Simulation at USMMA

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) has long emphasized a hands-on training philosophy for Midshipmen education. For quite some time, various simulators and simulation software, together with other hands-on training (including laboratories, a training ship, and a year out at sea), have played an important role in both providing and assessing the skills that maritime students need to acquire.

In 1962, the USMMA placed the Nuclear Ship Savannah power plant simulator into successful operation, a pioneering effort that soon became the model for many shore-based nuclear power plant simulators. That same year, the Academy also placed a radar simulator in operation and aspired to build a more comprehensive navigation simulator with some form of visual imagery. Thirteen years later, the Computer Aided Operations Research Facility (CAORF) became the culmination of that ambition.

In 1975, the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) installed a complex Visual Bridge Ship-handling Simulator (VBSS) at the Academy for the purposes of maritime training and controlled research into man/ship/environment problems. The CAORF simulator was the first marine simulator ever to use Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI), and thus set the standard for all simulators of its kind that followed. Duplication of the bridge environment, detailed modeling of ship handling responses, a sophisticated control station, and the capability to simulate any vessel in any port or area in the world soon became the core of a complex human factors laboratory dedicated to the purpose of examining the human element in a number of marine operations.

Since that time, CAORF has provided answers in various areas of applied marine research, including:

Three decades later, the need for improved training, ever increasing educational requirements and advances in technology have driven the transformation of CAORF to its present configuration. Currently the facility now houses multiple computer-oriented applications, including:

Besides the two full mission bridge simulators, the USMMA also utilizes desktop and laptop simulators for multiple purposes. In addition, a 12-Ship Radar/Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA) simulator and fifteen PC-based Global Maritime Distress and Safety at Sea (GMDSS) simulators are used for teaching Midshipmen the principles and operations of collision avoidance radar and GMDSS equipment, as the Academy continually strives to meet the multimedia educational challenges of tomorrow.