Federal White Paper: Survivability & Safety Engineering
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Survivability and safety are closely related, and in many cases are the same. Engineering for both has similar issues and features. If there are differences, it would be in the hazards considered; survivability might consider more hazards from outside the system (such as a terrorist attack) while safety might consider hazards more inherent in the system (such as the failure of a critical piece of equipment). The topics in this paper apply to both system survivability and system safety. The paper summarizes key engineering features which address those system survivability/safety issues, basic systems survivability/safety principles, and the benefits derived from performing good survivability/safety engineering.
Federal White Paper: Design, Development and Deployment of Automated Distributed Control Systems on Active Navy Surface Combatants
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As the Navy builds ships with more complex, distributed systems, centralized control of distributed systems becomes a single point of failure. This is particularly important for recovering from damage, when the rapid execution of complex tasks often is necessary to effectively recover from damage. A control system that is vulnerable to damage when it is needed most, when recovering from damage, presents a significant survivability concern.
Federal White Paper: Navy Human Computer Interface (HCI) Design Principles and Processes
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As technology advances and manning aboard ships is reduced, manual operations and analog equipment are being replaced by digital controls, automation, and remote Human Computer Interfaces (HCI) as the primary means of operating the ship. In such an environment, the ship must be optimized so that the hardware, software and crew complement one another. The HCI, therefore, is increasingly vital to ship performance, particularly in dynamic, stressful scenarios that require operator decisions and actions. This paper outlines some of the key HCI design principles and lessons learned through Navy and industry experience.
Federal White Paper: Human Systems Integration and Shipboard Damage Control
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As the United States and other maritime nations move towards operating combatant ships with fewer people, Human-Systems Integration (HSI), or human centered design, is getting increasing attention in new ship designs. Aboard most ships operating today, damage control is a mostly manual, manpower intensive function. Consequently, it is a key area of concern for ship acquisition programs that need to produce ships that will operate with fewer people. Damage control also is critical to the survival of a warship and the safety of the crew. Consequently, it is very important to ship operators. It is no surprise, therefore, that damage control is a key function of concern when designing new ships to operate with fewer people. This paper discusses the state-of-the-art in HSI and damage control aboard ships today as evidenced by the damage control performance of some of today's ships. The paper draws conclusions about the importance of HSI for effective damage control in new ship designs. The successful application of a human centered design approach in the development of a damage control supervisory control system for the US Navy's Damage Control Automation for Reduced Manning (DC-ARM) program is described. Finally, major challenges to achieving effective HSI in new ship designs are presented.