Studying Control Processes for Bridge Teams

Several technological advances have been seen the maritime domain to achieve higher operational efficiency and to address the generally recognised causes of most maritime accidents. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) endorses the use of best available technology to “drive continuous improvement and innovation in the facilitation of maritime traffic” in line with the goal of sustainable development. It is commonly acknowledged that modern technology revolutionized marine navigation, and presently it has a large potential to increase safety in navigation. However, the incorporation of new technologies in support of navigation also brought unforeseen critical consequences, contributing to unsafe practices, or even to accidents or incidents. Several issues were associated with human factors. To properly address the adoption of the newest technology in support of safe navigation, IMO established the e-navigation concept, currently under implementation. The complexity of the maritime socio-technical system requires novel theoretical foundations, since many of the present framework rely on the analysis of accidents. The design of complex maritime navigation system must take place on several levels, providing different perspectives over the system problems. The evaluation and design of technologies envisaged by the e-navigation concept requires a better understand of how teams perform the navigation work in the pursuit of safe navigation. This study attempts to provide a better understanding on how maritime navigation is currently done on-board, considering the overarching elements and their interactions. In maritime navigation safety is a transverse issue, and that is why we need to know the conditions for safe navigation to improve the design of ship navigation control. The work supporting this thesis was focused on: (i) understanding how navigation is done and to perceive by the practitioners, (ii) understanding interactions between humans and technological interfaces, and (iii) understanding the relevant soft skills for the navigation functions. To address these topics, data was collected from expert practitioners such as navigators, pilots and instructors, thru semi structured interviews and questionnaires. The mains contribution of this study lies in presenting a framework of maritime navigation, exploring the control processes in the different levels of the maritime socio-technical system. In the view of safe operations, interactions between stakeholders are clarified, trying to determine how they influence safe navigation. This systemic view is then analysed from the perspective of the ship, considering it as a Joint-cognitive system (JCS). It is proposed that this JCS comprises 5 control levels: reactive, proactive, planning, strategic and political-economical. Planning is considered a fundamental process in the maritime Socio-technical system, because it facilitates the interactions between the different control level. It also increases the integrity of communications and enhances the predictability of the different control agents. New directions are proposed to improve the design of navigation system, recommending new roles for human and automated agents, and presenting a new conceptual navigation display.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Space Traffic Management Concepts Leveraging Existing Frameworks

Leveraging existing U.S. regulatory frameworks, as well as international organizations, will dramatically shorten the time needed to develop an effective Space Traffic Management concept. Both the Department of Defense and the Department of Transportation have been working with the U.S. Congress to define and develop a Space Traffic Management concept that will allow the Office of Commercial Space Launch to begin a new mission that will help to ensure the safety and resilience of the space domain. Outside observers can easily see forward progress toward this, still, undeveloped concept. This paper explores potential final U.S. Space Traffic Management concepts that would be consistent with on-going U.S. Government work using existing frameworks and regulatory templates. Further, this paper explores far-term expansion of the U.S. Space Traffic Management concept in the international arena by extrapolating existing concepts and using existing organizations. This paper argues that the international, “top-down”, approach hinders the process of developing a usable global Space Traffic Management concept and, by taking a leadership role, the U.S. can develop a useful concept for U.S. entities that can be expanded to an international audience more easily and in a manner much more palatable to non-U.S. entities. This paper further explores the benefits to the commercial, civil, and military sectors by using the “bottom-up” approach and discusses recent international venues in which this concept was used to explore space domain resilience

MONALISA 2.0 and the sea traffic management - a concept creating the need for new maritime information standards and software solutions

Postprint (published version

"Are You Planning to Follow Your Route?" The Effect of Route Exchange on Decision Making, Trust, and Safety

