SIMULATION EVALUATION OF PREDICTOR STEERING, SHORT RANGE COLLISION AVOIDANCE AND NAVIGATION DISPLAYS, PHASE 3: THE ADVANCED BRIDGE DESIGN PROGRAM (FORMERLY THE STANDARDIZED BRIDGE PROGRAM)

This report describes the purpose, conduct and results of a simulator evaluation of two advanced ship's bridge display concepts, predictor steering and short range collision avoidance and navigation. The display formats were selected from a previous lower fidelity simulation as being significantly beneficial to pilots in their transit of confined waterways. The findings showed the navigation features, channel boundaries and own ship's scaled image to be of greatest benefit in the pilotage. The projected track feature as it was designed and tested was of little benefit to pilots familiar with the waterway, but did enable masters unfamiliar with the waterway to achieve significantly better trackkeeping and improved rudder utilization. Use of the collision avoidance format, however, also produced performance results comparable to the potentially more costly predictor steering system.