Ship Sim 3

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 August 2010 15:43 Written by Alison Little Thursday, 18 March 2010 14:03

Ship Sim 3 simulates the ship’s motions using a number of different models. It provides a view of the sea and the ship, and shows how the ship moves in response to the forces of nature and engine settings. The instrument view shows the demanded and achieved machinery settings, water- and ground- speeds in two axes, yaw rate, heading, wind and tide.

The ship simulator is equipped with interfaces to enable it to be connected to helm, levers, autopilots and other marine electronic equipment. The machinery can also be controlled directly via on on-screen sliders or using internal heading and track autopilots.

The user interface is simple and intuitive, with the vehicle display, which shows the vehicle’s position, together with a snail-trail record of its track, and the instrument view panel. The software supports several interfaces, e.g. NMEA interface, and can be interfaced with 3rd party displays and instruments.

Technical features of Ship Sim:

• Supports IEC 62065, ISO 16329 and ISO 11674 standards for autopilot accreditation.
• Environment simulation: in addition to wind, tide, and waves, the effect of shallow water under the ship is modelled.
• Wave response model: The ship motions are calculated via the shape of the sea surface as well as the ship's velocity with respect to the waves. A user interface dialog allows the amplitudes of response to be scaled independently for surge, sway and yaw. Roll and pitch information is also calculated.
• Ship Sim 3 also offers the ability to accept third party physics models. This comprises DLL interface source code, with function calls to be filled in by the user and compiled under Microsoft .NET® framework.
• Fully configurable simulation of own-ship's engine and rudder fitment, together with hydrodynamic and aerodynamic models.
• The ship instrument console can be designed by the user to display required information clearly, including setting up sliders to control the engine(s) and rudder(s) and display sensor data. The instrument panel includes the simulation run controls which enable the simulation to be started, paused, reset.
• Simulator can be controlled by external analogue inputs, via the Hardware Interface, allowing control by a 3rd party autopilot for Autopilot Testing.
• Additional target simulation included: targets are additional vessels which can be defined and controlled by the user. Targets can output NMEA, AIS and Radar information. NMEA 2000 interface (CANbus) supported.
• The main window of the ship simulator shows a plan view of the ship and includes zoom, pan, and ship's trail.
• Geotiff background for plan view is supported.
• Optional 3D external viewer.
• Charts: the Charting Engine supports a range of chart formats. The Chart View is shown in an additional window.