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Marine Simulation KMSS Maritime Black Box: More Than Just A VDR On July 2, 2002, a host of new regula- tions of concern to most ship builders and owners was implemented according to the recent revision of the Internation- al Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). In conjunction with amendments to Fire Safety and AIS reg- ulations. The reworked SOLAS Chapter V includes new conventions on the use of Voyage Data Recorder's (VDR's), sometimes referred to as maritime black boxes. VDR's offer much the same in functionality as the black boxes found in commercial aircraft, and are specifically designed for after-incident information purposes, however some VDR's offer far more than simple data recording. Kongsberg Maritime Ship Systems (KMSS) is behind one such VDR - the Maritime Black Box (MBB). Under- (Continued from previous page) tion of cableship operations — taking into account sea-state, ship dynamics, catenery behaviour and soil variations. The system also has the capability to accurately model views of the seabed terrain, facilitating fault diagnosis and analysis. The project relied heavily on CTC standing that the primary function of a VDR is data recording, KMSS has cre- ated a unit that supersedes the require- ments of SOLAS and the IMO, but also offers a range of extra features of bene- fit to navigation, safety and training pur- poses. KMSS, instead of rushing a prod- uct to market, instead decided to strate- gically develop a complete VDR pack- age. "We were willing to delay our entry Marine Projects for their experience and on Thales GeoSolutions for the provi- sion of geotechnical data, which allowed accurate modeling of plough behavior. The system fully interfaces to survey systems, Simrad sonar and Kongsberg's APOS system using their own protocols. This ensures that the VR Center soft- into the market to ensure that we pro- duced a product that we felt met the demanding requirements of the worlds ship owners," said Svein-Erik Larsen, vice president of Navigation Systems at KMSS. Discounting the extra functionality for the moment though, the core responsi- bility of the MBB is to record and store data, for retrieval after an accident or ware uses actual data for all of its simu- lated behaviors. The ROV interfaces with SIMRAD Sonar data, TSS - track- ing systems, Kongsberg — APOS and SMD's diagnostic launch & recovery systems. What makes this system so spectacu- larly different is that all of its simulated functions occur in real-time. That means trainees can control a perfectly engineered, 3-D virtual replica of the plough, ship and ROV systems. They are able to see the virtual systems adjusting and moving just as the real equipment would. The unique system also allows trainees to descend to the virtual seabed to see the effects that their bridge based virtual controls are having on the virtual plough's behavior. Plans for phase two of the project include a live-link from the virtual sys- tem to the real vessels out-at-sea. This will be enormously useful in the event that ship-sonar detects a change in pre- dicted terrain or unexpected soil types along the planned route. The simulator will then be fed live-data from the sea- going vessel allowing on-shore experts to safely try out options before re-laying the best solution back to the crew out at sea. In the event that a plough becomes disabled or damaged, the system can also be used to rehearse recovery before the real-crew make the real-world attempt. Given the high-risk and expen- sive consequences of mistakes, the sim- ulator blows any cost benefit arguments right out of the water. incident. Should something go terribly wrong at sea, recovery of the VDR and more importantly its stored data is of up- most importance. The ability to with- stand enormous stress is therefore para- mount in the design. KMSS's MBB is fitted with a Protected Storage Unit (PSU 10), which houses a solid-state recorder similar to those used in the air- craft industry. The PSU has a capacity to store up to 12 hours of radar, sensor and audio data in the event of an incident at sea - information which is essential to accident investigators and ship owners in the aftermath of any accidents. Tested in extreme conditions, the PSU meets requirements specified in SOLAS V, IMO A.861 and the performance stan- dard given by IEC 61996. Also, in the event that the unit becomes detached The project is due for completion at the end of 2002 and will have taken 18- months to develop, but Tim Dear, the VR Center's Business Development Director, says it has actually accounted for around eight-man years of effort and a considerable amount of ground-break- ing software development. The software principles of the system are applicable to a wide range of sub-sea and offshore activities, for example, the fully func- tional ROV simulator includes umbilical management & collision, cable tracking, propulsion systems, telemetry and manipulator systems and could be adapted to perfectly mimic behaviours of any ROV or AUV. The client CTC Marine Projects, are delighted with our work and are official- ly launching the Darlington simulator early in 2003. "The system enables CTC to rapidly respond to demand in the sub- sea cable sector. Plough pilots do a tremendously difficult job and we have an ongoing requirement to maintain and expand our team of qualified operators" says Jake Tompkins, CTC's Project Manager for the simulator. The VR Center, established in 1996, is a University owned company and employs nearly 40 full-time staff. Skills are broadly split between programming for software development and computer modelling for the visualization side of projects. As the name suggests, the Vir- tual Reality Center specializes in the development of real-time environments. 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