Remote navigational watch-keeping for supervision using virtual reality

Developing remote control and supervision technology can help in addressing current and future safety issues at sea owing to human errors resulting from an individual’s watch-keeping. This paper presents a remote navigational watch-keeping system that uses virtual reality (VR) to reduce the risk of human errors and alleviate officers’ workload. The system creates a VR environment that replicates the state and navigational instruments of a ship, with limited connectivity via satellite, enabling an operator at an office onshore to have a comprehensive understanding of the surroundings as through the operator is on the navigational bridge. Two navigation experiences were used to evaluate the system. The results demonstrate that the proposed system is effective for double-checking purposes.