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Digital Ship
Ship control systems – reducing the risk
We have all heard about the risks of errant ship control systems – but fixing the problems
is much more tricky. Digital Ship ran a conference with Lloyds Register to explore the options
A GROWING NEED for "lite" automation ly been seen to be moving into the pro- Logistics Organisation (DLO) volunteered plex software-based systems is not always
was the feeling among many of those pres- gressive market. to run a project to define the technical con- understood.
ent regarding the problems with current Another issue raised in this area was tent, and Lloyd's Register's Jonathan Earthy Poor business processes result not only
shipboard systems. that of industry learning. Solutions such as has made contact with another organiza- in delay but also in the product failing to
The increasing range of available func- common specifications, standards tion starting a general project in this area meet required performance targets such as
tions is not proving beneficial to the users addressing systems rather than equipment that could be extended to include maritime time or accuracy, poor maintenance
or owner, many of the delegates felt. and more sharing of experience were sug- operations. Lloyd's Register will investi- record, users' lack of faith in systems caus-
None of the drivers [which encourage gested as possible areas for improvement. gate converting the results into a standard. ing annoyance and avoidance of use; the
the development of so many functions] are Concerns were raised about crew not One other impediment to technological list of potential pitfalls goes on and on.
credible with respect to user or owner getting the chance or being required to development is that there is a considerable Then there are the risks to the ship, crew
need, and potentially increase risk because increase their levels of competency, espe- amount of research work and experience and environment which can arise from a
they are more difficult to use, or reduce cially in the engine room where seafarers in the industry that is not shared. Many of failure of systems on board a vessel.
overall integrity due to increased system have begun to feel that they are now the leaders in the industry are working on These are all issues which stem from a
complexity. being driven by the automation, rather new projects that are not reported. It was lack of total confidence in available infor-
This also applies to the presentation of than the reverse. suggested that Digital Ship may be able to mation and a lack of integration between
information and alerts. make a contribution here, in investigating key systems. At the conference some of the
It was agreed that both functions and Recommendations and publishing the findings of innovative leading players in the industry offered
information must be tailored to the prob- from the event researchers and developers, and helping their thoughts on the matter.
lem for which they are needed, rather than The issues raised and discussed during the to make them more widely known.
the current case of individual preference day sparked suggestions and recommen- Richard Vie, Carnival
or supplying everything that can be made dations from different parties as to differ- Background Richard Vie, vice president of new build-
available. ent ways to improve the operations of Ship control, monitoring and alarm sys- ing and technical development, corporate
An equally important problem is lack everyone concerned. tems are the first line of defence if any- shipbuilding, Carnival Corporation,
of specification with respect to the degree One of the key points was certainly the thing goes wrong on a vessel - the hope is talked about his project to find the essen-
and type of integration of systems. use of standards and regulation. Current that an alarm will sound, a control system tial functional requirements of alarm,
There was a tacit consensus amongst standards and regulations are judged to will make a correction, and a potential dis- monitoring and control systems (IAMCS)
attendees that shipyards do not address the act too late, and the feeling is that they do aster will be averted. and making a standard for future vessels.
issue of control or of complex, integrated not address the risks that arise from nov- As we all know, the systems are getting The issue is making sure that the bene-
systems, but that they cannot be responsi- elty, complexity and differing levels of increasingly complex, and surprisingly fits of IAMCS can be maximized whilst
ble for creating solutions to these problems. competence. few checks are made of the functions of avoiding the problems, he said.
A performance standard for system It is widely accepted, however, that integrated systems to demonstrate that
integrators was mooted during the discus- change will be slow and will lag behind they work properly.
sion of the requirements of integration. the need for improvement, since most of Seafarers have gotten used to silencing
It was noted that the industry has been the industry has yet to learn that prescrip- and accepting alarms without checking
developing down dual tracks. tion is of limited value. What is needed is what they are. If the integrated control
There is a progressive market of process improvement and goal setting. systems are not used as intended the ship
shipowners, which is learning how to There is also great diversity in the inter- may not operate as efficiently as possible.
specify requirements and willing to pay pretation of the phrase "system integra- In extreme cases time-saving functions
for individualized solutions, working tion" and the scope of such an activity. or whole systems may not even be used.
