Maritime Simulation News

(www.mb.com.ph)

The whole-day seminar featured technical presentations, an open forum, and a visit to IDESS navigational simulator center which provided a demonstration of ENC in bridge simulator. IDESS is an independent organization which operates two navigational simulator centers, one in Brevik, Norway and the other in Subic Bay. It provides a diverse range of courses and programs to the maritime and offshore industries. The IDESS bridge simulator is the first facility in South East Asia with a 360-degree visualization.

(www.contracostatimes.com)

This year, the academy will start building a new simulation center to house a variety of high-tech ship and boat simulators, engine-room recreations, an oil tanker-loading simulator and a machine that will allow students to hone their crisis-management skills.

(www.nst.com)

THE Malaysian Maritime Academy at Kuala Linggi is now equipped with a RM8 million state-of-the-art ship-handling simulator.

The Russian-made machine, owned by Malaysia International Shipping Corporation Bhd, has been installed in a 15,000 sq feet building at the academy.

Academy chief executive officer M.A Ganesen said the simulator has four bridges – three with a field-of-view range of 120 degrees each, and one with a 270 degrees range.

(allafrica.com)

The Federal Government, he said, has procured from Norway items of simulator equipment worth more than N250 million and the National Maritime Academy has been directed to build a befitting jetty for the academy. To still enhance the number one status of the academy, the federal ministry of Transport has signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysian government for the training of the academy” cadets on the one year mandatory sea going vessel.

(www.sitnews.us)

Ketchikan, Alaska – New state-of-the-art radar equipment has recently been installed for the Radar Observer course by the University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan. Assistant Professor Dale Miller was available Friday to demonstrate the new equipment and gave a brief overview of the Radar Observer course. The course will offer certification and certification renewals for mariners in radar interpretation and collision avoidance.

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The computer software program, Navi Trainer, is used by many of the maritime academy’s around the world. It simulates 3 different models of radar including Bridge Master 5, Furuno and Nucleus. In addition, the program simulates the handling characteristics of 10 different vessels. The choices include a patrol boat, tug boat, fast ferry, cruise ship and super tanker among others. The simulator displays the view from the bridge of a vessel. The instructor controls the weather and waves as well as the movement of several dozen target vessels for each of the bridge stations. It is the responsibility of the student to determine the priorities, maneuver the vessel to avoid collision as well as interact with other vessels as stipulated by maritime law.

The software has the ability to simulate the lights of vessels and aids to navigation at night and then switch to daylight as well as simulate equipment failure. All these features offer valuable learning experiences for a variety of maritime courses. UAS Ketchikan has purchased charts with a variety of common bodies of water. In addition, the Long Island/Chesapeake Bay charts were purchased to be used in the Master 100 Ton/OUPV (6-Pack) course as well as other maritime courses.

According the information provided by the University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan, the U.S. Coast Guard approved the equipment this week for training and certification of captains, mates and others in the maritime industry. The first course utilizing the new equipment will be offered in November.

Link: University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan
Link: Transas

(www.bangornews.com)

CASTINE – Three student crews from Maine Maritime Academy eased their vessels through the waters of New York Harbor Wednesday without ever leaving the college campus. The young officers were operating the three bridges at the new $800,000 navigation and ship handling simulator at the academy, which will help train students to command the vessels that carry cargo and people around the world.

“Leadership and command are difficult things to teach,” said Sam Teel, the chairman of the academy’s Marine Transportation Department. “How do you teach someone to have a command presence? This simulator lets them have that experience. It lets them try and experience that in a simulated environment.”

Installed this summer in the Bath Iron works Center for Advance Technology, the simulator is a new, self-contained laboratory which features three complete ship’s bridges, a large classroom with a wall-projected debriefing function, and an instructor work station that controls the scenarios on the three bridges.

The primary bridge features a screen that provides a 240-degree horizontal field of view and a bridge computer providing the crew with a 360-view of the outside of the bridge.

