Abstract
This paper discusses the application of resilience engineering principles by shipborne navigation systems. As a technological system, the ship navigation system comprises all the communication and navigation equipment required to operate a ship. If examined as a socio-technological system, one has to additionally consider the use of the ship navigation system by the bridge teams in order to perform the nautical profession in terms of safe and efficient ship navigation, taking into account environmental information received by communication. The first part of this work discusses the theoretical background of resilience engineering and situation awareness. Case studies are used to illustrate under which conditions the application of resilience principles may result in an improvement of the operational reliability. With the help of simulations, it is shown that a sub-optimal implementation and utilization of resilience principles may decrease the robustness of the technical ship navigation system, as well as the reliability and adaptability of the ship navigation system in use. The examples illustrate once again that monitoring is one of the four cornerstones of resilience: anticipating, monitoring, learning, and responding. This is due to the effectiveness of most resilience principles depending on the availability and trustworthiness of situational information in relation to system status and environmental conditions, irrespective of whether the generation and use of the situational information is machine-made or human-made. Therefore, the establishment of situation awareness is an essential accompanying functionality to be considered in design, operation, and use of resilient systems.
Highlights
A rather general definition provided by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) considers resilience as the “ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management” [10]
Independent of the preferred structuring and use of resilience principles, two things are important: on the one hand the resilience of a system or system-of-systems is a design target to be qualitatively and quantitatively specified. This implies that the aimed level of robustness has to be defined by functional requirements and performance parameters based on assumptions covering operational conditions and threat scenarios
This implies that the ability of the shipborne navigation system to adapt its operation to changing conditions, to withstand interfering influences, and to rebound from disruptive and destructive effects is a recurring challenge and task to be solved during design as well as operation
Summary
The term “resilience” has been used in many scientific and engineering disciplines with different meanings. Further performance characteristics of resilient systems are the preservation of function in times of stresses and the adjustment to changed conditions [7,8,9]. The technological part of the ship navigation system is a network of components, subsystems, assemblies, and human–machine interfaces This equipment is used by the bridge team for nautical activities including monitoring, anticipating, and decision-making in the context of vessel handling, to ensure safe shipping during the complete voyage. In case of a socio-technical consideration, the human influence has to be taken into account; it acts as configurator, communicator, controller, and decision-maker of a navigation system, as well as a management authority initiating and performing adjustment activities in the face of emerging or occurred threats. Resilience is considered as achieved if the ship is navigated during the voyage with negligible risks regarding the loss of safety
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