The future of shipboard data entry.. pens http://www.datatrac.co.uk UK company Datatrac has an innovative new technology for data entry onboard a ship - a pen. Shipboard staff can write down their logs and reports and fill out checklists by holding a pen in their hand and writing it on paper. The development is expected to save large amounts of time and effort with paperwork, because they do not have to type it into a computer. Datatrac is not trying to take the shipping industry back in time 5 years but is taking advantage of new computer pen technology. It acknowledges the simple fact that it is much easier for seafarers to record things using a pen and paper than by using a computer, particularly when they are doing something else at the same time, such as navigating a ship or reading an engine gauge. Also most seafarers are far more comfortable with pen and paper than they are with a computer. As computer systems are introduced onboard ships requiring all kinds of data entry, including electronic logbooks and maintenance checklists, seafarers and surveyors are routinely writing things down onto paper and typing it in a computer later, so the computer, which was intended to reduce work, is actually creating more. Seafarers do not need to sit down at a table, take their gloves off and wash their hands before they use a pen, as they often do with a computer. Palmtop computers are of course another possibility for data entry onboard ships, but touch screens and small keyboards are very difficult to use with dirty fingers or when wearing gloves, and writing on palmtop computers with a stylus is not as user friendly as writing with a pen and paper. SUBHEAD The technology The Datatrac pen has a computer inside which records all the pen strokes, so they can be automatically downloaded into a computer later. The writing appears on a computer screen exactly the same as it does on the paper, and can be imported into word documents as a .jpg image file. If the seafarer is filling out forms or checklists, the computer can automatically read the handwriting and crosses. For the system to work, a tiny, faint pattern must be printed on the paper as well as the form. The pattern changes every 7mm, so the pen’s reader knows exactly where the pen is on the paper. The technology is available off the shelf (developed by a company called Anoto), but Datatrac has developed it for the maritime industry and put together packages including pens, special forms printed on paper, the pen reader and the software to gather the information. Datatrac has put together a starter pack for GBP 1500, including one electronic pen, blank vessel survey reports, a noon report data form, a checklist, and its computer software to receive and manage the data. Shipping companies can of course develop the software further to integrate it with their existing maintenance systems. Datatrac is already talking to a number of major maritime shipboard software companies with a view to integrating its software into theirs. Handwriting recognition technology is still quite primitive; the computer can generally decipher handwriting if the number of possible words is limited. It does not take much time for a human being to check the computers deciphering of handwriting. Reading check boxes by computer is generally completely accurate. The pen actually has a Bluetooth connection, so it can communicate with other mobile devices, for example a mobile phone. For example a user could e-mail the writing to somebody when onboard the ship, if he has a pen and a mobile phone which both have Bluetooth. Datatrac has developed its own software package, Infotrac, which can extract data from the documents. The technology is also useful for ship surveyors, who often need to fill out long lists of questions. With this system they can answer them with a pen when walking around the ship and then download it later - and carrying around a pen and paper is much easier than carrying around a laptop or tablet computer. Datatrac originally tried providing touch screen computers on ships as part of its service, but found that paper was much more flexible and had the added benefit that seafarers were very used to using it. “The [UK] Royal Fleet Auxiliary has done trials using PDAs and they don’t like it,” says Jennefer Tobin, director of Datatrac. “I can understand that.” SUBHEAD Stena Datatrac has a pilot project with shipping line Stena, which is using the system on fast ferries between Stranraer and Belfast. Officers on the Stena Voyager, a fast ferry moving at 40 knots, complete noon reporting and the voyage log with pen and paper, and it is automatically input into the computer system. The officers need to complete procedural checklists about 10 times a day. To reduce the printing effort and cost, the vessel has one checklist which is laminated. After the seafarer has filled in the form, the ink can be wiped off and the form can be used again, while the information can be downloaded from the pen to the computer. Stena has found a side benefit of the data generated – it is used to analyse the vessel’s engine performance with different cargo loads and in different weather conditions. The fuel consumption does not increase uniformly as the amount of cargo on the ship increases. Stena has found that at certain times, it may not be economic to accept another truck on the ferry, even if it has space, because the extra fuel used to drive the ferry with the additional weight will cost more than the ferry will pay. The vessels have four marine diesel turbine engines; fast ferries in rough seas consume large amounts of fuel. The officers record the weather conditions, speed and fuel in the tanks regularly during the day as part of their standard reporting; but if Stena has the data digitally rather than on paper, it is able to do much more powerful analysis. “We've taken an ordinary legal requirement and turned it into management information,” says Ms Tobin. SUBHEAD Tags system Another product developed by Datatrac is a radio tag and reader system, which enables seafarers to prove that they have been to certain places at certain times. Small radio memory tags are fixed to the ship walls, and read using a mobile, intrinsically safe, rugged palmtop computer with a tag reader, programmed to ask specific questions when the computer touches against different tags. The palmtop computer does not have any keyboard, just large arrow buttons to type in data, so seafarers can enter data with dirty hands or when wearing gloves. An example of where the system would have been very useful is the UK Townsend Thoresen disaster in 1987, where the ferry pulled out of port with its ro-ro doors open – the person whose job it had been to check the doors were closed had fallen asleep. If the vessel had been fitted with the tag system, the seafarer could have swiped the tag when he saw the doors were closed, so the shipmaster would know for sure that he had checked the bow doors were closed. Today, there are many stories circulating about seafarers being suspicious of one another, “whistleblowing” offences to the US Coastguard in order to get a share of the fine and retire. For seafarers to keep proof of where they have been on the ship and when could be useful evidence in many different scenarios. The system can also be used to help manage and organize the reading of gauges and checklists around the ship. “There was a case of a chief officer who had been working a 30 hour shifts, who was charged with putting dirty bilge water over the side of the ship,” says Ms Tobin. “He had closed the valves, but another seafarer who had a grudge against him was following him around the ship opening them again.” “He was so tired he was not even able to recollect whether or not he had been around the ship.” “With this system he could have proved he had been there.” Datatrac envisages that the system would be particularly useful for managing security rounds, where seafarers have many different checks to do. With tags affixed to areas of potential security concern around the ships, programmed with various questions, the seafarer would be asked to confirm that doors are shut and hatch covers are closed, and would create a piece of evidence that he has been around the ship. Up to four pages of information can be stored on the tags, which can be affixed to the wall around the ship; the seafarer has a rugged palmtop computer, which he points at the tags as he passes them. The system can be configured so that the seafarer has to answer various questions – for example, when passing a certain gauge, the computer asks for the gauge reading. One of the first customers for the system is Dobson Fleet Management of Cyprus, which is buying 55 systems for its ships, to collect engine room data. It is fitting various tags in the engine room, and the engineers touch the palmtop computer against all of them, and type in data or report how the engine is running. Some ships have engine logs with 60 different fields of data which need to be filled in at regular details – the standard way of completing the log is that the seafarer writes it into one notebook while going around the ship and then copies it by hand into a clean logbook later. With Datatrac it only needs to be typed in once. Datatrac offers a lease of a handheld computer, ten tags and a 2 months software license as part of its GBP 1500 starter pack, also including electronic pens (see above), with a GBP 750 deposit required for the handheld computer. Alternatively shipping companies can purchase a handheld reader outright at GBP 899 per ship, including the software.