Navigation Officers Research Articles

Have Non-Native English-Speaking Marine Cadet Engineers Been Educated Appropriately?

Freight transport via ships is the cheapest and most effective way to transfer more than 80% of the global cargo volume. Seafarers have always been multinational, and accordingly, non-English-speaking crew members are becoming an increasing presence on board. Although marine engineers comprise half of the crews among all seafarers on board ships, Standard English guides, such as SMCP for navigation officers designed to reduce communication barriers, are unavailable for marine engineers. IMO conventions require marine engineers to possess adequate English skills. However, marine accidents due to inappropriate communication between crew members continue to occur. In this paper, 185 marine engineer cadets enrolled in two universities who had completed 12 months of training on a commercial ship or school training ship were surveyed in terms of the adequacy of English courses for marine engineers in class. This paper investigated whether the marine engineer English subjects are reviewed and analyzed and whether the English examination for the Certificate of Competence is suitable for the content taught in international maritime instruments and for the actual work of engineers. Finally, this paper aimed to establish a need to develop Standard English for engineers.

Buoy Light Pattern Classification for Autonomous Ship Navigation Using Recurrent Neural Networks

In near coast navigation, buoys and beacons convey essential information about dangers. At night-time, selected buoys send out individual blink-sequences that are marked in sea charts. International regulations require that navigation officer on watch makes visual confirmation of objects and their type in order to navigate safely. With rapid developments of highly automated vessels, this duty needs be carried out by algorithms that detect and locate objects without human intervention. At night-time, this requires algorithms that decode blink sequences and are able to classify from this information. The paper investigates this problem and suggests an algorithm that solves the problem. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) with Gated Recurrent Units (GRU) are developed for classification. A dedicated architecture is suggested that includes both temporal and color decoding to obtain unique precision. We demonstrate how networks are trained on synthetically generated data, and the paper shows, on real-world data, how the suggested approach yields 100.0% accurate results on 44 real-world recordings while being robust to inaccuracy in actual blink sequences. Comparison with baseline signal processing and with a recent state-of-the-art 3D CNN model shows that the new blink-sequence classifier outperforms alternative algorithms. A showcase of the results of this work is available in this video: <uri xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://youtu.be/KEi8qNnKV2w</uri> .

A Prefatory Study on the Effects of Alcohol on Ship Manoeuvring, Navigational and Decision-Making Abilities of Navigators

AbstractAdverse effects of intoxicated driving have been well documented over the years, with clear conclusions. In addition, it is evident that the cognitive and neurological functions and reaction times deteriorate with the consumption of alcohol. Addressing the lack of literature on the subject, this paper focuses on studying the effects of alcohol on manoeuvring, navigational and decision-making ability in ship navigation. Ten participants – five cadets and five experienced navigation officers – volunteered and carried out a standard manoeuvre using a computer-controlled vessel simulator, under three different blood alcohol concentrations (0⋅00%, 0⋅05% and 0⋅08% BAC). Results from the simulations were used to assess the performance and the decision-making ability of participants under the influence of alcohol. In addition, the responses and behaviour of the simulated vessel when the navigators were intoxicated were analysed. Workload experienced by participants during the simulations were also assessed using the NASA Task Load Index. Findings of this preliminary study proved that the ability to make the correct decisions at the right time was drastically deteriorated when the blood alcohol concentration was increased.

CFD-based hydrodynamic analyses of ship course keeping control and turning performance in irregular waves

Ship manoeuvrability studies are usually carried out in calm and regular seas; however, an irregular sea state can better present the real operational conditions at sea, compared to both calm and regular seas. In this study, the manoeuvrability of a well-known benchmarking ship in an irregular sea state was investigated using a fully nonlinear unsteady RANS model. The JONSWAP spectrum was used to generate long-crested irregular seas with a significant wave height of 5m and a peak period of 12.4s in full scale, representing sea state 6. Comparisons with the ship manoeuvrability in both calm and regular seas were also made with a view to identifying the changes in the manoeuvring characteristics of the ship. The generated regular waves were characterised by the height and period equivalent to the average height and period of the irregular waves applied in this work. The ship is equipped with a single propeller with a semi-balanced horn rudder, and the propeller is simulated by an actuator disk model based on the body force method. In analysing the correlations between the ship manoeuvrability and the irregular waves, the findings of this study have demonstrated that the irregular waves may cause substantial changes in the course keeping capability and turning performance when compared to the inherent manoeuvring qualities in calm water. It is expected that the results of this work can provide a deeper insight into ship manoeuvrability in irregular waves as well as help masters and navigation officers in decision-making for ship handling actions in real sea states.

