Canada’s social and economic interests are directly linked to marine operations, some of which take place in ice-covered waters. These ships require experienced bridge officers who are proficient in operating in ice. Experience in ship-ice operations is very difficult to obtain. This project will provide a means for seafarers to acquire the skills necessary to operate ships in ice safely, with due regard to the relationships between how the ship is operated by them, and the consequential demands imposed on the ship’s structure.

This Mitacs Internship with Virtual Marine Technology in partnership with Chalmers University and Memorial University will focus on improving the safety of crew who work at marine and offshore environments. The intern will work with researchers at Chalmers University to identify safety and risks concerns relating to operations in marine vessels (Le. preliminary engine room design or evacuation training) and will work with Virtual Marine Technology to define the technical requirements for using virtual environment training to address these concerns.

With dramatic improvements in vessel performance and tactical systems of high speed crafts in recent years, naval, coast guard and law enforcement agencies increasingly task them to complete a growing range of operational objectives. The combination of faster vessels, more sophisticated systems and extended responsibilities has driven fleet operators to re-examine how their boat crews are trained.

In the marine and offshore industry, the safety of small vessels such as life boats and fast rescue crafts is a critical issue to designers, operators and regulation bodies. It concerns not only the reliable design, but also the safe training and operation. Accurate prediction of small vessel motions in waves is essential to the design process. On the training side, it is important to avoid exposing trainees to dangerous and extreme conditions. The ideal solution is high-fidelity simulation which also requires accurate prediction of vessel motion.

Simulation training is widely used in the aircraft industry to train pilots to operate aircraft. Likewise, ship bridge simulators are used to train the crews of large vessels. The efficacy of this type of training is recognized by international standards and is often required by regulations. A new application of simulation training technology is being developed by Virtual Marine Technology in co-operation with researchers at Memorial University. Specifically, they have developed immersive training simulators for small vessels such as lifeboats and fast rescue craft.