An EU-funded project has developed new concepts in bridge design that has incorporated human agents and electronic equipment as part of a cooperative system to generate an adaptive bridge design.
The three-year CASCADe project, which came to an end in January 2016, involved modelling and simulation research as well as discussions with seafarers and cross-discipline collaboration. The result of the project was the development of new methodologies that facilitate sharing and clear information displays on a ship’s bridge to enable communication and efficiency, while reducing accidents at sea.
The resulting CASCADe console and tools were tested on both a ship simulator used for training and a virtual software-based simulation of a ship bridge, enabling the testing of new bridge designs at the earliest stages of development. The simulation of human-machine interaction enables analysis of information flow for optimisation of information exchange between seafarers and bridge equipment.
The development of the CASCADe console was coordinated under the Oldenburg Research and Development Institute for Information Technology Tools and Systems (OFFIS) and included a consortium of seven project partners from five EU countries including BMT Group Ltd, Raytheon Anschuetz GmbH, Mastermind Shipmanagement Ltd, the University of Cardiff, Marimatech AS and Symbio Concepts & Products SPRL.
The Maritime Cluster Northern Germany, Nautilus International, NSB Niederelbe Schiffahrtsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and the University of Tasmania also supported the project.