Rules required for operating maritime autonomous surface ships from the viewpoint of seafarers

AbstractDemonstrations and local tests of several maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) have recently been carried out. From a technological standpoint, MASS are becoming able to handle actual operations in certain sea areas. Since 2017, the MSC (Maritime Safety Committee) of the IMO (International Maritime Organization) has been discussing legal problems with the Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs) with regard to MASS operation. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the rules from the perspective of seafarers, who need to interpret COLREGs when dealing with MASS in ship handling situations on the sea, and also to discuss possible required amendments to COLREGs. This paper attempts to clarify the extent of current interpretations while also taking into account the answers to questionnaires received from 130 pilots, ship captains and navigation officers concerning COLREGs for MASS operation. Given the four common principles of COLREGs, it is considered whether the principles need to be changed with the introduction of MASS from the viewpoint of seafarers.

Game‐based learning for better decision‐making: A collision prevention training for maritime transportation engineering students

AbstractShip collision is a form of maritime accident that possess great threats to transportation safety, economy, and human lives. Deck watchkeeping officers who oversee the safe navigation of the ships are responsible for preventing these collision accidents. Yet, most of the collisions are directly linked to the human errors onboard. One way to reduce these human errors is to train competent navigation officers for collision avoidance situations. However, training maritime students for complex collision situations is a challenging task. This study aims to examine if game‐based learning (GBL) can help students to perform better in collision avoidance situations by providing them the necessary skills to properly identify risks, goals, and cues in collision situations. With this purpose, we developed a digital game‐based decision‐making training containing eight collisions at sea scenarios. The developed tool was then presented to maritime engineering students as supplementary training. Thirty undergraduate maritime transportation engineering students participated in the study. A pretest/posttest control group design was adopted to investigate the effects of GBL. Tests are conducted with the use of a full mission bridge simulator. Observed changes in situational awareness, decision making, navigation, and collision avoidance performance of the participants were analyzed. The results showed that the intervention group had small but significant improvements in all dimensions compared to the control group. Overall, the game‐based decision‐making training helped students to reach a better understanding of the related course material. Required efforts and challenges to develop and incorporate such training into the existing maritime curriculum are discussed.

Unsteady RANS CFD simulations of ship manoeuvrability and course keeping control under various wave height conditions

Ships encounter different wave heights in real sea states. Various wave heights can lead to substantial changes in the behaviour of a ship during manoeuvring, and hence a ship's manoeuvrability in waves should be accurately evaluated to ensure navigational safety at sea. The aim of this study is to estimate wave height effects on the manoeuvring behaviour of the benchmarking KRISO Container Ship (KCS) model by performing a fully nonlinear unsteady RANS simulation. Three types of manoeuvres were simulated with the free-running KCS model appended with an actuator disk and a moving semi-balanced horn rudder using a dynamic overset technique: self-propulsion, course keeping control, and turning circle manoeuvres. Manoeuvring analyses were carried out in the bow quartering waves of a range of wave heights for constant wave length, as coupled with the fifth-order Stokes wave model. In order to control the rudder deflection based on manoeuvre mechanisms, a feedback controller was embedded in the present CFD model. The results clearly revealed that wave heights have a strong effect on the manoeuvring behaviour of the KCS, including ship's speeds, seakeeping behaviour, and critical turning indices through comparative analyses under different wave height conditions. One important finding is the standard manoeuvring parameters in waves, which would help navigation officers in decision-making for manoeuvring actions in waves.

