923-101:2022 © IEC 2022
MARITIME NAVIGATION AND RADIOCOMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT
AND SYSTEMS – BRIDGE ALERT MANAGEMENT

Part 101: Guideline on implementation



1 Scope
This document primarily provides support to other workgroups to include alert requirements in
standards in line with Bridge Alert Management (BAM), and additionally provides support to
designers to implement alert properties so that they conform with the BAM requirements.
This document is applicable, and is intended to provide guidance, when the intention is to
implement BAM according to IMO Resolution MSC.302(87).
Based on the IMO decision to adopt the BAM Performance Standard MSC.302(87) as a high
level leading umbrella standard for intended implementation of BAM, IMO resolved in
MSC.302(87), 3.6, that in case of conflict with alert requirements in existing performance
standards, MSC.302(87) takes precedence.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies.
For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
IEC 61162-1, Maritime navigation and radiocommunication equipment and systems – Digital
interfaces – Part 1: Single talker and multiple listeners
IEC 62923-1:2018, Maritime navigation and radiocommunication equipment and systems –
Bridge alert management – Part 1: Operational and performance requirements, methods of
testing and required test results
IEC 62923-2:2018, Maritime navigation and radiocommunication equipment and systems –
Bridge alert management – Part 2: Alert and cluster identifiers and other additional features
IMO A.1021(26), Code on alerts and indicators, 2009
IMO MSC.302(87), Performance standards for Bridge Alert Management (BAM)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in IEC 62923-1 apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp

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IEC PAS 62923-101:2022 © IEC 2022 – 7 –
4 Purpose
4.1 Bridge alert management – Implementation
Resolution MSC 302(87) and the resulting testing standards IEC 62923-1 and IEC 62923-2 are
a major step towards the harmonization of the priority, classification, presentation, handling and
distribution of alerts generated by bridge equipment to draw the attention of their operator to
out-of-the-ordinary situations. IMO stated in Resolution MSC.302(87) the intention for improved
operational awareness, reduced unnecessary disturbance of the operator from their task at
hand and improved decision support for the operator. Following this, a main purpose is to help
the operator to decide what task or alert needs their attention first and which alert(s) can wait
given the consequences of the underlaying problem being reported by the alert, thereby
reducing the chance of operator errors and thus enhancing the safe operation of a ship.
The requirements posed in IEC 62923-1 and IEC 62923-2 brought many changes compared to
the previous requirements with respect to generation, propagation and handling of an alert,
changes that have consequences for new bridge equipment and for interfacing with pre-BAM
equipment on board of existing ships. The now following steps are implementation of Bridge
Alert Management in the individual equipment standards and actual application in equipment to
reach the intentions IMO laid down.
This guidance document informs the reader in narrative form about the main components of
BAM, about the differences between symptomatic alerts (pre-BAM) and functional alerts
(conforming to the BAM concept) and about some significant changes with respect to replacing
pre-BAM alerts with functional alerts (in particular the handling of power failures and system
failures).
It should be regarded as an add-on to IEC 62923-1:2018, Annex E. It provides generic guidance
on the concept of Bridge Alert Management (BAM). It is highly recommended to read
IEC 62923-1:2018, Annex E, first, before specifying a BAM implementation in a standard as
well as before designing/realizing such equipment.
Compared to a standard, this PAS is more limited in nature, as its intention is not to specify
what alerts have to be generated in which condition; that is the task of an individual equipment
standard and/or the designer of the equipment. Rather, it will provide characteristic examples
of how an alert implementation can be designed to reach IMO’s BAM goals, such that that
author or that designer is able to use those examples as a guideline for their own alert design
problem.
4.2 Structure of document
Clause 5 discusses a generic guideline to implement the latest version of BAM to realize an
(updated) individual equipment standard.
Clause 6 provides a number of ideas to help understand when and how to specify the properties
of alerts. It describes the difference between symptomatic alerts (pre-BAM) and functional
(BAM) alerts.
Clause 7 provides a number of examples that help understand how legacy specifications of
power failures and system failures should be reported conform BAM.
Clause 8 provides insights on the use of alert identifiers.
Clause 9 provides clarification on presentation of the list of active alerts.
Clause 10 discusses the potential assistance of IEC TC 80 Working Group 16 in the
implementation of BAM in standards.

