NTS (Nautical Telecontrol System) is a digital system for the management and the remote telecontrol (from control center to the shore) of the alarms on board and in particular of the main operative parameters (mechanical, electrical and electronic) regarding navigation and safety of naval vessels operating in national and international waters. The N.T.S. System with its specifically designed hardware (based on one or more computers on board) and software (Labview) is able to manage cabled networks with intelligent sensors which are installed and/or integrated on board ship, and are automatically recognised and set up by the central unit of the system through a CAN BUS industrial interface or through multiplex data acquisition cards. The N.T.S. Systems is able to manage alarm conditions and/or remote telecontrol of the following parameters:
1. Navigation and localization parameters: Acquisition of the GPS position, navigation speed, archives of routes followed and their chronological order. 2. Operative parameters: Control of the operative conditions of the propellers, of the generators and of the main electrical and electronic plants on board which are of vital importance to the navigation and activities on board. 3. Safety parameters: Control of the longitudinal and transversal trim, freeboard, liquid levels in the holds and in the tanks, smoke and/or fire sensors, sensors for the presence and concentration of dangerous gases.
The central unit of the N.T.S. system is a digital hardware and software platform able to carry out sampling, acquisition, multipoint circulation on board (either wired or wireless) and the remote transmission of data acquired (from control centre to the shore) through an Ethernet local network, 2G or 3G commercial mobile phone networks, or through Thuraya-Immersat satellite communications (in areas where there is no mobile phone coverage).
In the recent years many serious accidents have been registered at sea with heavy loss of human life and serious damage to the environment. Often, following these events, there is so much passing of the buck between government agencies that a precise analysis of the causes, or far less of the responsibility, is never carried out and therefore even the consequences remain an unknown quantity. The blame for these incidents is usually put down to human error, as if the human factor can simply be identified as a synonym of negligence by the people concerned and not as a consequence of bad organization and unsuitable equipment, the factors essential for a modern efficient, and safe, concept of sea transport. According to official sources both in aeronautical and maritime fields, the impact of human error is estimated at between 70 and 90 percent, so evidently error plays an enormous part in human nature. Because manpower is involved in all the phases of design, construction and operations of any vessel, where the ability of the crew, and more generally, of any maritime workers, together with the need to increase the power and adaptability of the systems and the safety equipment and alarm systems, it is even more important that the safety conditions at sea are improved.
NTS © has been developed by Computron srl, a company belonging to the same Group as Globeco.
