Allowance of larger inland waterway vessels on the river IJssel: Measuring workload and performance in a simulatorF.S.H. VerkerkMARIN's Nautical Centre MSCN, Wageningen, The NetherlandsMARIN's nautical centre MSCN is specialized in nautical simulations. The activities of the centre can be divided in three items: the safety of ports and fairways, training of nautical personnel and the development of nautical simulators. MSCN has two full mission ship maneuvering simulators which are used for both training and research projects. Design studies for ports and fairways are executed both for sea going
vessels and for inland waterways. In most studies a first evaluation of
the proposed fairway lay-out is executed with a fast time simulation model.
In such a model the vessel is steered by a track following auto-pilot.
In the finale phase of a design project simulations are executed on the
real time simulator. The reason for simulations on the real time simulator
is to take into account the effect of the human navigator. Normally the
analysis of this type of simulations focuses on controllability of the
vessel and the required maneuvering space. On behalf of the Dutch Ministry
of Transport a study was executed to determine whether larger inland waterway
vessel can be allowed on the River IJssel. Special concern was the passage
of a series of sharp bends, not only due to the relatively narrow passage
but also the workload of the skippers during this relatively long passage
was of concern. For this reason a dedicated simulator study was set up
together with TNO Human Factors. Experienced skippers executed simulator
trials and at the same time their workload was measured. The study gave
insight in the nautical feasibility of the maneuvers and on the safety
of the passage. Recommendations were made how traffic regulations on the
river can be adapted. Paper presented at Measuring Behavior 2005 , 5th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands. © 2005 Noldus Information Technology bv |