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5 Implementing BAM in an equipment standard
5.1 Implementing a concept
As specified in IEC 62923-1 and IEC 62923-2, Bridge Alert Management (BAM) is a concept
that has to be implemented in (bridge) equipment to enhance the capability of that equipment
to fulfil the needs of mariners to process, understand and act upon information (alerts) provided
by the equipment on out-of-the-ordinary situations such as errors, failures, dangers, etc. with
potential negative consequences for the safe operation of the vessel. BAM is not a system, not
a ‘box’ that does something if a signal is sent to it (see Figure 1). As such BAM does not replace
any parts of equipment, rather it imposes additional requirements to all alert functions of
(bridge) equipment. Therefore, BAM is a concept applied to any bridge equipment that may
need to inform its operator on out of the ordinary situations.

Figure 1 – BAM is a concept applied to equipment rather than a piece of equipment
BAM has a number of properties (as elaborated in Clause 6) that differ from the pre-BAM era.
In particular, these are:
• an operator focused definition of alerts and prioritization (disturbance level, based on the
level of hazard of a situation for the operation of the ship) of alerts;
• alert Category and audible signal as means to indicate where the operator can handle the
alert;
• harmonization of alert sound; and
• facilities for the optional addition of a means for central presentation of alerts (Central Alert
Management (CAM) system).
5.2 Implementation process
The following steps can be regarded as a rough guideline on how to implement BAM in an
existing standard (it should be noted that many of these steps may not be relevant for the
regarded standard).
– Remove (potentially conflicting) requirements regarding alerts and alert management that
have an equivalent requirement in IEC 62923-1 and IEC 62923-2 and remove any alert-
related references to IEC 61924-2, IEC 61162-1 and IEC 62288.
Where necessary, replace them by a reference to IEC 62923-1 and IEC 62923-2.
– Add a generic requirement for the equipment to comply with IEC 62923-1 and IEC 62923-2.
“The equipment shall comply with IEC 62923-1 and IEC 62923-2.” is sufficient.
– Avoid adding explanation of IEC 62923 – if necessary engage in liaison with IEC TC 80
WG 16.

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IEC PAS 62923-101:2022 © IEC 2022 – 9 –
– Add a generic test to confirm compliance with IEC 62923.
“Confirm by inspection of documented evidence that the EUT complies with IEC 62923-1
and IEC 62923-2.”
– Avoid adding any test already covered by IEC 62923 (ISO/IEC Directives discourage
duplicated work).
– For the purpose of alert management, avoid adding duplicate requirements for the
application of IEC 61162 series interfacing. This is already addressed in IEC 62923 and
gives an undue focus on the technical side. Of course any overview of logical interfaces of
the equipment can be expanded with the applicable BAM-related interfaces conforming to
IEC 62923-1:2018, Annex C.
– Evaluate if the alerting defined in the standard is necessary and useful to the operator:
• which detected abnormal situations have negative consequences for the operation, and
thus need to be brought under the attention of the operator? These may be candidates
for raising an alert;
• which pre-BAM alerts report technical problems that have to be analysed first by the
operator before they know the relevance of the problem and the way to deal with the
situation or to resolve the problem. The alert needs to be replaced by a functional alert
that informs the operator about the consequences for their operation and, where
practicable, advice on how to act to deal with the consequences;
• which pre-BAM alerts have the same consequences and require the same advice on how
to act on the underlying problems: these can be taken together in a functional alert.
– Define the situations in which the equipment should provide alerts. As BAM introduces a
change to operator-centred functional alerts taking into account the consequences of a
situation for the operation, the type of newly defined alerts may be quite different from the
alerts in the pre-BAM era.
With the definition of situations in which an alert is to be provided, it is possible to specify
an alert title and even an alert descriptive text. However, in that case it should be assessed
for each alert if the situation for which an alert is to be provided has sufficiently standard
consequences when taking into account the variety in scope, design and environment of
equipment to allow a standardized alert title and/or alert description text in order to provide
the user in all variations with correct and useful information for situational awareness and
guidance for decision making (see 6.4).
Results of such assessment can be:
• a standard alert title is justified (e.g. when a distress message is received);
• a standard alert title can be of value, but with good reason alternatives can be allowed
when sufficient justification for the alternative is available, given the scope, design and
environment of equipment;
• a standard alert title is not appropriate. In such situation only the situation in which an
alert is to be provided is to be defined, and guidance for an appropriate alert title and
descriptive text can be provided.
– Evaluate requirements for audible indication (see 6.1.1) in order to avoid conflicts with the
purpose of audible alert signals.
– Liaise with IEC TC 80 WG 16 regarding:
• the alerts – to validate if the identified alert purposes are consistent with BAM principles;
and
• the alert identifiers – to assure that there are no identifiers assigned that already are
designed to other types of alerts in other standards and that the mapping on standard
alert identifiers is done consistent with their meaning. New alerts can be assigned a new
alert identifier by WG16 only.
It is important to note that only alert identifiers issued by WG 16 and confirmed after liaison
with WG 16 will be taken on board in future editions of IEC 62923-2.

