R1-D1: SOME IMPLICATIONS OF SHIP AUTOMATION ON ORGANIZATION, TRAINING, DESIGN AND LOGISTICS

C. W. Koburger, Jr.

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	Full automation of non-combatant shipping is now a certainty. It is almost just as certain that the full implications of this have not yet been faced; for some of them we should begin to prepare even now. For one thing, all shipboard control functions will be moved to the bridge. This includes those for navigation and maneuvering, the engines, and cargo operations. Crews will be markedly smaller. Bridge watchstanders will be hybrid deck-engineer-computer-capable officers. Specialist skills will become even more the province of the warrant-level technician. There will be little room for the unskilled on board ship. Watchstanders will have to be trained for their expanded roles, breaking down barriers between deck and engineroom that have stood for a hundred years. Computers-CPUs, dedicated micro-processors, desk top and hand calculators-will reach into every corner and every level of activity. Right now, we most need to make the systems we have more reliable. MTBFs are much too short by far. MTTRs are too long. Standardization and modularization are a crying need. Additional reliability will have to be added, through redundancy if necessary. Self-test will be a feature of all equipments. Defective parts will be replaced and either returned to depot for repair or simply thrown away. Supply and repair centers will have to be strategically located; servicing routinely will be by helicopter by under way teams wherever called for. Since we are talking mainly about people, lead time is bound to be long.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 25, Number 4
Pages:	419 - 424
Cite this article:	Koburger, C. W., Jr.,, "R1-D1: SOME IMPLICATIONS OF SHIP AUTOMATION ON ORGANIZATION, TRAINING, DESIGN AND LOGISTICS", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 25, No. 4, Winter 1978-1979, pp. 419-424.
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