Development of WOP mathematical model for efficient course alteration: LNG tanker manoeuvring analysis and Mann-Whitney U test

Route monitoring is essential for the safety of the ship during navigation. It includes navigating in a straight line and carrying out course alteration. Wheel over point (WOP) is a marking made on the charted courses to warn the navigation officer that course alteration of the ship needs to be initiated to avoid overshooting the planned track. Advance transfer technique (ATT) is one of the methods to identify WOP. Apart from presenting a practical review on ATT, this study also identifies two research gaps with regards to the technique. To fill in the research gaps found, an improved advance transfer mathematical model (ATMM) is developed in this study by restructuring the usage of the ship's turning circle. A manoeuvring analysis is then carried out in this study using a ship simulator to collect the data produced by the ATMM and ATT. The data, specifically the cross-track distance (XTD) reduction, are observed and further verified via the Mann Whitney U test using IBM SPSS. The ATMM has resulted in a better track keeping function compared to the ATT. The ATMM can be used as an algorithm in the integrated bridge navigation system to help the navigation officer in making a better course alteration.

Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) of Cyber Security Management: Focused on ECDIS User Experience

The mandatory installation of the ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display and Information System) became an important navigational equipment for navigation officer. In addition, ECDIS is a key component of the ship's digitalization in conjunction with various navigational equipment. Meanwhile, cyber-attacks emerge as a new threat along with digitalization. Damage caused by cyber-attacks is also reported in the shipping sector, and IMO recommends that cybersecurity guidelines be developed and included in International Security Management (ISM). This study analyzed the cybersecurity hazards of ECDIS, where various navigational equipment are connected. To this end, Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) was conducted on navigation officer using ECDIS. As a result, the development of technologies for cyber-attack detection and prevention should be priority. In addition, policies related to ‘Hardware and Software upgrade’, ‘network access control’, and ‘data backup and recovery’ were analyzed as contents to be maintained. This paper is significant in deriving risk factors from the perspective of ECDIS users and analyzing their priorities, and it is necessary to analyze various cyber-attacks that may occur on ships in the future.

Safety first: The risk of over-reliance on technology in navigation

Modern navigation heavily relies on technology. A modern ship's bridge is a high-tech centre with various equipment, such as Radar/ARPA, Automatic Identification System (AIS), Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), satellite communications, and so on. The ability to operate various maritime technologies is among the most important part of navigation officers’ knowhow. However, as any technology can be an error, there will be failure happen on maritime technologies, such as navigational sensors and computer-based bridge systems. As an unsafe behaviour, over-reliance on technologies in watch keeping may have disastrous consequences. This article analysed the relationship between safe navigation of a ship and an increasing reliance placed on technology by master and officers. It identified at which stage a reliance on technology becomes an over-reliance, and the major causes of this, such as insufficient training and fatigue. Finally, it examines the consequences of an over-reliance on technology and makes some proposals on how these consequences can be prevented.

Determining Residual Deviation and Analysis of the Current Use of the Magnetic Compass

The use of electronic compasses and satellite systems has led to the magnetic compass becoming a secondary means of navigation. Yet this means of navigating is not only not obsolete, it is a necessary backup device: the construction simplicity of the magnetic compass, without electrical windings, rotating elements, and control units, remains resistant to power losses, hardware malfunction, and thus is reliable under the harshest conditions. This durability, however, comes at some cost; the magnetic compass is influenced by ships’ permanent and transient magnetism, cargo gears. For the proper use of a magnetic compass, it is necessary to perform an adjustment to determine the residual deviation at regular intervals. The paper analyses selected methods to manage this, and to identify the main features of classical methods. The research was supplemented by a study carried out during the practical compensations of the magnetic compass at sea and by a survey among navigation officers on its basic requirements for proper use. The results indicate insufficient inspection of the magnetic compass. Further, an investigation into the causes of deviation delivers information regarding the causes under varying conditions including type of ship and latitudinal circumstances. This paper presents findings and recommendations to improve the compensation and use of the ships magnetic compasses.

