Human Factor: Human engineering of ship bridges
Human engineering of ship bridges
In 1958, upon the request of the Royal Netherlands Navy, TNO-IZF analysed the human engineering aspects of the ship’s bridge of a Friesland class submarine hunter, the HNLMS Amsterdam. The operating equipment was spread over the bridge of this type of ship. Moreover, the helmsman at a lower deck had no sight of the sea. He received his orders through a mouthpiece link with the bridge. This was not conducive to accuracy and reaction speed as an experiment at sea demonstrated.
In 1965, a mock-up of the bridge of the Friesland class successor, a frigate of the Van Speijk class, was built from chipboard, PVC and plexiglass. There was ample time to experiment with this mock-up.
During the experiments, however, there appeared to be two different opinions among the researchers. One group of researchers believed that the best results could be achieved with a so-called cockpit concept, with a concentrated navigation location. The other group saw more benefit in a more traditional arrangement with a dispersed set of instruments. A series of simulations finally showed that the cockpit concept was better.
This concept could not be realised immediately but was further adjusted in the desired direction with each subsequent type of Navy ship. In the case of the guide weapon frigates, for example, the radar equipment had to be housed in a separate, darkened room, because the light-weak monitors would otherwise not be readable. The communication officer and the card table could also be found on the bridge.
In 1997, virtual 3D technology was used to assess and improve the technical human aspects of the air defence and command frigat (LCF) design. In these frigates, which entered service around 2000, the cockpit structure was still more elaborate. The chart display and radar system were digitally linked. Overviewing of the environment and the status of the ship had become possible from a single position.
The research with the mock-ups was used again in a project for the most efficient possible layout of the space in a to-be-built Walrus class submarine. The very limited space had to be ergonomically arranged in such a way that collaboration became optimal.
The development of the bridge concept was not specifically restricted to the Navy. The results achieved were also applied to the design of merchant ships.
