AntiCollision for Android: Tutorial part 1

This is a tutorial for AntiCollision: a free collision avoidance practice tool, aimed at junior deck officers who are studying for their exams.

The Anticollision app is based on a real life ship model: a VLCC in both ballast and in loaded condition; in the general settings in the app the user can choose which condition to use for the current exercise.

Both the steering characteristics and the manoeuvring characteristics are based on data collected from an existing VLCC, so the vessel responds like a real vessel would.

Before we start with an exercise, let us first go through all the screens and controls in detail, to explain all features and possibilities:

1: Main screen. The main screen has the following buttons

• General settings
• Rudder settings
• Auto Pilot
• Auto Steering: toggles between manual steering and automatic steering; in automatic steering mode the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons on the right hand side are enabled, letting the user increase / decrease the set course as desired. In manual mode the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons on the left hand side are enabled, letting the user increase / decrease the amount of rudder  to either port or starboard side. When auto steering is enabled, the button shows ‘Manual’, and when in manual steering mode, the button shows ‘Auto Steering’.
• ARPA Scenario
• ARPA
• Reset Values: resets all values to default or zero as applicable; latitude and longitude are set to zero, speed, course to steer and actual heading are set to zero, telegraph is set to stop
• Start (Stop): start and stops the simulator; when the simulator is running, the button shows ‘Stop’, when the simulator is stopped, the button shows ‘Start’
• Bypass: override the load program for the main engine
• View Radar
• About: shows the ‘About’ screen

Main screen – portrait

main screen – landscape

All screens can be viewed in portrait or landscape mode, but the app does not rotate while the simulator is running. You need to go into the general settings to choose whether to view in landscape or portrait mode.

2: General settings:

Before running the simulator, the user can set here the following items:

1. Telegraph, anywhere from Full astern (FAST) to Full sea speed (FSPD). The actual speed will be set accordingly
2. Latitude
3. Longitude
4. Heading
5. Speed: once the simulator runs, speed will be adjusted by the program to match the telegraph and steering settings
6. Current rate: it is possible to introduce a current speed, although for the purpose of collision avoidance this can be left zero
7. Current dir: as 6, current direction can be left zero
8. Units to be used: either Nautical Miles or (Kilo)metres
9. Condition: loaded condition or ballast condition, this affects the steering and manoeuvring characteristics
10. ARPA alarm: the CPA distance at which vectors in the Radar screen are shown in red color. Can be set between 0.5 and 3 NMiles
11. Orientation: portrait or landscape. As soon as you select Landscape, the screen will rotate, and all other screens will be presented in the same orientation, regardless of whether you rotate your phone or not.

If you press the ‘Cancel’ button, the values set or selected in the general settings screen will be ignored (except for orientation) and the app returns to the main screen.  If you press ‘OK’, the app returns to the main screen, and the values as set / selected will be used to run the simulator.

Settings – portrait

Settings – landscape

3: Rudder settings:

The following rudder settings can be changed, if no simulation is running:

• Rudder limit
• Rate limit
• Using 1 or 2 steering motors

Rudder settings – portrait

Rudder settings – landscape

4: Auto Pilot:

The auto pilot is a PID controlled steering system. Using the auto pilot screen, the parameters of the controller can be tested and tuned. This should normally be left alone, unless the user knows what he is doing. To see the control in action, once a simulation is started press the ‘Auto Pilot’ button in the main screen, and then press the ‘Start’ button in the auto pilot screen. The app will then start tracking the process values, and the ‘Start’ button now is called ‘Stop’ button. If want to change the response of the controller, press the ‘stop’ button, and change the value for PGain, DGain, Tpi or Td. After that press the ‘Update’ button, and the new values of the parameters will be stored in the app preferences. After you press ‘Start’ again, you should see a change in the response of the controller.

Auto Pilot tuning

5: ARPA Scenario: can only be accessed when the simulator is stopped

The ARPA Scenario screen contains 7 predefined scenarios which the user can choose from. When you select any of those scenarios, the data for the 2 (or 3) vessels is automatically set, relative to our own ship’s heading. Therefore settings as desired in general settings should always be set first, before selecting an ARPA scenario. Once you have selected a scenario, the vessels will automatically be activated and placed in position, and as soon as you start the simulator, you will see the ships in the Radar screen. The icon next to each Scenario button hints at the situation for each scenario, with the ship in the lower left corner being our own ship.

