CHANGES
Kongsberg Maritime introduced the world’s first, commercially available ARPA radar back in 1969. Other innovations followed: an autopilot with track-control functionality built into the radar was released in 1975. The company has since been in the forefront of innovation, developing what was called the scan-converter for rotating radar signals and pioneering the use of conventional computer screens rather than the fluorescent PPI in 1990, together with some of the very first available electronic chart systems.
Today Roger Trinterud is the company’s Sales Director, responsible for the cruise, yacht and passenger markets. He has worked with Kongsberg Maritime for 23 years, first as a service engineer on bridge systems, then as a project manager for refit/upgrades on bridge equipment before spending more than 10 years on sales of bridge equipment. He subsequently held the role of Senior Sales Manager, with responsibility for coordinating the yacht market within Kongsberg, for 4 years.
Kongsberg Maritime has over the years focused on all kinds of electronic control for ships and offshore installations since its beginning in the late 1960s. These include automation, power/energy management, safety management and control systems, bridge systems including navigation, joystick/ dynamic positioning and remote control of any propulsion/rudder/thruster setup, as well as integration between these control systems.
More recently, Kongsberg has become heavily involved in digitalisation, condition monitoring, remote diagnostics and service and autonomous vessels. Last year, Kongsberg also acquired the maritime division of Rolls Royce, enhancing their portfolio with propulsors (propellers, thrusters, waterjets), rudders, stabilisers, deck machinery and more, making the company a supplier with possibly the widest offering to any vessel type. Today Kongsberg also manufacture its own GNSS solutions for position, heading and speed measurements, AIS and ring laser gyro systems.
Superyachts of over 300gt will invariably share the same bridge equipment as their larger commercial
counterparts, this ensures the necessary performance and reliability requirements are met
More recently, Kongsberg has become heavily involved in digitalisation, condition monitoring, remote diagnostics and service and autonomous vessels. Last year, Kongsberg also acquired the maritime division of Rolls Royce, enhancing their portfolio with propulsors (propellers, thrusters, waterjets), rudders, stabilisers, deck machinery and more, making the company a supplier with possibly the widest offering to any vessel type. Today Kongsberg also manufacture its own GNSS solutions for position, heading and speed measurements, AIS and ring laser gyro systems.
In Trinterud’s opinion, bridge equipment has not changed much as one might think over the last five years. He says, “There is still a big focus on individual pieces of equipment and their functions, rather than on the performance of a bridge system. I would hope that carriage requirements, focusing on counting pieces, would be replaced by functional and redundancy/ backup requirements in the future.”
“On yachts in particular, we are seeing an increase in interest for dynamic positioning systems, as this can increase safety and or comfort of some operations. Solid state radars have been introduced. I still do not see the added cost being justified by improved performance, but I think that will change over the next years. This will also improve performance and degradation of radar systems, as well as simplifying service. The most important change may be happening now, with more and more equipment brands enabling possibilities for remote diagnostic functions.”
Portfolio Manager of the Integrated Bridge Systems at RH Marine is Marcel Vermeulen whose career began as a deck officer in commercial shipping. Having designed automated ship motion solutions within the RH group he began managing his current department about 4 years ago. In the 1990s when RH Marine was known as Imtech the company has witnessed many changes in ridge design having delivered to the market one of the very first electronic chart systems. They followed this with the delivery of the first complete PC based integrated navigation bridge just as the century clicked over from 19 to 20. Of the changes in recent years Vermeulen believes the new ECDIS standard and the introduction of Bridge Alert Management has had the most impact on the wider acceptance of integrated operator panels. “Besides functionality,” he says, “Aesthetics of the bridge has gained importance, and this has been supported by technological options to automate more and use smaller components.”
Chris Warde at OneOcean says, “A huge amount has changed.” He adds, “Not just in the technology, but in the application. Integrated services have led to a much better situational awareness and quicker access to information has improved navigation preparation and safety management.”
“Developments to bridge equipment in the last five years have been heavily focused on simplifying the user interface and reducing maintenance requirements says Barry Murfin at Charity & Taylor. He concludes, “Thus easing the burden on crew for training and maintenance co¬ordination.”
Simrad, a company with a 60 year history in the business has been developing multifunctional displays (MFDs) for many years. Gianluca Babini heads up the Mega Yacht Engineering Department at Simrad. He started to work for NAVIOP, now part of Simrad, 15 years ago and has worked in a variety of different roles within the company. In that time, he has also witnessed much change. “These displays have evolved in very much the same way as a smartphone has over the same sort of period,” he says. He adds, “Chartplotters, Echo-sounders and radars are all now an application that launch inside the MFD as soon as it is switched on in much the same way as your mobile telephone becomes a camera and a calculator inside your pocket.” Babini continues, “The acquisition of NAVIOP by Simrad in 2017 has enabled us to enhance our offering and most importantly develop fully integrated marine-electronics systems that enhance the yachting experience. With Simrad Command we can now offer unique solutions for navigation control. Multifunctional display solutions that not only offer navigation functions but also monitor and control all of the boat’s key processes and systems. From the design-phase to our close collaboration with engine manufacturers and our technical know-how, makes Simrad Command one of the few platforms that can provide this level of integrated solutions.”
PREDICTIONS
Gazing into the crystal ball trying to predict what is next in the way of major equipment to become available to superyachts can be difficult. But Roger Trinterud at Konesberg is prepared to stick his head out and suggest it might be Situational Awareness Systems. He says, “Today the bridge is a cluttered mess of screens and instruments displaying information in an unstructured way. There is a mix of raw information from sensors and processed data supplied through computer systems that can be complementary but in fact often overlaps with redundant information. This can sometimes be comforting but at other times confusing. Trinterud thinks, “We will soon see information structured as layers on top of each other on the same screen -instead of adjacent – combining video, radar signals, electronic charts with all sensor data. This way it will be easier to detect faults and inconsistencies, and at the same time give the navigator a better understanding at a glance, and more time to look out the windows, in the right direction.”
“The integration of joystick and dynamic positioning systems in the navigation suite are giving us the possibility to develop new, advanced manoeuvring functions, that will also ease operations. Warming to his theme, Trinterud also suggests, “These include all-speed autopilots that work from station keeping to transit speed, automatic docking and automatic collision avoidance systems.”