선박 통합항해정보시스템의 기능개선을 위한 사용자중심설계 방안 연구

Abstract

Under the goal of ensuring ship safety, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been focused on implementing e-Navigation, modernizing the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) and advancing ship navigation systems by adopting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Internet of Things (IoT). At the same time, even now, users are able to utilize information on own ship, target, Marine Safety Information (MSI) and navigation area in an integrated manner based on chart data thanks to on-board navigation equipment such as RADAR and Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). As such, we are observing the sophistication of navigation equipment on the back of automation, integration and digitization. Changes of the on-board environment is expected to contribute to maritime safety due to increased level of work efficiency, ease of acquiring information and timely provision of support from the shore.

ECDIS, which is currently used in linkage with various other on-board equipment to provide complex information, has been the subject of several analyses. The system has been found to have problems during use such as occurrence of system errors unexpected when applying new integrated navigation equipment to ship, display of unnecessary information and alarms and lack of user convenience features.

With automation, integration and digitization of navigation equipment, information offered to users may become complex and cluttered. Thus, in the process of integrating multiple information, reliability and visual identifiability of information must be guaranteed. Also, to help users leverage the integrated navigational information system in a way that fits their needs according to maritime policies to be implemented, identification of information required by users, definition of relevant services, development of database and setup of communication environment and on-shore facilities need to be carried out.

This study is focused on the human-centered design method to improve the integrated navigational information system in order to support the decision-making process of navigation officers during ship operation as well as safe navigation. To this end, information currently used aboard to achieve ship safety was analyzed to identify problems of use and derive methods for improvement.

The human-centered design of the integrated navigational information system should be able to provide navigation officers with essential information that is reliable and visually identifiable as well as convenience features that reflect user needs. In this study, information and features required for the integrated navigational information system by existing institutions were identified and problems that arise during use were derived through analyses of incidents and anomalies and user assessment. Also, features improved by reflecting user needs were proposed as alternatives to identified problems to develop the human-centered design. In the end, a display interface that indicates several information of the integrated navigational information system was designed, from which the final system was built to monitor ship operation from the shore based on policies to be implemented in the future.

Chapter 1 specifies the definition of integrated navigational information system along with the background, purpose, scope and methodology of study. The integrated navigational information system is a system with equipment and devices that enable communication with the world outside a ship, providing external and internal information required for safe navigation in connection with other navigation equipment and efficiently displaying information processed for the convenience of the user. ECDIS and RADAR currently used aboard are also integrated in the sense that they offer processed information in link with other navigation equipment. Still, while serving their specific purposes of meeting the chart carriage requirement and assisting in collision avoidance, they fail to furnish every information needed for navigation safety. Thus, they need to be improved in order to be recognized as a sufficiently-integrated navigational information system. To qualify as a human-centered integrated navigational information system, the integration of ship information should turn out only essential information required for safe navigation that enables easy passage planning, navigation according to plan and change of plan, rather than random, complex and hard-to-identify information.

Chapter 2 introduces an analysis on carriage requirements and performance standard of navigational communication equipment required by the IMO and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). It highlights how internal and external information is used aboard through the integrated navigational information system and identifies 39 different types of essential information. Additionally, the chapter details the progress of e-Navigation implementation and GMDSS modernization review and the future direction for developing the integrated navigational information system.

Chapter 3 covers the level of impact that integrated navigational information used aboard has on safe navigation. It also provides an analysis on marine casualties and discovered anomalies regarding the use of the integrated navigational information system, revealing problems that arise during system usage. A survey was conducted on users, seafarers that board ships under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and to-be seafarers that have completed relevant maritime training and education, to devise the method of human-centered design. The Kano model was applied to the result of the survey to analyze the quality attributes of information provided by the integrated navigational information system.

Eight cases of marine casualties related to the use of ECDIS, an integrated navigational information system, that took place between 2007 and 2013 were analyzed. Identified causes included lack of user understanding on ECDIS equipment, incomplete display setting by user, incomplete safety setting by user, use of small-scale chart and omission of updates. They were found to culminate in issues such as inappropriate route planning and limited use or omission of information. Systemic problems with equipment or service were failure of ECDIS to sound alarms and omission of information by the electronic navigational chart itself.

