TransNav: International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation (Mar 2021)
An Automated Lifeboat Manifesting Embarkation System (ALMES): Optimizing Evacuation and Passenger Manifestation Via RFID/NFC
Abstract
Today, a significant number of quite advanced technology applications support safety at sea. To the dismay of the maritime industry, the manifestation of passengers during an evacuation scenario/case has not followed a similar path of improvement, when compared to the counterpart Life Saving Appliances (LSA) Code. Embarkation and muster proceedings are still following the similar approaches that were established during the early 1900s. There have been relatively few advances in these procedures; most often, they include manually checking-in the passengers on electronic systems, along with “on the spot” completion of check-off lists and passenger counts, allowing for an influx of potential error by the concerned personnel. Furthermore, the rely and transmission of the manifest to a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) is often associated with a considerable amount of time, or even involving secondary passenger counts, after the disembarkation event has been concluded. It is understandable that a vessel with limited people on-board (tankers, bulk carriers, container vessels, etc.) can effectively be abandoned in a matter of minutes, but what happens with vessels carrying a large number of passengers and more specifically those heavily engaged with cruising activities? This paper examines the creation of an electronic manifestation system that will be able to automatically record the passengers during lifeboat embarkation. This proposed system will employ the use of Near-Field Communication (NFC) and/or (Radio-frequency identification) RFID bracelets, that are already utilized within the cruise industry. It will record relevant passenger and crew data, upon their boarding on the designated lifeboat, through readers installed on the parallel sides of the entryway. The data will be displayed in electronic tablet devices to the lifeboat leaders, as well as to the Master of the vessel in real-time. This will allow for an accurate representation of the evacuation process in any given moment. Furthermore, a complete “snapshot” of that information can also be directly transmitted to the MRCC via an automated message and without any further human intervention, or even stored locally aboard the lifeboats used for the evacuation and the ship’s Vessel Data Recorder (VDR).
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