E-Cabin: A Software Architecture for Passenger Comfort and Cruise Ship Management

Abstract

A cruise ship is a concentrate of technologies aimed at providing passengers with the best leisure experience. As tourism in the cruise sector increases, ship owners turned their attention towards novel Internet of things solutions able, from one hand, to provide passengers with personalized and comfortable new services and, from the other hand, to enable energy saving behaviors and a smart management of the vessel equipment. This paper introduces the E-Cabin system, a software architecture that leverages sensor networks and reasoning techniques and allows a customized cabin indoor comfort. The E-Cabin architecture is scalable and easily extendible; sensor networks can be added or removed, rules can be added to/changed in the reasoner software, and new services can be supported based on the analysis of the collected data, without altering the system architecture. The system also allows the ship manager to monitor each cabin status though a simple and intuitive dashboard, thus providing useful insights enabling a smart scheduling of maintenance activities, energy saving, and security issues detection. This work delves into the E-Cabin’s system architecture and provides some usability tests to measure the dashboard’s efficacy.

Developing a strategy for modernizing passenger ships by the optimal distribution of funds

“…It is known that modernization requires significant investment, while the ship owner's funds are often limited. Unlike previously considered studies on the fleet modernization [5,[8][9][10][11][12], the proposed strategy makes it possible not only to comprehensively improve the technical characteristics of a vessel but also to ensure the profit gain as a result of their implementation, thereby ensuring the modernization effectiveness.…”

“…Study [9] presents the results of a pilot test of the system of passenger's comfort personalization inside his cabin. The system also enables a vessel owner or a cruise manager to track the condition of each cabin using sensors and a dashboard.…”

“…Papers [8][9][10][11][12] contain various technical solutions to improve vessels, the introduction of which can improve the efficiency of the vessels' operation, ensuring the environmental protection, safety, and comfort of passengers.…”

Optimization of Cockpit Ventilation for Polar Cruise Ships in Combination with Windscreen Defogging and Cabin Comfort Considerations

“…However, the harsh weather in the polar regions make the cockpit windscreen susceptible to fog and frost, which can seriously impair the driver’s visibility and, thus, compromise safety during the cruise. Additionally, in polar cruise ships, the driver’s physical health and work efficiency depend to a great extent on the comfort of the cabin [ 2 , 3 ]. Therefore, a good air ventilation system not only addresses functional needs such as cabin defogging, but also creates a thermally comfortable micro-environment for the drivers [ 4 ].…”

Collaborative Ontology Engineering Methodologies for the Development of Decision Support Systems: Case Studies in the Healthcare Domain

“…Case 2 faces the possibility of providing tailored indoor comfort in cruise cabins for passengers characterized by specific necessities. The purpose of the DSS developed within this context is to provide suggestions of (or trigger automatic regulation for) specific indoor comfort metrics that can impact on the passengers' onboard experience [45,46].…”