Of anomalies of the integrated navigational information system, types of failure to provide necessary information included inability to correctly display symbols for IMO-approved features, incorrect display of foul areas and obstructions, inability to display stranded/dangerous wrecks and obstructions, inability to clearly display small (point) land areas on small-scale charts, incorrect display of colored arcs of light sectors, inability to correctly display time variable data, tidal stream data not available in usable form, inability to display characters and numbers and error in display of foul area. Information displayed, but in an unclear manner included screen clutter and unnecessary alarms and indications.

A user survey on navigation and communication equipment that can be used as integrated navigational information system of ships was conducted. The result showed that improvements required for existing systems were provision of essential information, visual identifiability of information and convenience of use.

User survey and analysis by Kano model were carried out on the 39 different types of information of the integrated navigational information system identified from the IMO and IEC performance requirements analysis. As a result, information required for collision avoidance had one-dimensional quality attributes. Those related to Automatic Identification System (AIS) target loss alarm, line of position display and software maintenance were found to have the highest level of must-be quality attributes.

Information used for purposes other than those original for navigational charts such as setting of safety depth, reading of tracked target information, comparison of route planning and serving as an interface to information from other equipment were discovered to have attractive quality attributes that could raise the level of user satisfaction. Display of information that is not directly related to safe navigation such as RADAR overlay, International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) standard symbols, target metadata, interface with Bridge Navigational Watch Alarm System (BNWAS) and System Electronic Navigation Chart (SENC) were shown to have negative quality attributes.

In Chapter 4, two ways of improving the problems of the integrated navigational information system pointed out in Chapter 3 are proposed. First, in order to provide essential information and increase the level of visual identifiability, navigation area should be divided into ocean, coast and in-port, the scale of which are set as 1: 350,000 or below, from 1: 30,000 to 1: 349,999, and 1: 29,999 or above, respectively. Also, if the depth is 100m or deeper for the navigation area of an ocean, the contour interval is suggested to be a minimum 50m. As for coastal navigation areas, the contour interval is proposed to be 1m for the depth between 10m and 25m, and 10m for the depth of between 30m and 100m. The contour interval for the in-port navigation area should be 0.1m for a depth of between 10m and 25m, and 1m for a depth of 10m or shallower. Every piece of information provided under the standard display mode and all other display modes of ECDIS should be in the form of images rather than characters in principle. Additional information in the form of characters and numbers should be displayed when a certain object symbol is selected or through a one-button method by creating new icons.

The second proposal is to enable changes in route plans by entering a certain distance from the area that is to be avoided or applying conditions such as altering course, thereby improving convenience for navigation officers. This helps ships reflect MSI including meteorological data and information on search and rescue or maritime drills of the navy received from Enhanced Group Call (EGC) or Navigational Telex (NAVTEX) messages by using the integrated navigational information system, contributing to safe navigation.

As part of the study, a display interface to confirm the information of own ship on the integrated navigational information system was designed and installed on HANNARA, a training ship of the Korea Maritime and Ocean University. The system was built to monitor on shore the safe navigation status of ship via LTE and 3G mobile communication network in an actual navigation environment. Tests were run to check data transmission through the currently-used communication network and if the navigation status of ship could be monitored from shore. It was concluded that data transmission was sufficiently stable to monitor the operation status in real time from the shore based on a commonly-used mobile communications network.

This study is meaningful in that it takes the view of navigation officers, not equipment, in identifying problems of using the integrated navigational information system through various ways and proposing a human-centered design method as an improvement to achieve safe navigation. Further studies will be required to develop an integrated navigational information system complete enough to realize safe navigation and one that considers current problems as well as policies of e-Navigation implementation and GMDSS modernization. The ultimate goal is designing essential and convenient features centered on users and implementing every improvement that has been proposed to develop a single system capable of monitoring ship operation, the result of which will be sent to shore. In the future, this study could be used as a basic reference for advancing research on automation of autonomous ships.