ARPA Scenarios

6: ARPA: can only be accessed when the simulator is stopped

The ARPA screen is the manual implementation of ARPA scenarios. A maximum of 6 ships is available that can be added to the ship’s Radar. The ARPA screen contains the following controls:

• A drop down list in the top of the screen, to select a ship (from 1 to 6)
• A field for the range from our own vessel
• A field for the bearing from our own vessel
• A field for the speed of the selected ship
• A field for the course of the selected ship
• A field for the length of the selected ship; in the current setup this data is not important
• A field for the width of the selected ship; in the current setup this data is not important
• A checkbox to mark the ship active (checkbox ticked) or inactive (unticked)
• A button ‘Random’ to fill each selected ship with more or less random data, in such a way that the vessel is within a range of 1 to 11 NMiles from our own vessel. When you press this button, the vessel is automatically selected as active.
• A button ‘Clear’ to clear all data for the selected vessel. The vessel is also set to inactive.
• A button ‘Z+’ to zoom in on the screen
• A button ‘Z-‘ to zoom out on the screen

Below the four buttons is a simplified radar screen, which shows in the right bottom corner the outer range of the rings.

ARPA screen – portrait

ARPA screen – landscape

7: RADAR screen

The Radar screen contains the following controls:

• A drop down list for the plot interval (3 – 24 minutes)
• A drop down list for the Radar range (0.25 – 48 NMiles)
• A checkbox to turn the ARPA on or off; when off, no vectors are showing and no CPA data is available, but the target ships do show up on the Radar
• Two radio buttons to switch between true and relative motion when ARPA is turned on
• A checkbox to turn range rings on or off
• A checkbox to turn trails on or off. Trails keep track of previous position of own ship and targets.
• A checkbox to turn the sweep on or off
• Two radio buttons to switch between North up and Head up
• An ‘Actions’ checkbox, used to issue commands to the telegraph and auto pilot
• A mouse cursor to show range and bearing from own ship, and to select a plot target to show plot data (in the bottom right corner of the Radar screen).

In below screenshot, the target slightly to starboard of dead ahead has been selected. The plot vector is showing a green filled square, indicating that this is the selected target, and vectors are shown in relative mode. The vector is showing in red indicating that the CPA is less than 1 NMile. The other target, on the port side is showing a white vector indicating that the CPA is more than 1 NMile. The CPA distance which triggers the red color can be set in General Settings.

The CPA data shows a CPA of 0.11 NM, with a TCPA of 10 minutes, a course of 248° and a speed of 16 kts. If you place the cursor over another target, the data of the new target will be shown flashing. Once you move the cursor to another location on the screen the flashing stops and the data will remain visible in the right hand bottom corner (this requires a bit of practice, sometimes the data will disappear).

If you want to clear the data display, just put the cursor somewhere over the CPA data (in the bottom right hand corner), and it will be cleared, and the selected target will not anymore show a green filled square.

In the second screenshot (showing landscape mode) you can see the range and bearing of the cursor displayed in the top-left corner of the Radar screen, showing 5.4 NM range and 64.3° bearing.

In the top right corner of the Radar screen two sets of data are shown alternately: the time that the simulator has been running, and the course / speed of our own vessel. If the data is up to date it is showing in green, if it is being updated it is showing in red.

Radar – portrait

Radar – landscape

If you want to take evasive action for a target, you can press the ‘Actions’ checkbox, and a menu will show up, allowing you to choose an action, such as altering course 10° to starboard, or decrease telegraph setting. As soon as you select an action the menu will disappear but you can press ‘Actions’ again if you need to change course or telegraph more. The selected command will be carried out immediately by the app, there is no need to return to the main screen for this.

Take evasive action

Well, we have discussed all available screens and controls so far. In the next tutorial we will work out an actual example using the ARPA scenarios, and see how our vessel responds when we take evasive action.

In the meantime,

AntiCollision can be downloaded from the Play Store here:

 

 

 

Also available on the App store for iPhone and iPad.

 

Cargo Surveyor for Android – Tutorials part 13: NOADs and SOFs – Ship/shore difference

The tutorials part 13 for the Android version of Cargo Surveyor deals with the NOADs and SOFs.