next to a 'bread and butter' market, con- This will naturally lead to confusion This represents, at the very least, a signifi-
sisting of standard ships where the manu- between project stakeholders. cant amount of unnecessary expenditure,
facturers drive innovation by selling-on A system integration standard which and possibly more serious consequences
selected functions and features from pro- defines the terms, scope and practice of for safety-related functions or systems.
gressive market innovations and other system integration would be seen to be There are many different types of risk
sectors of industry. very beneficial, and many attendees that need to be managed correctly, not just
There are also some sectors which have offered to review such a standard as it safety, to ensure that a ship is running as Richard Vie, vice president,
been perceived to shift between groups. develops. well as possible. Carnival Corporation, with
For example, the tanker market has recent- Subsequent to the meeting the Defence The range of risks involved with com- Bernard Thomey
Digital Ship September 2005 page 29
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hip
Digital S 05 SHIP CONTROL SYSTEMS
2 000-20
The main problems which arise, he ment method which could be linked into The proper maintenance and updating Sverre Gotaas,
said, are new equipment adding lots of the MoD UK acquisition process, which of equipment and systems is also essential Kongsberg
additional functions on each ship and the would lead to buying the right equipment to maintaining a high level of safety. "It is The Kongsberg approach to the future
ease of providing large amounts of infor- keeping risk at an acceptable level, he said. unarguably mission critical. When manu- of shipping technology was outlined to
mation to the watchkeeper. Another key aspect of this initiative was facturing these systems we must assume the conference by Sverre Gotaas, VP
New functions may have been put in to develop common terminology to be used that the operator is not capable of helping". technology.
due to reasons which were important in across multiple projects and organisations, "They must have self-checking and self- "The industry is not integrated", he said,
the past but not now, and no-one removes in areas as diverse as acquisitions and cul- diagnostic facilities, and have distributed "manufacturers sell boxes, yards want
the functionality when it isn't needed. ture. This requires the re-use of established functions for increased reliability", he said. faster and cheaper operation, class apply
Seafarers start to feel that they are being specification and requirements. "The system needs to be tolerant of a sin- rules, the owners ask for functions from the
driven by the ship, continually responding A clear definition of your requirements gle failure." developers, but don't request integration.
to one alarm after another, rather than the is essential to the procurement function. To guarantee the integrity of the system This is a sub-optimal situation."
other way around, he said. "If you define what you want and can't it is also important that the functions can- Mr. Gotaas feels that shipping needs to
Carnival Cruises are working together afford it, then you have to continually not be unintentionally altered. learn some lessons from the oil industry.
with British Maritime Technology (BMT) to upgrade towards it throughout the lifes- "We want to lock the operator out from "There the end user is responsible" he said.
work out exactly what functions and infor- pan of the vessel", he said. the operating system", he said, "we even "They use function orientated specifica-
mation are needed by the watcheeper and "The performance provided by the sys- include a physical lock for configuration tion, with a focus on operation. An inte-
link the equipment requirements to that, tem is what is of interest, not who does it control." grator is appointed and given room to
finally including the (few) additional func- with what." He also espoused the need for automat- work."
tions that the company management needs. Mr. Chubb's idea of the system ic regression testing. "There is a focus on interoperability
"This has already produced a nice map- involves the creation of an 'integration Another issue considered important by and standard communications; an oper-
ping of functional needs," he said. "It will loop', where the interaction of the differ- Mr. Andersen was dealing with the possi- ability, work and organization focus."
help a lot. It is new in the industry to lay ent parts of the system is defined in terms bility of viruses and the security of infor- However, this all increases costs, one of
this out." of the needs they serve. Then the defini- mation. the biggest stumbling blocks in technolo-
It has not proven particularly easy to tion of those needs can include the "System security is interesting because gy adoption. "The only solution for the
convince engineers about the benefits of a descriptions of those systems. it becomes more and more relevant as ves- marine sector, which wants lowest cost,"
functional system, he said. "There are lots of tools available to use", sels move to the same operating system. he said, "is standardization and tools."
"Engineers hate functional models. he said, "and a culture change may be Virus infection of ship automation must "The only way to provide a dependable
They want to see a physical system." required to make the best use of them". be assessed as a risk", he said. product is to provide a standard product.
