Simulation Technology News

Simulation-based training has its whole-of-ship/whole-of-team scenarios, but zooming in, the industry is now working on more specific targets.We have a close relationship with technology, evidenced by, for example, the phones we are estimated to unlock around 50-80 times a day. It has changed us. Half the people surveyed in a 2022 King’s College London study said that they feel like their attention span is shorter than it used to be. They are wrong, though, if they think that the average attention span of adults today is just eight seconds, one second less than goldfish.

Simulation-based training has its whole-of-ship/whole-of-team scenarios, but zooming in, the industry is now working on more specific targets.We have a close relationship with technology, evidenced by, for example, the phones we are estimated to unlock around 50-80 times a day. It has changed us. Half the people surveyed in a 2022 King’s College London study said that they feel like their attention span is shorter than it used to be. They are wrong, though, if they think that the average attention span of adults today is just eight seconds, one second less than goldfish.

Kongsberg Digital launched its new cloud-based navigation simulation solution.K-Sim Navigation CLOUD is based on Kongsberg’s simulation technology, developed in the SkyNav project funded by Innovation Norway. It enables schools and training centers to provide high-quality simulation training in navigation and ship handling, including ECDIS and radar. The solution is designed to provide basic navigation training in compliance with the DNV’s Class D requirements. For training institutes with onsite simulators…

A new suite of navigation simulators for the Royal Navy will be rolled out this year as part of Project Selborne’s modernization of Royal Navy training.The Kongsberg Digital simulation technology is designed to ensure that Royal Navy personnel can maximize operational effectiveness in all types of situations, from single unit pilotage through to Replenishment at Sea and Task Group maneuvers, day and night and in all weather conditions. The simulators will enable teams to train together with multiple vessels in the same scenarios…

Norway-based Kongsberg Digital (KDI) and Maritime Industry Authority in the Philippines (MARINA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). According to Kongsberg, the MOU represents a significant milestone for innovation and transformation in maritime training in the Philippines,"Kongsberg Digital’s suite of simulation systems provides efficient and realistic training for maritime students and crew so building vital skills promoting safety, cost-efficiency, and sustainability in operations at sea.

Technologies developed and deployed in pursuit of net zero bring environmental and societal benefits for shipping owners and operators to outweigh their own emissions.SIM is a technology with the potential to make a significant contribution to maritime decarbonization, writes Patrick Ryan, ABSOne of the biggest problems for shipowners seeking to understand how environmental regulation will impact the performance of their fleets in future is uncertainty. While the regulatory framework is in place…

NYK and NYK Group company MTI Co., Ltd. (“MTI”), together with the American Bureau of Shipping (“ABS”) and Winterthur Gas & Diesel Ltd. ("WinGD"), have started joint research for optimization of ship design by utilizing a battery-hybrid system to aid ship propulsion and thus reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vessels.A vessel’s main-engine revolutions may increase significantly when a vessel tries to maintain its sailing speed during strong waves and winds.This phenomenon is called “load fluctuation.” The shaft generator may also increase the burden on the main engine.

Kongsberg Digital (KDI) said it has signed a contract to deliver a suite of multipurpose simulation solutions to the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport Branch in Sharjah (AASTS), United Arab Emirates. The state-of-the-art simulators enable realistic training scenarios for different vessel types in various operations and weather conditions, and will be used in training and assessment of the academy’s students as well as crew from government and private organizations.“When we signed the agreement to establish the Sharjah branch of the AASTS…

Kongsberg Digital (KDI) announced that its long-term system support program (LTSSP) contract with the Evergreen Marine Corporation has been renewed for another 10 years.The Taiwanese shipping company, one of the largest of its kind in the world, has used KONGSBERG simulators for crew training for over 20 years, with the first maritime simulator delivered to the firm’s training center in 1999. Since then, Evergreen Marine Corp. has used KONGSBERG simulator solutions to train its crews…

The global seafarers crisis takes center stage at the World Maritime University (WMU), as Dr. Michael Ekow Manuel discusses the importance of seafarers, seafarer training and the MarTID 2021 survey.While many maritime professionals have the theoretical ‘salt in their veins’, a career at sea seemingly predestined by family ties and/or geographic proximity, that is not the case for Dr. Michael Manuel, Professor, WMU. Hailing from Ghana, Dr. Manuel from a young age had a fascination with vehicles and everything that moves, but ships were not his focus, rather airplanes.

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP), which manages the 82 kilometers long Panama Canal that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, has awarded Kongsberg Digital a contract to upgrade and extend the K-Sim Navigation simulators based in SIDMAR; the Center for Simulation, Research and Maritime Development of the Panama Canal Authority. Equipped with the new technology, the Panama City-based center will be able to include multiple vessels in training scenarios and extend the realism of the simulator training provided for pilots and tug masters…

Kongsberg Digital (KDI) and the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) are partnering to develop cloud-based simulation exercises for the international maritime education market.As a developer of cloud-based simulation software, KDI is aiming to drive the evolution of cloud simulation technology as a sustainable and immersive supplementary tool for building competencies within the maritime industry, the company said, adding its partnership agreement with USN will seek to scale up the scope of maritime training.

