52 | BRIDGE SYSTEMS
of surrounding vessels. The bridge would prevent cognitive overloading of the operator and improve their situation awareness and general vigilance, Mr Lindborg said. The oX bridge is for the future. For the present, Rolls-Royce has the Unified Bridge on offer. It has successfully delivered integrated Unified Bridges to six vessels, including anchor handlers and PSVs, and one will be installed on a vessel that is scheduled for delivery in 2017. The first vessel with a Unified Bridge was Simon Møkster’s PSV Stril Luna delivered in August 2014 from Astilleros Gondán shipyard in Spain. Its sistership, Stril Mar, also has one. According to Rolls-Royce principal engineer for human factors and control centres Frøy Birte Bjørneseth, this product was a game changer for the bridge environment when it was unveiled. “In designing the Unified Bridge, we focused on the human factor with a user-centred design, with the seafarer part of the development process from the beginning,” she said. “We looked at how we could improve the working environment during offshore operations to ensure operators do not want to have to struggle to find the right equipment or software. We reduced the cognitive load on the operator by simplifying the tools used and their proximity to the operator when safety critical operations occur.” She added that the system has good ergonomics, variations in working positions, proximity of controls and monitors, touchscreen interfaces and lever controls, flexibility to fit different operators, flexibility of software applications on workstations and good vision of aft deck and support software operations. Dr Bjørneseth said part of the design involved removing a lot of the unwanted bridge controls from the operational workstations by placing them on a dedicated console elsewhere on the bridge. “We used the Acon bridge control system to put the equipment controls, telephone lists, controls for bridge air conditioning and screen wipers together, removing them from other consoles and placing them on one station with touchscreen display.” The forward bridge has navigation aids, such as radar, ecdis, conning and propulsion control. Offshore vessels also have bridge wings and aft bridge workstations, where there are controls for propulsion, Rolls-Royce dynamic positioning, Acon automation control systems and, on anchor handlers, workstations for winch controls. Workstations have multipurpose capabilities so different functions can be brought up on the various displays. “The bridge enables the operator to bring up any application on any screen (depending on classification requirements), making more information available on more positions on the bridge,” said
The first Unified Bridge was installed on platform supply vessel Stril Luna
Offshore Support Journal | April 2016
Dr Bjørneseth. Some pre-set configurations are available to easily bring up information of operational preference, such as information typically needed when being in transit or operating in DP mode. Furuno Electric has introduced a new compact, solid-state radar that incorporates the latest target detection technology and bridge displays. The DRS4D-NXT is a solid-state radar with pulse compression and Doppler frequency shift sensing technology. It is delivered in a 24in radome and includes Furuno’s own target Analyzer function that automatically changes the colour of targets approaching vessels to highlight collision hazards. Green echoes are stationary targets, land formations and targets moving away from the host vessel. Green is also the colour given to targets that are moving at a velocity of less than 3 knots. The target echoes would turn red when targets are approaching a vessel at a speed of more than 3 knots. A fast target tracking feature enables mariners to swiftly interpret threats to vessels, which also display red. It has a signal processor that will automatically acquire and track up to 40 targets in a single sweep of the radar antenna. Furuno said up to 100 targets can be displayed and tracked simultaneously. Furuno has introduced two new radar displays and advanced processing and target detection. The FAR-15x3 series of radars is for workboats, and the FAR-15x8 series is for commercial ships. Both radar models have automatic clutter elimination, which adjusts the radar image to remove sea surface and rain clutter, improving target detection. They have target analysers that enable operators to identify moving and stationary targets, which Furuno said can improve situational awareness and supports safety of vessel operations. The radars also have fast target tracking, where Furuno has improved the acquisition speed and time it takes to display course vectors, as well as touchpads and trackballs for easier controls. Navico-owned Simrad has extended its portfolio for the workboat sector with its new R2009 and R3016 radar control units. These dedicated radar displays, designed for use with Simrad’s radar antennas, have display dimensions of 9in and 16in respectively. Both systems utilise an intuitive control interface combined with latest-generation digital tuning to optimise situational awareness in even the most adverse conditions. Simrad claims that outstanding target resolutions are achieved using beam sharpening technology when paired with the Simrad Broadband 3G and Broadband 4G radomes or Halo pulse compression arrays. The R2009 and R3016 radar control units are well suited for use as stand-alone dedicated radar stations. “Commercial operators will appreciate the professional grade interface and ease of installation, even in demanding retrofit applications,” states Jose Herrero, managing director of the Simrad commercial division. Kongsberg Maritime has received IMO type approval for its latest gyro compass, MGC R3 Compass. This integrates three ring laser gyros and three linear accelerometers in a strap-down configuration with no moving parts. It was designed to deliver precision heading and position data, which is used to optimise seabed mapping and to enhance the safety of complex offshore operations. The MGC R3 Compass is approved for DP operations as well as for navigation purposes for use together with a heading and bearing repeater. It can be operated as an inertial navigation system as well as a gyro compass with output of position and heading. Linear position and velocity measurements can then be output in up to four different points on the vessel. It can operate in an attitude and heading reference system to provide information on heading, roll, pitch and heave of a vessel. OSJ
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