Mr. Vie stressed the importance of listen- "The highest level requirements are "Getting telegrams to the office from Then users can train to use the standard
ing and understanding what watchkeepers generic to any marine platform and sys- the equipment is good, but it increases the system." A standard system used across
say about the operation and the system. He tem, so the goal of increased integration risk of other things. The incremental the board should lead to an increase in the
pointed out that specialists are required to and standardization is achievable." growth of the computer system involves general level of operational competence.
collect and interpret this information. But an increase in the level of standard- risks with regard to data security." But Mr. Gotaas also felt that this will
The information acquired by the BMT ization must also be coupled with an raise further questions, like "How many
study will support accurate cost versus alignment in the relevant regulations if it Erik Styhr Petersen, markets? Do you design 'different strokes
function trade offs, he said. is to be fully effective. Lyngsø Marine for different folks'? What can be changed
In this regard Mr. Chubb commented Getting the right system, and getting the and how to do it?"
Derek Chubb, UK MoD on the value of the new ISO standard system right. This was the basis of the The issue of standardisation still lacks a
Derek Chubb, from the marine electrical 17894, saying "(It) was the best Christmas presentation by Erik Styhr Petersen, man- standard solution.
systems integrated project team, Defence present. It provides principles to address ager special projects, Lyngsø Marine.
Logistics Organisation, UK Ministry of all of the problems and can be used as the "The best system is one you never hear Bernard Twomey,
Defence (MOD), presented the require- basis of a contract." about" he said, pointing out that the sys- Lloyd's Register
ments of ship control systems from the tem that runs easily and efficiently is Bernard Twomey, head of electrical and
perspective of a ship-owner. Jørn S Andersen, rarely a subject for discussion. control engineering, Lloyd's Register, dis-
Mr Chubb stressed the importance of MAN B&W Diesel He feels that the analysis of risk and cussed the regulatory and class perspec-
looking at the ship as a whole system, and Jørn S Andersen, manager, basic electron- having a user-centred design are the main tive in the first presentation of the event's
analyzing risk and ways to reduce risk ic systems, MAN B&W Diesel, discussed tools for achieving such systems. afternoon session.
from the ship as a whole system. the industrial safety philosophy and It is also important for the purchaser to Mr. Twomey was another to raise the
The ambition is to get effective and effi- issues of the control system for the elec- choose their supplier carefully, and to issue of the advent of ISO 17894, dis-
cient systems which last for the entire life- tronically controlled engine. "assess the historic competence of the sell- cussing the problems it addresses, its pur-
time of future navy vessels, he said. "One of the most important issues to er", he said. pose and its structure, and was very posi-
The project team identified the rele- affect safety on vessels is the level of inte- Mr Petersen suggested that owners tive about the standard's potential impact.
vant technology, cost drivers and cost gration with other equipment onboard", buying a 'bread and butter' system were He also talked about the merits of using
constraints. he said, "and the risks of having open "not taking control of their own fate" and the Lloyd's Register product Dependable
The objective was to develop a procure- operating systems in control applications." "need to interest themselves a little more System Review (DSR). DSR is based on
in their life". His experience was that ISO 17894. It provides early analysis and
Derek Chubb from the UK Ministry of Defence’s integrated project team, talks ship "owners that take control of their own des- the progressive monitoring of complex
control systems with Gwynne Lewis, managing director of BMT SeaTech tiny are very likely to make more money. system risks specific to each project.
The trick is to turn up in the manufactur- "DSR provides a set of dependability
er's office and have a discussion about requirements that owners can request for
what you really like. This reduces the all systems." he said. "It should be the first
yard to a factory doing assembly rather step for all risk-aware clients."
than taking overall responsibility, because It tracks risk for the entire lifespan of
owner and manufacturer come with a 'pre the vessel, using a partnership approach
cooked' solution for where it really in the analysis of the gap between project
counts." practice and the requirements of ISO
He suggested that a move towards 17894.
generic toolsets that support customiza- Mr. Twomey explained what he saw as
tion would prove beneficial for the indus- some of the benefits offered by the DSR
try as a whole. He commented that if framework, such as "improved service
'bread and butter' systems were now too performance and system confidence,
rich in functions an "automation lite" ver- reduced maintenance and enhanced safe-
sion may prove attractive to many watch- ty, enhanced asset value and a through-
keepers. life cost reduction."
