Visual scene of Harwich container terminal generated by the Ship Simulation System
Another role that simulators can play in supporting safe navigation is in scrutinising near misses or incidents in port. By being able to recreate an incident on a simulator, ports may identify a modification that would reduce the likelihood of it recurring, for example in the layout, procedures, or manoeuvring strategies.
Modifications made to ports for other reasons can also be examined using simulators to evaluate the impact on navigation. When developing systems, it is important that developers allow the simulation models to be altered easily to reflect changes to the layout, so that they can be updated. Inbuilt flexibility also enables scenarios to be tailored to the specific training needs of the tug masters and pilots.
As well as ports changing, ships evolve too – in design, size, and engine performance. For example, the current largest container ship can now carry more than four times the volume of its predecessors of 30 years ago. Simulations can also be used for examining the impact of ship alterations on manoeuvrability in port, environmental limits and towage requirements. This then leads on to evaluating what training pilots and tug masters will need, with the option of offering initial familiarisation training on the simulator.
The next wave of changes to ship design is expected to include the introduction of more semi‐autonomous features, and simulators will need to adapt to those changes. Furthermore, the data that has been collected to build simulator systems may well play a part as an input mechanism for semi or fully autonomous systems. There are many issues still to resolve before fully autonomous large cargo ships could be commonplace at sea, but developers will be watching advances closely.
In the more immediate future, there are likely to be further improvements in ship and tug manoeuvring models, as processing
The rendered visual scene of Harwich container terminal
power continues to grow. If Moore’s law, which states that processing power will double every two years continues to hold true, there will almost certainly be further advances in the detail in visual scenes, and models will be able to handle more complex data even more quickly.
Dr Mark McBride Ships Group Manager, HR Wallingford Limited
Society of Maritime Industries Handbook & Members’ Directory 2020 31
The wireframe model of Harwich container terminal
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