Keeping afloat in a sea of information
With often over 200 alarms installed on today’s ships, the risk of information overload is real. TELEMAS’ tool can track and manage alarms by taking input from the various computers and alarms on board and presenting them to the crew in a uniform and structured way.
With funding from the IST programme TELEMAS developed a middleware tool called Umbrella. “It brings together information from various data sources on board. For instance, you might have a cruise vessel that has over 1,000 gas and fire detectors installed, organised into various zones,” says TELEMAS project manager Karsten Bruns-Schüler of ISSUS, at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences.
“The problem is that there are no two ships the same,” adds Schüler. “When crew first come on board, it’s often the case that they have only a few hours to familiarise themselves with the ship before the set off. The chances are that they will find it difficult to locate particular menus on the various support computers and will have had only a brief introduction to the main systems.”
“An alarm might be raised to say that a fault has developed in one of the zones and that maintenance is required. A ship’s crew does not usually include an electronics technician, but Umbrella enables the alarm information to be assessed by technical staff on shore who can suggest remedial action.”
The Umbrella tool was in action at Hamburg last February. “Over fifty visitors, mostly key management from shipping companies, saw the system in action,” says Schüler, “and the feedback has been very positive. Prospects for system are looking good, too. One of the TELEMAS partners, Columbia Ship Management, is carrying out trials with six of their vessels linked to shore-based technical support, and another partner, Consilium, is preparing to market a commercial version of Umbrella towards the end of the year.”
Contact:
Karsten Bruns-Schüler
University of Applied Sciences Hamburg
Institute of Ship Operation, Sea Transport and Simulation (ISSUS)
Rainvilleterrasse
D-422765 Hamburg
Germany
Tel: +49-40-428756641
Fax: +49-40-428756699
Email: schueler@issus.haw-hamburg.de
Media Contact
More Information:
http://istresults.cordis.lu/index.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&ID=64998All latest news from the category: Transportation and Logistics
This field deals with all spatial and time-related activities involved in bridging the gap between goods and people, including their restructuring. This begins with the supplier and follows each stage of the operational value chain to product delivery and concludes with product disposal and recycling.
innovations-report provides informative reports and articles on such topics as traffic telematics, toll collection, traffic management systems, route planning, high-speed rail (Transrapid), traffic infrastructures, air safety, transport technologies, transport logistics, production logistics and mobility.
Newest articles
Trotting robots reveal emergence of animal gait transitions
A four-legged robot trained with machine learning by EPFL researchers has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking – a milestone for roboticists as well…
Innovation promises to prevent power pole-top fires
Engineers in Australia have found a new way to make power-pole insulators resistant to fire and electrical sparking, promising to prevent dangerous pole-top fires and reduce blackouts. Pole-top fires pose…
Possible alternative to antibiotics produced by bacteria
Antibacterial substance from staphylococci discovered with new mechanism of action against natural competitors. Many bacteria produce substances to gain an advantage over competitors in their highly competitive natural environment. Researchers…
