Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Sperry Marine business unit unveiled its next-generation marine navigation technology last week at the Sunborn Yacht Hotel in London.
The new Sperry Marine family of navigation products, which will be marketed under the VisionMaster FT label, will be publicly launched at the Shipbuilding Machinery & Marine (SMM) Technology exhibition in Hamburg in September.
“VisionMaster FT is a scalable family of solutions designed with an advanced PC-based Ethernet architecture offering easy upgradeability and built-in redundancy to meet the emerging requirements for shipboard navigation in the 21st century,” said J. Nolasco DaCunha, director of Sperry Marine Systems. “With VisionMaster FT, the shipowner can select whatever level of sophistication is needed, from a standard type-approved radar up to a complete integrated bridge system (IBS) with a built-in upgrade path to address future requirements.”
“The VisionMaster FT technology is also designed to take advantage of value-added services such as electronic chart downloads, automatic weather routing, remote diagnostics and performance monitoring, as broadband ship-to-shore satellite links become more widely available in coming years,” said DaCunha. “Marine superintendents and other authorized shore-based users will be able to access the ship’s systems through Sperry Marine’s unique BridgeLink Web-based portal to access ship operational data, view performance data and remotely monitor the ship’s navigation systems and sensors.”
DaCunha noted that Sperry Marine’s VisionMaster FT can be envisioned as a pyramid of capabilities, comprising four basic levels of navigation functionality – radar, chart radar, electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) and multi-function workstation. The configurable architecture makes it easy to upgrade from one configuration to the next.