The Naval Academy bridge simulator now also in remote operation

(To Marina Militare)
04/02/21

The 5KS company in Genoa has recently completed the configuration of the virtual dashboard of the Bridge Maneuvering Simulator (SiMaP) of the Naval Academy of Livorno. This is an update to the simulator software that allows the management of a dashboard in "remote" mode rather than in person.

From the first year of the Academy, the attendees are included in the bridge teams, during simulator exercises and in preparatory sea trips, initially holding simple and executive positions (helmsman or telegraph operator), and then, in the following years, engage in tasks of increasing difficulty and responsibility such as the planning of routes and maneuvers on nautical charts, the management of radio communications or radar systems, up to the management and management of the entire bridge team.

At the end of the training course, the attending officers obtain the qualification for the basic level guard on the bridge, which will allow them, once assigned on board the naval units of the Navy, to lead a bridge team during the transfer navigations.

The need to have a virtual bridge arises from the obligatory and fruitful experience gained during the lockdown period of the last academic year, when the students of the institute, due to government prescriptions to reduce the risk of contagion from COVID-19, were sent at their homes and continued to follow distance learning activities.

With the new configuration it will be possible to conduct the training activity on the simulator also remotely: visitors from their PCs connected to the internet will be able to carry out normal exercises, interacting with each other as a real bridge team always under constant supervision of the instructing officers. This solution will also allow to increase the maximum number of users who can train at the same time.

"The simulator training takes place according to an intense and multi-year program. The remote bridge, although with some limitations compared to the realism of the one in the presence, still allows us to train ourselves optimally, interacting effectively from a distance with all team members" says Ensign Vincenzo Rocco, first-year attendant of application courses, at the end of the activity conducted with the new virtual bridge.

The conditions in which the Naval Academy operates have changed but the approach to training activities has not changed, always characterized by the highest professionalism and the search for alternative solutions that still guarantee the achievement of the set objectives.