The simulator utilizes a bank of computers and state-of-the-art, video game graphics cards and seven wide-angle lens projectors to simulate New York and 14 other harbors around the world.

The system also allows the instructor to change conditions, weather, and other traffic in the water to create a realistic training exercise.

The technology also allows the programmer to change the type of ship the students are operating from a tanker to a container ship, to a mega yacht.

One of the bridges is a dedicated tug bridge which uses the same control console employed by the Panama Canal Authority for its tug bridge.

“This can recreate anything you can expect in real life,” Teel said during a demonstration on Wednesday. “It mimics it perfectly within the ability of the technology.”

The main bridge provides the full effect of being on the water, including the impression of motion as the simulated ship turns and accelerates.

The simulator was purchased with funds from the academy’s $22 million capital campaign and replaces the 10-year-old simulator which had many limitations and was not always reliable.

The simulator classes count toward student sea time required for a Coast Guard license. Students also ship out on the academy’s training ship State of Maine, and, on a commercial vessel, in order to meet those requirements.

“We can’t let students operate in New York Harbor,” Teel said. “It’s just not safe for trainees. The simulator gives them actual experience, on water experience and they receive credit for a certain amount of sea time.”

Although the simulator has been in operation since the start of classes earlier this month, the official dedication will take place at 10:15 a.m. Saturday during the academy’s homecoming celebration.

Link: Maine Maritime Academy
Link: Kongsberg Maritime

(www.cbc.ca)

ST. JOHN’S, NFLD. – An international team of researchers is tossing the stomachs of volunteers on a simulated ship to better understand motion sickness. There is a fully enclosed, full-scale ship’s bridge inside Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Marine Institute. The simulated ship is mounted on massive hydraulic arms four metres into the air.

The American, British, Canadian and Dutch navies sponsor the motion sickness research.

Dutch scientist Dr. Jelte Bos is a world-renowned expert in equilibrium and orientation, but even his insides were a bit delicate riding the giant motion simulator.

“I’ve been in it several times now in the past days and I get used to it,” said Bos.

In one experiment, two subjects sit at laptop computers performing memory tests as the room or “ship” pitches and rolls, as if it were heaving through a storm on the Grand Banks.

The purpose is to explore the link between the rolling sea, the heaving stomach and how the brain deals with it all, said Scott MacKinnon, an ergonomics researcher at Memorial.

Throughout the experiment, scientists ask the subjects how they feel.

“These symptoms may go from just feeling a bit tired to vomiting,” said MacKinnon. “We ask the subjects to rate their symptoms using a misery index score.”

After 30 minutes of being tossed about, volunteer Tanya Lopez said the test was easier than the last time. “For me it’s always in my tummy, but my sea legs are fine.”

MacKinnon and Bos hope the queasy findings will lead to safer working environments at sea and perhaps even changes in ship design, such as applying better fins to control the roll of the motion.

(www.dcmilitary.com)

Two different companies, Kongsberg and Computer Science Corporation, are bidding for the Navy’s simulator business. Each has a “full mission bridge simulator” at the Naval Academy, which helped to test and evaluate the two different units.

The academy also has six desktop versions of the bridge simulator.

“They have a smaller image, but use the same software,” said Lt. Kurt Sellerberg, the academy’s simulator officer.

Sellerberg said Navy facilities in Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan, already have such simulators, but the goal is to have them at all fleet concentration areas such as San Diego, Everett, Wash., Pascagoula, Miss., and Norfolk, Va.

Rick Bragg, the Navy’s integrated program manager for the ships’ weapons systems, wanted to see which system would be most cost effective and best for training.

“We volunteered to assist him and provide feedback and evaluations,” Sellerberg said. “Our input provided a unique comparison and also helped to improve the system.”

The ribbon cutting for the two simulators occurred June 23. However, earlier this summer, members of the Class of ’05 became the first midshipmen to use the simulators as they began preparing for their summer training cruises aboard the 108-foot yard patrol craft.

Link: Kongsberg Maritime
Link: CSC/AMC