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Project Title: Technology Applications
The safe staffing of a ship is not a simple quantitative decision. The Optimum Staffing and Standard Arrangements for Pilothouse Staffing project examined over 20 government operated vessels with various levels of automation and different trade routes, while operating under multiple conditions. A pair of pilothouse arrangements was developed to illustrate the importance of primary pilothouse design requirements and to generally incorporate the state-of-the-art pilothouse equipment.The Hand Held Computer Applications project carried out a limited feasibility study of the potential application of hand held computer technology to replace current paper-based shipboard data collection and log keeping processes. Additionally, it also investigated any legal issues present regarding the implementation of hand held computers for marine log keeping functions.
Based upon technical research, site visits with SOCP members and supporting interviews, it was concluded that:
Hand held computers, used as a source data collection tool, complemented with a shipboard data management architecture to support consolidation, analysis and distribution of the data, could substantially improve data accuracy and timeliness of reports.
While custom, tradition and perception that log keeping must be done on a paper medium is pervasive, there are no Federal statutes, rules or regulations that preclude the use of digital media as a substitute for the paper log.