VDR (Voyage Data Recorder) is the maritime equivalent of the black box that airlines employ. The system is typically two-part and consists of an information-collecting unit that is connected to a protective capsule on deck designed to withstand fire, deep-sea pressure shock, and penetration. It’s used to record events that occur during navigation, but it can also provide valuable data to assess damage during heavy weather and monitoring performance as well as crew training.

Up-grading

Many ships fitted with VDR/SVDR devices meet the bare minimum regulatory requirements However, the crew is encouraged to consider using the equipment for incident investigation and preventive maintenance, bridge team training as well as for recording near misses. In addition, there are programs that can dramatically extend the amount of time that http://www.digitaldealdataroom.info VDR information is available, starting from the current minimum of 12 hours and a decision should be made about whether or not to upgrade to this.

The system is built on an industrial-grade computer that performs a number functions, including processing and encoding information received from sensors. The capsule is designed to withstand any accident and store the data. The major components of the VDR system include a data collection unit, which is situated on the bridge, a dedicated power source along with an interface unit as well as backup batteries. The unit gathers all data from integrated sources such as microphones used to record bridge audio, and then sends it to a Concentrator where a series NMEA 0183 sentence is interpreted and then coded to be sent to the final recorded media.