Posted on 08/15/2019 11:24:55 AM PDT by CedarDave
The US Navy is to replace touchscreen controls on destroyers with physical systems in 2020 after a report into the fatal 2017 USS John S McCain collision branded the controls ‘unnecessarily complex’.
The investigation into the accident that resulted in the deaths of 10 sailors said that the complexity of the control system and a lack of training led to the collision.
Bridge design on US naval vessels is largely uncontrolled by the military, with a lack of specific requirements leaving design decisions to shipbuilders.
The step-back in technology will give sailors more tactile feedback and remove the ambiguity and uncertainty that played a role in the collision.
The Navy will retrofit mechanical controls on all DDG-51 (Arleigh Burke) class destroyers that currently use the Northrop Grumman Integrated Bridge and Navigation System (IBNS).
When reached for comment Northrop Grumman told Naval Technology: “We continue to work closely with the Navy on its navigation modernisation program by providing advanced capabilities to support the fleet.”
After incidents with the USS McCain and USS Fitzgerald, the US Navy surveyed the crews of its ships and found a majority of sailors wanted to see a return to more intuitive mechanical controls.
A report from the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that: “Training on the operation of the Integrated Bridge and Navigation System for John S McCain watchstanders was inadequate, because it did not ensure that the crew could perform the basic functions of the watch, such as the transfer of steering and thrust control between bridge stations.”
The report also found that “The design of the John S McCain’s touch-screen steering and thrust control system increased the likelihood of the operator errors that led to the collision.”
The report did not place sole blame on the IBNS, however, adding that the sailors’ lack of training and fatigue also played a key role in the incident.
The incident was caused when sailors attempted to pass control of the throttle from one console to another, resulting in the belief that they had lost control of the ship.
The system on board the ship allows throttle and steering to be controlled from multiple stations on the USS McCain’s bridge. The ship’s crew enabled the “backup manual mode” to get more intuitive control of the ship, however, this meant it could be controlled from multiple stations. As a result crew members on all three stations could steer the ship when they tried to regain control of the vessel steering swapped between the three stations.
As a result, the report recommended that the US Navy “issue permanent guidance directing destroyers equipped with the Integrated Bridge and Navigation System to operate in computer-assisted steering modes, except during an emergency.”
The report added: “Mechanical throttles provide complementary information to an operator: direction, force, and the ability to confirm either visually or by touch whether the throttles are ganged and working in unison.
“Mechanical throttles are used in aviation and on most vessels still operating in the Navy. They are often preferred over touch-screen displays as they provide both immediate and tactile feedback to the operator.”
The report concluded that the US Navy should revise the way it trains sailors to use the IBNS system and provide clearer technical manuals on how to correctly transfer controls between the systems consoles.
I’ve been working with touchscreens for a long time and there is no way they should be used to control a a war ship. They are prone to noise issues and they can actually not work for some fingers. They should be scrapped.
Used to be you got in a high-end British or Italian car, driving was simple. Controls were exactly where you expect them to be and you don’t have to go looking for them in the dark.
And off with the heads of all who design dashboards to look like freakin iPads!!! How can one steady one’s finger in a moving vehicle to push the d*** screens in the the right place!!! Off with their heads I say!
Me too, I’ll keep my 2005 Jeep with a stick shift and hand cranked roll down windows.
The reason that is not done is that there are no more battleships!!
See my tagline. Sometimes the old ways are better.
“Poor software design, not poor technology.”
agreed.
no reason in the world that well-designed GUI controls couldn’t mimic physical controls one-for-one ...
A friend of mine bought a new small pickup truck and was driving home from the dealership. He concentrated a little too much on setting the radio buttons and slammed into a parked car. Totaled his pickup.
There is extensive redundancy in McCain's steering system. There is no single point of failure. The problem was lack of training. When the CO directed the watch to reconfigure the helm, neither the CO, nor the helmsman understood how the system works or how to configure it properly. There are written procedures at the helm on how to do it (EOSS and CSOSS) that watchstanders could have referred to, but they were likely intimidated by the CO to act quickly. The Strait of Malacca is no place for on-the-job training, or trying something for the first time.
GUI controls are two dimensional.
Real controls are three dimensional.
Anyone who doesn’t understand that fact, and its implications, should be permanently banned from ever developing any form of control system.
Looks like they’re going back to a more TOS interface.
CC
Redshirts last words: “ captain, I found something!...aaaargh!!”
CC
I know somebody who works for a medical device company.
Their touchscreen controls have to undergo test after test after test. Ergonomic tests. Field tests with actual nurses. Focus-group type tests with other users.
The goal is to make them “idiot proof”. Impossible to hit the wrong button even in the most stressful or confused situations.
Sounds like the DOD did not do the same.
“Couple of rocks and I was up and out of the rut. Standard maneuver with a manual transmission. Try doing that with an automatic transmission with a touch screen.”
Yes, you lose functionality with this over-complicated crap. Same with a paddle shift manual. Same with an electric parking brake which is on/off.
There is also the issue that you can teach and train people on some complicated setup, but under stress they revert to simple behaviors that are not correct for the complicated controls.
An example, a CHP officer who had a Lexus loaner car which was a runaway due to a stuck electronic throttle. Under stress, he could not figure out how to turn it off (no key, had to press and hold the start button).
The officer used the car brakes to keep it at a safe speed until the brakes burned out and failed. Then the car took off at maximum speed and everyone in that car died in the crash.
I bet they train for that!
Sounds like the Russians have been designing our Navy ships.
Ships like the Zumwalt, destroyer or whatever it was supposed to be, the litoral ships/boats and this cluster with the touch screen on combat ships.
Supposedly, the Navy ships are intended to go into harms way and as a result, suffer some damage. That’s why there are numerous casualty control drills on how to keep the ship operating with some damage. All engineering/propulsion systems should be designed to be operated manually if necessary
I was an engineer on a couple of Liberty ships in which the engineering plant could be fully operational without electricity. The back-up boiler feed and fuel oil pumps were steam reciprocating pumps. . The forced draft blowers were steam turbine. Can’t get much simpler than that.
We won WW2 with ships like that. But then, the sailors were of a much sturdier stock.
I understand that there are no more steam ships, but still, there must be a way to design modern ships, with gas turbines, that can be simple to operate and repair battle damage.
I would help also if you could have an all male crew, unlike on the USS Fitzgerald where the mostly female bridge watch were having a cat fight and refused to talk to each other, wrecked the ship and killed some of their shipmates.
But you have been told that diversity is good for everyone, right?
I guess. Well, better late than never...:)
Correction: I said that I was on Liberty ships, I’m old but not THAT old.
I should have said I was on Victory ships.
Maybe they can go the McDonalds route where they have buttons with little pictures on them, like burger, fries, drink, etc.
Should help with our the increasingly “multicultural” armed forces that the elites have decided we shall have.
Okay. I'm not a mariner but I was trying to find as generic a term as I could think of for U.S. Navy ships.
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