Ship Piloting - Dutch Pilot Organization

In ports around the world, the increasing volume of ship traffic and ever larger ships means that harbour management is progressively more challenging. At the same time, the focus on efficiency and safety intensifies.

• Using the ADX PPU to increase efficiency and safety
• ADX is developed, tested and approved according to the specifications from the Dutch Pilots

To cope with the increasing complexity of the pilot's daily work, the Dutch Pilot Organisation clearly understood the need for modern pilots to be equipped with electronic navigation aids that employed innovative and portable technology. Such aids were seen as valuable additions to the pilot’s toolbox, enhancing their services to the customer. Over several years, different PPU systems were evaluated to find the optimal solution to assist the Dutch pilot during approach and docking. Pilot defined criteria included:

• Highest possible precision
• Stability and reliability of navigation data, even under gantry cranes and unfavourable ship-installations
• Portability, easy to install and use
• Robustness of the system

Site acceptance Test

In order to quantify the performance and features of the PPU, the Dutch Pilot Organisation developed a detailed Site Acceptance Test (SAT) protocol. The SAT is based upon the guidelines above, and knowledge of GPS and gyro technology capabilities. The SAT includes the following headlines:

• Precision and reliability of the PPU in dynamic mode for position, speed, heading and Rate of Turn components
• Latency of the calculated position, speed, heading and Rate of Turn components
• Performance under gantry crane operations
• Performance passing bridges
• Compass safe distance
• Battery life
• Wireless connection performance
• Watertight

Subsequently, the ADX PPU from AD Navigation was tested for nearly 1000 successful hours in all kinds of test and "real-life" operational scenarios. The system is 100% compliant to the SAT protocol. As a result the Dutch Pilot Organisation is standardising on the ADX PPU!