Design of an Integrated Bridge

Abstract

While significant changes have occurred in many areas of ship design during the past 50 years, surface ship bridges have basically remained the same. An increased awareness by the Navy of the need for reducing the manning required to operate Naval ships has led to a renewed interest in bridge design. This paper will describe the efforts which have gone into the design of an Integrated Bridge which will be built and evaluated on an existing DE‐1052 bridge. This system, which incorporates the latest in modern navigation and control equipment, will allow a significant reduction in the number of bridge watchstanders, and in addition will improve the command and control capabilities of the ship. In particular, the following areas will be discussed: the input from Fleet personnel as to specific bridge control information requirements; the human engineering of the console layout; the adaptation of commercial collision avoidance systems to Navy application; and the use of digitally stored charts for piloting. Other features of the Integrated Bridge which are new to Navy ships will also be described.

A Method for Predicting Manning Factors in Post Year 2000 Ships

“…Collision avoidance functions may be performed by radar/fire control systems. Collission avoidance systems are included in the integrated bridge concept developed for the DE-1052 class ship Puckett, Gowen, & Moe, 1975).…”