But he warned against trying to inte- He concluded that there was a need to
grate systems designed for use outside "treat the ship systems lifecycle as a 'V',
shipping. Non-marine solutions are not a not a waterfall", saying that the perform-
serious industry" he remarked. "We need ance of the vessel does not have to be in
real products for the job." constant decline after construction.
Digital Ship September 2005 page 30
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Digital Ship
He also wanted to "promote a systems- He stressed that they must be capable himself and the University, the design sys- He also stressed that fewer problems at
oriented view of development", which of operating in such a degraded mode for tems currently in place are lacking some- purchase meant that there were no result-
would take account of system operation several days at a time, as it is usually the thing and are not up to the standard they ing economic penalties, and that certainly
and maintenance, and to allow developers case that there are no experts around to be should be. over the lifetime of a ship the cost would
to innovate. "There needs to be suitable able to immediately deal with a system The future, according to Prof. be absolutely negligible. "There are no
assessment of innovative designs", he failure. Dalsgaard, holds a couple of key issues. more excuses, but also no more surprises"
said. "IEC 61508 is almost essential", he said, "Standardization is a must", he said, "and he said. "It is up to you!"
referring to the safety standards intro- the legal issues surrounding developments So how should people proceed to fully
Professor Jens Dalsgaard, duced to lessen the occurrences of damage in the area are still an unsolved problem". utilize this type system? "We need to
Aalborg University or injury due to system, hardware or soft- He also advised that classification embrace the fact that bridge design is all
Computers and networks in ship control ware failure. companies should be getting more about function, and not at all about elec-
was the topic of the presentation by He also mentioned some problems of involved in the design and construction tronics", said Mr Petersen.
Professor Jens Dalsgaard of Aalborg standardization, saying that "the quality of these systems. "We need to recognize that owners' pro-
University, where he discussed the history and performance of components with the cedures, crew training and education, and
of control computers and same specifications is very Erik Styhr Petersen, ship equipment are very closely related,
networks, such as with variable. Other industries Lyngsø Marine and should not be dealt with separately."
fieldbusses, standards and have a better track record with Erik Styhr Petersen, manager special proj- He suggested that people should
proprietary systems. integration." ects, Lyngsø Marine, spoke about work on acquire a copy of ATOMOS 'Conceptual
He also outlined the "Matching of computer the European ATOMOS project, trying to Standard for SCC Design' (at www.atom-
future as seen from components for performance design safe and effective integrated ship os.org and www.he-alert.org), get ISO
Aalborg's perspective, and is rare" he said, adding that it control systems. 17894 on dependable software, and with
changes in the costs for is possible to model compo- "This has been a ten year project during that background, formulate and accurate-
hardware and software. nent and network perform- which the term Integrated Ship Control ly identify their requirements, "and then
"Quality assurance of sys- ance "with interesting results." (ISC) took on a new meaning, in the sense go do it".
tems will be a design stage "The actual bandwidth of that the project developed a framework, When asked if ATOMOS had been
problem", he said, "not networks is much smaller than and quite a bit of the technology, required implemented in relation to fulfilling
solved by buying certified data rates because of packing for total integration of information", he said. SOLAS Ch. V Reg. 15, Mr Petersen
hardware systems only." and conflicts," Prof. Dalsgaard "It was realized that ISC systems to the answered "Specifically, the ATOMOS pro-
"Integrated services commented when moving on greatest possible extent should be formally cedure applied to the bridge is an alterna-
standards are emerging Jørn Andersen, to communications, and the and verifiably designed to cater for the user, tive to IACS UI181 at build time, is more
from the entertainment MAN B&W Diesel deficiencies that exist in the in terms of requirements and capabilities." true to the intention of SOLAS V/15
industry, with better sector. He proceeded to outline some of the and fits seamlessly into the operation of
streaming and real-time protocols." He believed, however, that the results of this project, one of which was a the ship."