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It may be necessary to show that original IMO requirements were removed on purpose or even
to retain original IMO requirements that have been identified for removal in a note, to show to
the reader what happened.
EXAMPLE 1 “With regard to alert management, MSC.302(87) supersedes .”
EXAMPLE 2 “Note: Resolution MSC. 302(87) and derived IEC 62923-1 have superseded the requirement:
”
5.3 Subjects for consideration when developing/modifying an individual equipment
standard
5.3.1 General
The concept defined in MSC.302(87) and IEC 62923 requires that, when developing a new or
modifying an existing individual equipment standard, the subjects described in 5.3.2 should be
addressed in that standard.
It is important to note that most of the current IMO standards, and at the time of writing still also
a lot of IEC Standards, are still based on alarm concepts from before the BAM-era. Where
conflicts arise, the alert concept in these pre-BAM standards is superseded by BAM, and the
updated standard needs to be adjusted to conform to IEC 62923, while preventing duplication
of requirements.
Implementation of BAM therefore includes a thorough review to replace similar and conflicting
provisions to BAM by a reference to IEC 62923-1 and IEC 62923-2. Examples of such an
operation can be found in IEC 62288 from Ed.2 to Ed.3 and IEC 61924-2 from Ed.1 to Ed.2.
Finally, there have been standards that refer to preliminary, now superseded, versions of Bridge
Alert Management, like IEC 61924-2 (Ed.2), IEC 62288 (Ed.2) and IEC 61162-1 (Ed.5). Such
standards should be adjusted to have correct references. In this respect, one should remember
the ISO/IEC policy (see Directives) that duplication of requirements in different standards is to
be avoided to prevent inconsistencies and to enhance maintainability.
5.3.2 Description of subjects
The subjects for consideration are:
– correct terminology. It is especially important to realize that the related alert terminology,
such as “alarm”, in the old situation had a different meaning (sometimes even between
standards) than under the BAM concept, and needs alignment with the BAM concept.
Sometimes the meaning of such terms does not even pertain to ‘alerts’ in BAM context at
all. For example in GMDSS-related standards the term ‘alarm’/’alert’ could relate to the
message transmitted over the radio instead of relating to the ‘alert’ to the operator that such
a message is available. Compliance with BAM implies that the use of such terms are brought
in line with the harmonized definitions defined in IEC 62923. Implementation should also
clearly distinguish between similar terms for different matters (e.g. ‘BAM-alert’ and ‘GMDSS-
alert’, which have a different meaning);
– a proper definition of useful (functional) alerts providing a clear message to the operator
• to reflect on the operational
...