Investigating collision risk factors perceived by navigation officers in a close-quarters situation using a ship bridge simulator

Ship collisions caused by navigation officer error significantly threaten the safety of marine navigation. An increased fear of collision for navigation officers in a close-quarters situation (CQS) may lead to failure to perform the prescribed collision-avoidance measures. This study measured the perceived collision risk (PCR) for 30 coast guard navigation officers according to their heart-rate variability in CQSs, then identified the key factors influencing measured PCR values. The PCR was measured in four types of simulated CQS, with two ships approaching each other from 2.5 nautical miles to the point of collision. The maximum PCR bearing was identified at a relative bearing of 135° based on the “own ship.” Multiple regression analysis showed that the navigator's personality factors, i.e., their onboard career and license rating, negatively (−) influenced the 95% confidence level. However, navigator age did not have significant effects on PCR. This investigation of PCR factors can help novice navigators avoid collisions due to fear or panic in a CQS with a target ship.

Shipwreck in the Caribbean Sea: Analysis in the Loss of the U.S.S. Kearsarge-Roncador Cay, Colombia (1894)

The United State Ship (U.S.S.) Kearsarge, a Sloop of War, is considering the most famous and glorious ship of the American Civil War after sinking the Confederate State Ship (C.S.S.) Alabama, in 1864 in France. It also represented technological innovations in the second half of the 19th century, combining steam power and sails. After shipwreck on Roncador Cay, Colombia, in 1894, it was abandoned with the armament onboard (seven guns). This paper aims to analyze the causes of the U.S.S. Kearsarge marine accident from the sociocultural factors and environmental conditions, examining the court-martial records, logbook, testimonies, nautical material, and geography in this part of the Caribbean Sea. The article will explore an episode in the United States naval history from a shipwreck that left a mark in the United States (U.S.) Navy and American society from geopolitical and technological context. A court-martial declared guilty of negligence the two officers with the highest rank on board the same year of the accident. The court determined human error from the Commander and lack of support from the navigation officer during the loss of the U.S.S. Kearsarge.

ПРАКТИЧНІ ОСОБЛИВОСТІ РОЗРАХУНКУ ПАРАМЕТРІВ БЕЗПЕЧНОЇ ГЛИБИНИ ПРИ ВИКОРИСТАННІ ЕКНІС

The safety of marine navigation in coastal areas and narrow waters, which account for 80% of total navigational accidents, remains a pressing concern. These circumstances indicate the need to improve traditional and automated methods of passage planning and control of navigation and traffic management processes, based on the assessment of the actual navigation accuracy and navigation safety parameters. According to current industry recommendations, the main parameters of safe navigation are safety depth, safety contour, permissible cross-track limit, and accuracy of position fixing. This study deals with the development of a general practical approach to the calculation of the safety depth, as one of the main safety parameters in the ECDIS system, with an increased focus on those aspects of calculation where navigators tend to make mistakes. Analysis of data obtained during the training on the ECDIS simulator for navigators directly involved in the passage planning process (master, navigation officer) showed systematic mistakes in assessing the route safety, which can lead to ship grounding in real world. At the same time, navigators often do not recognize the danger, misinterpret it or make mistakes when checking the passage plan for safety. The results of the competence assessment showed that 40% of masters and 30% of navigation officers make mistakes in calculating the safety depth. The most common mistakes are the incorrect application of category zones of confidence (CATZOC), miscalculation of the minimum depth on the route, miscalculation of the tide height, tidal window period, the neglect of corrections for increased draught due to roll and pitch. The paper suggests that the UKC (under keel clearance) company policy shall take into account the accuracy of chart information. Furthermore, the research further develops the method of calculating the safety depth, implemented in the software, which makes it possible to systematically assess the safety of a route with multiple legs with heterogeneous parameters.

Applying the least square method to calculate the non-simultaneous errors of ship’s position determined by global positioning system (GPS)

Global Positioning System – GPS can determine accurately a specified position on the earth surface, in the sky and in the space. Ship’s position is determined on the true horizontal plane which is considered approximately as sea surface. Satellite equation is created basing on the pseudo distances to satellite in the system. Set of satellite equations which is corresponding to a specified set of satellites is able to determine ship’s position. Similar as taking measurements to celestial and terrestial objects, measuring distance to satellites is unable to carried out at the same time. Therefore, non-simultaneous errors that depends on ship’s speed and duration of observation are created by ship’s motion in the mentioned methods. In the traditional methods of determining ship’s position, navigation officers often use some methods to minimize the non-simulataneous errors in determining ship’s position and to evaluate effects of other errors. However, in the method of determining ship’s position by GPS, the error minimizing methods which are applied in the traditional methods are not suitable to be used because the direct distance to satellite is not measured and the line of position is not drawn on nautical chart. In this article, the author introduces the method to determine and to elimate non-simultaneous errors by applying the least square method.

