A Radical New Approach in Combat Management
The SWORDSHIP combat management relies on automated processing of the data
collected from the various sources. This will take away from the ship itself this heavy
workload and enable a drastic reduction in manning requirements at the Command
and Information Center (CIC).
In addition, powerful, safe and secure communications, able to transmit back and
forth a very large amount of data to and from a land based processing center are used
to further the processing capability. This processing center will receive all
information from all sensors covering the area, verify and correlate them along with
intelligence information and send back to the ship a complete tactical situation.
The result is a visionary CIC manned only by four persons and transported at the
bridge in order to enhance its communications with the ship operation. As a matter of
fact, this makes possible the full integration of combat management and ship control
operations, the ship’s commander being at the heart of the integrated CIC + bridge.
An Augmented Reality Bridge
Carrying the concept further, the integrated bridge is now put into an augmented
reality room where the view from the outside is reproduced through a panoramic
continuous screen on the virtual room’s walls. Redundant sets of (high definition)
web cams provide the 360° view from the outside with no interruption from structural
elements or any other obstacle of this sort. The four-man station is virtually projected
outside and can see the ship’s surroundings better than one could ever do from a
conventional bridge. Furthermore, the view can be completed with IR or night vision
and even by radar spotted objects with information as needed (bearing, distance,
speed, identification…) as well as with all relevant navigational information
correlated form the Electronic Charts.
As the virtual bridge is no longer physically tied to the traditional bridge location, it
may be put anywhere in the ship, or rather duplicated (one could not envision
duplicate an entire CIC but a 4-station room is affordable). The secondary station
may ten serve as a training center at sea. In addition, it is possible likewise to
reproduce the same virtual bridge at the headquarters and train officers in live
situations. This could be the last step before taking full control of the ship from the
shore.
From SWORDSHIP - A Concept Ship by DCN by Philippe Goubault, Senior Naval Architect, DCN, France, Claudia Bardes Head Signature Reduction Group, DCN, France, and Arnaud Lacoin Head Military Mission Department, DCN, France
Picture source:
http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=102721