Voyage Data Recorder
Encyclopedia
Voyage Data Recorder, or VDR, is a data recording system designed for all vessels
Ship
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...

 required to comply with the IMO
International Maritime Organization
The International Maritime Organization , formerly known as the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization , was established in Geneva in 1948, and came into force ten years later, meeting for the first time in 1959...

's International Convention SOLAS
International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea
The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea is an international maritime safety treaty. The SOLAS Convention in its successive forms is generally regarded as the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships.- History :The first version of the...

 Requirements (IMO Res.A.861(20)) in order to collect data from various sensors on board the vessel. It then digitizes
Digitizing
Digitizing or digitization is the representation of an object, image, sound, document or a signal by a discrete set of its points or samples. The result is called digital representation or, more specifically, a digital image, for the object, and digital form, for the signal...

, compresses
Data compression
In computer science and information theory, data compression, source coding or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation would use....

 and stores
Data storage device
thumb|200px|right|A reel-to-reel tape recorder .The magnetic tape is a data storage medium. The recorder is data storage equipment using a portable medium to store the data....

 this information in an externally mounted protective storage unit. The protective storage unit is a tamper-proof unit designed to withstand the extreme shock, impact, pressure and heat, which could be associated with a marine incident (fire, explosion, collision, sinking, etc).

The protective storage unit may be in a retrievable fixed unit or free float unit (or combined with EPIRB) when the ship sunk in marine incident. The last 12 hours of stored data in the protected unit can be recovered and replayed by the authorities or ship owners for incident investigation. Beside the protective storage unit, the VDR system may consist of recording control unit and data acquisition unit, which connected to various equipment and sensors on board a ship.

Although the primary purpose of the VDR is for accident investigation after the fact, there can be other uses of recorded data for preventive maintenance, performance efficiency monitoring, heavy weather damage analysis, accident avoidance and training purposes to improve safety and reduce running costs.

Simplified Voyage Data Recorder (S-VDR), as defined by the requirements of IMO Performance Standard MSC.163(78), is a lower cost simplified version VDR for small ships with only basic ship's data recorded.

Voyage data

The information recorded in the unit(s), sometimes also called Black box
Black Box (transportation)
The term black box is a placeholder name used casually to refer to a collection of several different recording devices used in transportation: the flight recorders in aircraft, the event recorder in railway locomotives, the event data recorder in automobiles, message case in ships, and other...

 for ship
, may include the following information:-
  • Position, Date, Time using GPS
    Global Positioning System
    The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...

    .
  • Speed log - Speed through water or speed over ground.
  • Gyro compass - Heading.
  • Radar
    Radar
    Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

    * - As displayed or AIS
    Automatic Identification System
    The Automatic Identification System is an automatic tracking system used on ships and by Vessel traffic services for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging data with other nearby ships and AIS Base stations...

     data if no off-the-shelf converter available for the Radar video.
  • Audio from the bridge, including bridge wings.
  • VHF
    Very high frequency
    Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...

     radio communications.
  • Echo sounder* - Depth under keel
    Keel
    In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...

    .
  • Main alarms* - All IMO
    International Maritime Organization
    The International Maritime Organization , formerly known as the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization , was established in Geneva in 1948, and came into force ten years later, meeting for the first time in 1959...

     mandatory alarms.
  • Hull
    Hull (watercraft)
    A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...

     openings* - Status of hull doors as indicated on the bridge.
  • Watertight & fire door
    Fire door
    A fire door is a door with a fire-resistance rating used as part of a passive fire protection system to reduce the spread of fire or smoke between compartments and to enable safe egress from a building or structure or ship...

    s* status as indicated on the bridge.
  • Hull stress* - Accelerations and hull stresses.
  • Rudder
    Rudder
    A rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft or other conveyance that moves through a medium . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...

    * - Order and feedback response.
  • Engine
    Engine
    An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...

    /Propeller
    Propeller
    A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...

    * - Order and feedback response.
  • Thrusters* - Status, direction, amount of thrust % or RPM
    Revolutions per minute
    Revolutions per minute is a measure of the frequency of a rotation. It annotates the number of full rotations completed in one minute around a fixed axis...

    .
  • Anemometer
    Anemometer
    An anemometer is a device for measuring wind speed, and is a common weather station instrument. The term is derived from the Greek word anemos, meaning wind, and is used to describe any airspeed measurement instrument used in meteorology or aerodynamics...

     and weather vane
    Weather vane
    A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....

    * - Wind speed and direction


Data marked with * may not be recorded in S-VDR, except Radar and Echo Sounder if data & standard interfaces available.

External links

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