Prof. Dalsgaard outlined some of the 100/1000M Ethernetmay prove to be fast solution to the SOLAS Ch. V Reg. 15 "Generally ISO 17894 is being speci-
requirements for future computer net- enough for current applications. requirement to improve the Ship Control fied in new building contracts. Lyngsø
works. "They must appear as a homoge- He went on to warn of how the "Intel Centre (SCC). use ATOMOS procedures as part of their
neous robust control system, as intelligent Microsoft monoculture" and the speed of "Now there is a viable methodology standard business process. All project
machines and subsystems", he said. technological development had been the and know-how available, and it is capable partners are using the findings in their
"They must be able to operate in drivers behind the growing problem of of being utilized by companies on the fore- business. ATOMOS advisory body
degraded modes, like a network failure, viruses and other types of technological front of the industry" he said. "The sup- (mainly composed of EU Flags) is aware
node failure, I/O failure, or in the case of sabotage. portive technology is available, and is con- of the findings, and this informs policy
machinery failure." He also said that, from the viewpoint of tinuously improving and maturing." decisions." DS
ELECTRONICS / NAVIGATION NEWS
AIS applied to Search DNV develops new HIL maritime certification standard production centre.
The first part of the standard gives
and Rescue www.dnv.com test regime," says DNV.
"HIL simulates the vessel environment,
requirements to the HIL test supplier
organisation and quality assurance proce-
Class society DNV has developed a stan- enables comprehensive testing and radically dures to be applied by the test supplier.
A shipboard AIS system came in handy in dard for testing ship control systems, using expands test possibilities and the number of Based on these requirements, DNV can
alerting a nearby ship, after a diver was a type of testing called "Hardware-in-the potential failure modes which can be tested." certify the test supplier.
lost from a dive vessel, in the English Loop" (HIL). It hopes that it will become an "In addition, the process reduces the The second part of the standard gives
Channel in late July. industry standard testing procedure. time needed for expensive sea-trial testing requirements to certification of HIL testing
Dover Coastguard received a report HIL testing enables shipboard equip- and allows for the training of operators." for a specified shipboard system. The
from dive vessel Sundancer stating that ment, often made by different suppliers, to "The HIL tests require deep technolog- main requirements are related to the scope
they had lost a diver 7 miles North West of be tested on a simulated vessel environment. ical knowledge of the target control sys- of the test plan, the test setup, HIL survey-
Cap Griz Nes and that he had been miss- "Modern maritime machinery plants tems. In addition, a large number of ors witnessing the tests, interpretation of
ing for an hour. The French Coastguard are constructed by integration of several detailed HIL tests are available. This the test results and requirements for possi-
was notified and a French Navy rescue computerised control systems and sub- means that there is a need for a standard ble re-testing.
helicopter began a search. systems. This has resulted in increased set of HIL requirements and interpreta- HIL testing may be performed for new-
Dover Coastguard used a SARIS complexity of the machinery system. This tion of the actual test results by a third- buildings during Factory Acceptance
(Search and Rescue Information Service) has not been followed up with necessary party certification body," says Jon Rysst, Tests (FAT), commissioning, sea-trials, as
to re-plot the diver's position, allowing for development of quality assurance and the head of DNV's maritime technology and well as for ships in operation.
factors like drift and tides. This predicted
a location 8 miles north of Cap Griz Nes QinetiQ’s high-sensitivity Jakob Hatteland new Screens
for the diver. range from
After consulting the AIS, in conjunction GPS module wins award display range 12in to 19in,
with the Channel Navigation Information with addi-
Service (CNIS), the coastguard contacted www.qinetiq.com www.hatteland.com/jhi tional sizes
the closest ship to this position, the Polish planned for
ship Rolnik, and requested that they try to QinetiQ's high-sensitivity GPS has been Norwegian company Jakob Hatteland f u t u r e
locate the diver. recognised at the annual Security Industry Display AS (JHD) has launched a new release, and
Within minutes Rolnik reported that Innovation Awards by taking the award range of maritime displays. use optical
they had found the diver and immediately for "best new electronic, communication The products are IEC60945 tested b o n d i n g Hatteland's new maritime
launched a life boat to bring him aboard. or internet protocol product". The receiver and approved by major classification technology display
Dover Coastguard contacted Sundancer is 1000 times more sensitive that standard societies. The computer software to reduce
and arranged for the dive boat to proceed GPS devices, the company says, providing attached to the displays can be detached, reflectance to
to Rolnik's position for the rescued man to an accuracy of less than 5 metres outdoors which should make the displays easier to a minimum while enhancing the optical
be returned to his ship. and less than 50 metres indoors. service. performance.
Digital Ship September 2005 page 31
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