Our COVID-19 maritime world continues to change as our perspectives on education and training with the availability of online learning and conferencing, an increased use of webinars, and the use of simulation technology must evolve if we are to be able to continue to train and maintain skill sets as we navigate the current and predicted restrictions on movement. Changes made now may eventually become fully integrated in to future iterations of training in many industries.An increasing…

A great deal of research related to student learning styles has emerged in recent years. Through that research strong arguments have been made that more kinesthetic learning methods, such as hands-on or experiential learning, are more effective than more traditional methods like the lecture. In the maritime field, technology such as simulation, has provided us with tools to harness the power of experiential learning; however, those tools alone cannot ensure students are learning…

Ours is both a knowledge-based and skill-based industry. We know this. Yet our training does not address both aspects equally. And until it does, we are needlessly sacrificing safety and performance. There is more we can do.Maritime workers require a high degree of both knowledge and skills to perform efficiently and safely. Knowledge enables officers and crew to react intelligently to novel situations and to operate safely in challenging environments. Yet knowledge, while necessary, is not sufficient for safe and performant operations.

The Korean Register (KR) said it established a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel and bunkering simulation center (KR LSC) at its headquarters in BusanThe use of LNG as a ship fuel and demand for bunkering is expected to increase as a result of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) regulations to reduce SOx, which came into effect at the beginning of this year, and with the strengthening of GHG emission regulations in the future.The KR LSC will provide comprehensive technical services relating to LNG operations…

Wärtsilä will supply a complete navigational simulator upgrade for the Le Havre pilot station in France, providing the pilot station with a new simulator adapted to the requirements of the pilots’ operations.The order with Wärtsilä was placed in February 2020.The new unique visualization system to be supplied is based on 14 DP projectors, comprising seven main circular and seven ground projection systems. It features a panoramic 350-degree screen. The station’s existing Wärtsilä simulator was installed in 2004…

The technology group Wärtsilä has delivered a navigation simulator and specific mathematical models to the Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK) in the city of Rauma, Finland. These will be used as an essential enabler in the Intelligent Shipping Technology Test Laboratory (ISTLAB) project, which aims at creating a technically precise testing environment for remotely controlled, autonomous vessels. The contract with Wärtsilä was signed in the 4th quarter of 2019.The test laboratory project is the first of its kind in the world…

Wärtsilä has supplied simulators aimed to provide realistic hands-on training at a new facility in Portugal. The training center is developed and run by the Port Authority for the ports of Douro, Leixōes and Vano do Castelo (APDL), and was inaugurated in the end of July at a ceremony headed by Portugal’s Minister of the Sea, Ana Paula Vitorino. The order was placed in October 2018.The center is the country’s largest and most advanced maritime training facility. It features a Wärtsilä Full Mission Bridge (FMB) simulator with 360 degree projection…

Kongsberg Digital has signed the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) as a pilot-customer for the cloud-based application of the sophisticated K-Sim simulation technology. BCIT will be among the first to offer simulation as a service by integrating K-Sim with the new Kognifai digital platform, to enable its students to train anytime and anywhere. Initially, Kongsberg Digital will focus on enabling students at BCIT’s School of Energy to use the K-Sim Engine Thermal Power Plant (TPP) simulator for industrial/utilities engineers, by giving them access to the simulator on their own devices. However, the train anytime and anywhere strategy is already set to improve and extend the use of simulation in power engineering training.

Simwave B.V. and Kongsberg Digital have completed the Site Acceptance Test (SAT) of one of the largest, most advanced maritime simulation suites ever delivered. The SAT, which took place January 19, means that the new Simwave Maritime Center of Excellence in Barendrecht, Rotterdam is now fully operational. As the sole simulation technology partner in the development of the unique Simwave facility, Kongsberg Digital delivered the full scope of work in accordance with the contract awarded in April 2017, which represented one of its most extensive deliveries to date.

Nearly 200 delegates from across the world gathered in Den Haag, The Netherlands in September 2017 to hear about the latest developments in maritime training based on state-of-the-art simulation technology. The three-day Kongsberg UC2017 International Maritime Simulation User Conference brought attendees up to date on developments in digitalization, maritime training, navigation technology, maritime operations simulation and the use of virtual reality in training. Tom Mulligan reports.

ABS granted approval in principle (AIP) for a Tension Leg Platform (DSTLP500) design developed by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. (DSIC). “ABS and DSIC have a long relationship and have worked closely on a broad range of offshore projects, semi-submersible units, jackups and drill ships,” said ABS Executive Vice President for Global Offshore Kenneth Richardson. “Gaining ABS approval is an important step in helping bring this project closer to realization,” said Wenmin Liu, China Ship Design Master and Senior Offshore Technical Expert DSIC. This unit is designed with four pontoons, four columns and eight tendons, suitable for operation in the water depth up to 500m, primarily in South China Sea.