Helm Order Monitor is the first of its kind technological solution to the problem of insufficient monitoring of helm orders between helmsman and pilot or navigator onboard ships. We are fixing this problem with an electronic device that combines automatic speech recognition and data from the ship’s sensors.
ELNAV aims to make navigation at sea safer. I spent thirty years in the merchant marine. During that time, I noticed that there was still a lot to be gained when it came to safety at sea. That is why I founded Elnav, which is part of the ICT Županija ecosystem. Through Elnav, I developed the Helm Order Monitor. This is a system that prevents many of the human errors that occur in the manual steering of ships, thereby increasing safety levels during navigation.
Many accidents at sea are due to errors in communication between seafarers. An automatic voice monitoring system for the ship’s bridge will ensure greater safety. With the speech recognition system and support from Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg, Germany, ELNAV, a start-up company based in Split, Croatia, is developing what it calls a »Helm Order Monitor«.
Brodovi većinom plove s uključenim automatskim pilotom, međutim za ulazak u luke i prolazak kroz uske kanale brod mora ići na ručno kormilarenje. Tada kormilom upravlja kormilar kojem pilot ili navigator izdaju naredbe za kormilarenje prema za to propisanim pravilima.
Helm Order Monitor (podn. prijava patenta) ili u prijevodu Monitor naredbi za kormilarenje je elektronički uređaj predviđen za upotrebu na zapovjedničkim mostovima brodova koji koristi funkciju prepoznavanja govora te prema za to predviđenim pravilima i primljenim podacima s brodskih senzora kontrolira jesu li izdane naredbe za kormilarenje razumljive, potvrđene i pravilno izvršene.
Helm Order Monitor je prvo tehnološko rješenje problema nedovoljnog nadzora naredbi za kormilarenje između kormilara i pilota ili navigatora. Trenutno ne postoji sustav koji se bavi tom problematikom, stoga će to biti nova tehnologija koja pridonosi povećanju sigurnosti pomorskog prometa.
Ako bi tražili analogiju s cestovnim prometom, Helm Order Monitor je sličan nadzoru izlaska vozila iz vozne trake (LDWS).
On 13 January 2012, whilst the Costa Concordia was in navigation in the Mediterranean Sea in favorable meteo-marine conditions with 4229 persons onboard, at 21:45 local time, the ship suddenly collided with the “Scole Rocks” at the Giglio Island. With the help of the chronological recordings taken from the official investigation report, we made an accurate reconstruction of the last five minutes on the navigational bridge of Costa Concordia before the impact.
Motor vessel Flash, a Maltese registered bulk-carrier, ran aground off Ile de la Galite, Tunisia on 25 June 2012. At midnight, the second mate relieved the third mate from the navigational watch. Subsequently, he sat down on the bridge chair and shortly afterwards he fell asleep. At 0353, Flash ran aground and remained stranded on the rocky shoals of Galitons de l‟est.
At 0321 on 29 June 2008 the general cargo vessel Antari grounded on the coast of Northern Ireland, while on passage from Corpach, Scotland to Ghent, Belgium. The officer of the watch had fallen asleep shortly after taking over the watch at midnight when the vessel was passing the peninsula of Kintyre (Scotland).
The investigation determined that the second mate, who was working alone on the bridge and was fatigued, was asleep when the ATB passed approximately 1 nm abeam of Ivory Island at the entrance to Seaforth Channel, and did not make the planned course alteration into the channel. The ATB then struck and grounded on a reef.
During a voyage from Visby to Oskarshamn, the vessel ATLANTIC ran aground just south of Oskarshamn. The master, who was alone on the bridge at the time and had the Bridge Navigational Watch Alarm System (BNWAS) turned off, has stated that he fell asleep just after he made the turn north of Öland towards Oskarshamn. The information is supported by the vessel’s AIS track, which shows that no course corrections were made following the turn.