An integrated shipwide control system-a view of the future

The concept of an integrated shipwide control system extends the existing boundaries of the control and surveillance system beyond the propulsion plant and its auxiliaries to oversee almost all of the equipment concerned with keeping the vessel afloat and enabling it to move as a weapons platform. The rationale behind such an all-embracing concept is the need to improve further the effectiveness of machinery control, particularly under damage conditions and probably with fewer men. This can be achieved by exploiting the benefits of shared resources such as data communications, intelligent displays and distributed processing. The paper concerns physical characteristics of such a system, technologies applicable to it, and procurement issues