The Sea Traffic Management (STM) Validation project is a European based initiative which focuses on connecting and updating the maritime world in real time, with efficient information exchange. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate two functions developed during the project: a ship to ship route exchange (S2SREX) function and rendezvous (RDV) information layer, collectively referred to as S2SREX/RDV. S2SREX displays the route segment consisting of the next seven waypoints of the monitored route of a collaborating ship and the RDV layer that predicts a meeting point. S2SREX/RDV provides supplementary information to data acquired by existing navigation systems and is intended to improve situational awareness and safety through a more comprehensive understanding of the surrounding traffic. Chalmers University of Technology and Solent University completed an experiment using twenty-four experienced navigators in bridge simulators. Six traffic scenarios were developed by subject matter experts and tested with and without S2SREX/RDV functionalities. Qualitative data were collected using post-test questionnaires and group debriefs to evaluate the participants\u27 perceptions of S2SREX/RDV in the various traffic scenarios, and quantitative data were collected to assess the ship distances and behavior in relation to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs). The results revealed that participants generally trusted the S2SREX/RDV information, and most used S2SREX/RDV for decision support. The quantitative assessment revealed that the COLREGs were breached more often when S2SREX/RDV was used. Experimental findings are discussed in relation to safety, trust, reliance, situational awareness, and human-automation interaction constructs

ErgoShip 2021 – Maritime artikler

Welcome to the special issue dedicated to the conference Ergoship 2021! The editorial committee are proud to present a selection of papers from Ergoship 2021 and a few invited papers within the topic of maritime Human Factors. The first Ergoshipwas held in Gothenburg in 2011 to create a meeting place for researchers in maritime Human Factors. The conference has lived on and was held in Australia 2016, in Haugesund 2019 and in South Korea 2021. We wish we could all have met in person, but this time it was not to be. Nevertheless, we look forward to sharing these papers with you and hope we can drive this field forward together. Enjoy the papers from a small but passionate group of contributors. The authors and the audience make this recurring conference special

Towards an understanding of the consequences of technology-driven decision support for maritime navigation

The maritime industry is undergoing a transformation driven by digitalization and connectivity. There is speculation that in the next two decades the maritime industry will witness changes far exceeding those experienced over the past 100 years. While change is inevitable in the maritime domain, technological developments do not guarantee navigational safety, efficiency, or improved seaway traffic management. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted the Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) concept to define autonomy on a scale from Degrees 1 through 4.\ua0 Investigations into the impact of MASS on various aspects of the maritime sociotechnical system is currently ongoing by academic and industry stakeholders. However, the early adoption of MASS (Degree 1), which is classified as a crewed ship with decision support, remains largely unexplored. Decision support systems are intended to support operator decision-making and improve operator performance. In practice they can cause unintended changes throughout other elements of the maritime sociotechnical system. In the maritime industry, the human is seldom put first in technology design which paradoxically introduces human-automation challenges related to technology acceptance, use, trust, reliance, and risk. The co-existence of humans and automation, as it pertains to navigation and navigational assistance, is explored throughout this thesis. The aims of this thesis are (1) to understand how decision support will impact navigation and navigational assistance from the operator’s perspective and (2) to explore a framework to help reduce the gaps between the design and use of decision support technologies. This thesis advocates for a human-centric approach to automation design and development while exploring the broader impacts upon the maritime sociotechnical system. This work considers three different projects and four individual data collection efforts during 2017-2022. This research took place in Gothenburg, Sweden, and Warsash, UK and includes data from 65 Bridge Officers (navigators) and 16 Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) operators. Two testbeds were used to conduct the research in several full mission bridge simulators, and a virtual reality environment. A mixed methods approach, with a heavier focus on qualitative data, was adopted to understand the research problem. Methodological tools included literature reviews, observations, questionnaires, ship maneuvering data, collective interviews, think-aloud protocol, and consultation with subject matter experts. The data analysis included thematic analysis, subject matter expert consultation, and descriptive statistics.\ua0The results show that operators perceive that decision support will impact their work, but not necessarily as expected. The operators’ positive and negative perceptions are discussed within the frameworks of human-automation interaction, decision-making, and systems thinking. The results point towards gaps in work as it is intended to be done and work as it is done in the user’s context. A user-driven design framework is proposed which allows for a systematic, flexible, and iterative design process capable of testing new technologies while involving all stakeholders. These results have led to the identification of several research gaps in relation to the overall preparedness of the shipping industry to manage the evolution toward smarter ships. This thesis will discuss these findings and advocate for human-centered automation within the quickly evolving maritime industry

Annual General Assembly of the International Association of Maritime Universities

978-84-947311-7-