Posted on April 1, 2021
The Dutch R&D department of JRC/Alphatron Marine has completed and commissioned its first AlphaMINDS mooring application using DNV’s Open Bridge protocol.
MINDS stands for: Multifunctional Information Navigation Display System. Within MINDS there will be numerous applications offered, making use of the in-house developed LYNX software application.
With the introduction of MINDS river, the first product is installed on board a vessel in this case as a mooring aid, indicating speed and distance to the shore when mooring. The information is supported by several sensors, amongst them the new developed high accuracy GNSS receiver with RTK input if that signal is available. The first results are to be used as basis of a wider applications to be used by seagoing vessels.
Navigating crew on ship bridges are often using a variety of systems that lack consistent user interface design from one system to another. Consistency across systems is an essential aspect for reducing human error and increasing user ability in workplaces where users interact with a variety of physical and digital systems.
The new developments within JRC/Alphatron Marine are all adapted and based upon the new standard for Graphic user interfaces named Open Bridge as initiated by DNV.
Alphatron believes that implementing Open Bridge design guidelines will help realise design consistency across multi-vendor bridges and contribute to an improvement of the quality of ship bridges, the work environment for seafarers and overall ship safety.
Using the Open Bridge Design Guideline allows Alphatron to follow the latest industry standard, but the flexibility of its platform still allows for colour palettes and widgets to be easily imported into LYNX to design according to customer needs or a tailor-made GUI.
By Jake Frith