Extracting Maritime Traffic Networks from AIS Data Using Evolutionary Algorithm

The presented method reconstructs a network (a graph) from AIS data, which reflects vessel traffic and can be used for route planning. The approach consists of three main steps: maneuvering points detection, waypoints discovery, and edge construction. The maneuvering points detection uses the CUSUM method and reduces the amount of data for further processing. The genetic algorithm with spatial partitioning is used for waypoints discovery. Finally, edges connecting these waypoints form the final maritime traffic network. The approach aims at advancing the practice of maritime voyage planning, which is typically done manually by a ship’s navigation officer. The authors demonstrate the results of the implementation using Apache Spark, a popular distributed and parallel computing framework. The method is evaluated by comparing the results with an on-line voyage planning application. The evaluation shows that the approach has the capacity to generate a graph which resembles the real-world maritime traffic network.

Calculation of parameters for altering the ship’s course at sea using Artificial Neural Network (ANN)

During ship manoeuvring and course alteration, the trajectory of ship or the time of ship’s turning which remarkably affect safety and effectiveness of navigation depends on ship’s factor, meteorological factor and control factor. Simulation commonly is applied for methods used for calculating the ship’s trajectory. However, these computed results which are only applied for simulated cases or for certain external affected conditions are not reliable enough for navigation officers to predict the ship’s turning index in practical situations. In this article, authors propose the model for calculating the ship’s course alteration by applying artificial neural network in order to assist navigation officers making decision of manoeuvring ship safely and effectively, especially in emergency situations.

George P. Gross

George P. Gross, 94, died on Oct. 13, 2018, in Chatham, New Jersey. “George was a research associate for Exxon for more than 30 years, focusing on cleaner-burning fuels and receiving patents for his work. He was a US Navy veteran of World War II and served as a navigation officer aboard the USS Topeka. In his youth, George was active as a Boy Scout, attending the first National Jamboree and attaining the Eagle Scout rank. He remained active in Scouting with his sons, as a leader in both Troops 71 and 77 in Westfield, New Jersey. As a Scout leader, he taught young men to become active citizens who grew up to contribute to their community and beyond. George had a lifelong passion for nature and outdoor activities such as bird watching and hiking.”—family of George Gross Most recent title: Research associate, Exxon Education: PhD, chemistry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,

Influence of Competence, Financial Compensation and Work Discipline on Performance of Employees in Makassar Class I Navigation District

This study aims to test analyze and menginterpertasi; 1). the influence of competence on employee performance; 2). The effect of financial compensation on employee performance; 3).The influence of work discipline on employee performance 4). Influence of competence, financial compensation and work discipline to performance of Makassar First Class Navigation officer. The design in this research using quantitative research method dengang using survey method. The number of samples in this study were 71 people. This research used quantitative descriptive analysis technique which was analyzed with the help of SPSS 24 software. The conclusions of this study are: 1) competence has a positive and significant effect on employee performance; 2) financial compensation has a positive and significant impact on employee performance; 3). work discipline has a positive and significant impact on the performance of Makassar First Class Navigation personnel.

우리나라 연안해역을 통항하는 선박에 대한 AIS 데이터 입력 오류의 분석 및 개선 방안 연구

The purpose of this study is to survey input data error of ship automatic identification system (AIS) and suggest its improvement. The effects of AIS were observed. Input data error of AIS was investigated by dividing it into dynamic data, static data by targeting actual ships and its improvement method was suggested. The findings are as follows. Looking into accidents before and after AIS is enforced to install on the ship, total collision were decreased after AIS installed. Static data error of AIS took place mainly in the case that ship name, call sign, MMSI, IMO number, ship type, location of antenna (ship length and width) were wrongly input or those data were not input initially. Dynamic data error of AIS was represented by input error of ship’s heading. As errors of voyage related data take place as well, confusion is made in sailing or ship condition. Counter measures against the above are as follows. First, reliability of AIS data information should be improved. Second, incessant concern and management should be made on the navigation officers.