In number 12 of the tutorials for Cargo Surveyor for Android we discussed the reference heights and raw measurements report.

Today we will discuss part 13 of the tutorials, which deals with the NOADs (Notice Of Apparent Discrepancy) and SOFs (Statement Of Facts).

The following NOADs and SOFs are available:

• NOAD: Ship/Shore difference
• NOAD:Ship figures / BL difference
• NOAD:In transit difference
• General NOAD (customizable)
• SOF: Tanks under Inert Gas
• SOF: H2S in cargo tanks
• SOF: Hydro Carbons in cargo tanks
• SOF: (De)Ballasting
• General SOF (customizable)

To get to the selection of NOADs and SOFs we first need to go to the list of reports (‘Pdf/jpg Reports’), which can be accessed by pressing the options menu button (on newer phones this in the top right hand corner of the screen); this options menu is available from within:

• the first screen when you open the app
• the tank configuration screen for standard layout
• the tank configuration screen for extended layout

After pressing the option ‘Pdf/jpg Reports’, the list of available types of reports appears. If you accessed this from the very first screen, a message comes up first, asking you to confirm whether to use standard or extended layout for ullage reports. For NOADs and SOFs reports you can choose either, it makes no difference. The choice between extended and standard layout is only important for ullage reports and transfer summary reports:

After selecting ‘EXTENDED’ or ‘STANDARD’ (if applicable), from the list above you select ‘Protests(NOAD, SOF)’, and this will bring you to the list of available NOAD and SOF reports:

List of NOADs and SOFs

Within this list there are 6 standard entries (2 NOADs and 4 SOFs), and 2 customizable generic entries, one each for NOAD and SOF. Let us select the NOD:Ship shore difference entry to work out an example.

If this is the first time that you are going to create this report, the list will show only one entry: ‘Create new entry’:

Create new entry

After pressing the ‘Create new entry’ line in the list, you will be asked to enter a title for the report, we can simply use our ‘Testship’ as title:

New entry created

Once you press ‘OK’, the Ship shore diff reports list shows the new entry ‘Testship’. The here described process for accessing the pdf/jpg reports, and for creating a new pdf/jpg report is the same for all the reports except for the ullage report and transfer report; the ullage report is created from within the STANDARD and EXTENDED tank layout. The transfer report is created based on the selection of two existing ullage reports, as discussed previously.

Now if you select the ‘Testship’ entry, the ship shore diff editor appears if you select ‘Load/Edit data’ from the list of available actions:

Open ship shore diff file

The editor has now loaded, and the ship shore diff file has been opened, with vessel name, port, date and cargo name already filled in, taken from the Report Settings, as discussed in previous tutorials:

 

Ship shore diff editor

 

Aside from the general info, we need to select either ‘Loading’ or ‘Discharging’ using the button in the top, and we need to select whether the notice is served to vessel or to terminal. Also we need to fill in ship and shore figures for the quantity loaded or discharged.

If we select ‘Loading’ as seen in the screenshot, we have to fill in simply the figures as loaded by the vessel and supplied by the terminal.

If we select ‘Discharging’, we also need to fill in Bill of Lading figures (if applicable) for the Bill of Lading quantity that was carried by the vessel.

Units: if we select Metric units, Kiloliters are at 15°C, if we use Imperial units Kiloliters are at 60°F. It is important to fill in actual kiloliters and not cubic meters in order to have the formatting work out correctly in the pdf form later.

Once we have entered all relevant information we can return to the previous menu, and select ‘View Pdf’ (or ‘View Jpg’) depending on your settings.

The pdf or jpg will be generated and shown on screen, as shown in below picture:

Generated pdf

This is the end of part 13 of this tutorial; in part 14 and further we will discuss the NOADs and SOFs further. In the mean time, for those who are interested in Cargo Surveyor for Android: the app can be downloaded here:

 

 

 

 

We post updates for the app in Google Play frequently to solve minor bugs, and advise all users to update as soon as a new update is available; we don’t use advertisements in Cargo Surveyor and we never will.

If you have any queries, suggestions, comments, criticism about the app or this blog post, please let us know! We always do our best to accommodate any requests for additions/modifications to our apps if they improve the value!

 

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