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| In recent years, many marine
applications have leapt on the Ethernet bandwagon. Using Ethernet
to integrate in-ship communication systems is a breakthrough
that enables information centralization and improves management
tasks. Integrating Ethernet networks with the ship's distributed
communication system significantly enhances the control and
management of in-ship communications. The following sections
discuss traditional control systems that are responsible for
a variety of operations on a ship, and up-to-date trends for
integrating ship control systems into a single network. |
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| Primary Control Systems Found on Ships |
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| The primary systems found on a ship can be divided in to four groups based on their operating principles: |
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Low-pressure Air Control Systems: Controls pneumatic tools, which are used for many purposes, including driving small machines, instruments, engine system, and electric power generators. |
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Hydraulic Systems: Controls large-scale machines such as pump systems and davits. In addition, hydraulics is often used to manage storage systems on a ship. |
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Electrical Control Systems: Manages electrical systems, communication equipment, and electrical tools. These particular systems require a lot of energy to operate; therefore, the electrical power generated by the ship is customarily for their exclusive use. |
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Automatic Control Systems:
Combines many systems with small-scale motors and gears
to control mechanical equipment. |
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| Challenges of Managing Traditional Control Systems |
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| In modern shipbuilding, the hydraulic
systems, electrical control systems, and automatic control
systems play important roles in different facets of ship operation,
whereas low-pressure air control systems have been gradually
phased out. The existing primary control systems are distributed
around the ship to control different operating functions,
such as the electrical system, water cooling system, air-conditioning
system, damage control system, fuel system, cargo loading
system, propulsion system, auxiliary equipment, radar system,
sonar system, radio system, guidance system, emergency system,
warning system, and weapons system (for warships). Each control
system must connect with an independent HMI or SCADA for control
and monitoring. |
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| Distributed systems on ships are inherently highly complex, involve different operating standards, and require a lot of manual labor to operate and maintain. Each system calls for people with varied technical knowledge for daily operation and monitoring, with a large crew spread around the ship in different cabins. The crew uses in-ship phones as the only communication medium between systems operators and the control center on the ship. In general, a larger ship requires a bigger crew, and consequently the high cost of recruiting well-trained crews to manage the different systems on the ship is one of the biggest challenges for today's ship management. |
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| Is there any solution to reduce the workload and crew requirements while maintaining mission readiness and safety? The main problems of traditional in-ship operation and communication are that distributed system control and monitoring leads to a big crew size and complicated workload requirements. The only way to solve this kind of problem is to incorporate an integrated network that coordinates the transmission of automatic control and monitoring information from ship's main systems to the control center. |
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| Industrial Ethernet Solution for In-Ship Communication |
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| These days, automation
control equipment and devices have taken the place of
many conventional systems that used to be applied on
the ship. An increasing number of automation control
manufacturers, such as PLC and field I/O manufacturers,
now produce products that come with a built-in Ethernet
interface. In fact, Ethernet has become the solution
of choice to network a ship's automation systems. The
automation control systems work together with the Ethernet
communication network to reduce the workload and crew
size on the ship by automatically transmitting distributed
operation and control information to the control center.
Overall, industrial Ethernet improves ship automation
in six primary ways: |
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| Centralized Control and Management |
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| Easy to Maintain and Manage |
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| Since Ethernet is based on an open standard, all the automation devices that support Ethernet standards can be connected to the network, so that control information can be transmitted to the control center in real time for synchronous monitoring. |
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Ethernet is a standard communications protocol that has been in use for about 30 years. With such a well developed technical foundation, it is easy and convenient to manage information over the Ethernet with readily available tools, and experts in Ethernet technology are relatively easy to find. |
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| Lower Management Cost |
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| Affordable Bandwidth |
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| Traditionally,
large crews could be a nightmare for ship owners
because of the sophisticated systems and specific
HMI/SCADA requirements. Control networks integrated
by Ethernet not only reduce the workload, but
also the number of crew members required to maintain
the ship's distributed systems. For example, a
100,000-ton merchant ship can be operated with
a crew of only 20 well-trained sailors, reducing
personnel costs dramatically. |
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When all control systems are integrated into a single network, the amount of complex data transmitted over the network can quickly become a "data monster" that requires higher bandwidth for successful transmission. Ethernet provides an affordable network bandwidth for use on ships. Currently, industrial Ethernet switches used to form networks come with 10/100 M performance or up to 1 Gigabit bandwidth for backbone networks, providing a higher bandwidth than traditional serial communication networks. |
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| High Flexibility |
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| Expandable and Upgradeable |
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| A variety of Ethernet switches have different port density and intelligent management functions, and some Ethernet switches come equipped with fiber optic ports to meet long haul transmission requirements on ships. A ship's system integrator can select the most appropriate switches according to their network requirements. Some switches also provide built-in management functions, such as redundancy, VLAN, QoS, IGMP snooping, and port trunking to provide added value for network planning and management. |
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| Automation control manufacturers now provide control devices with an Ethernet interface, and more and more applications, such as video surveillance and RFID also support Ethernet, making Ethernet a top choice for communication systems that incorporate data from a number of different sources. |
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| An integrated industrial automation network based on Ethernet can be an efficient and cost-effective solution for the management of large merchant ships, ocean liners, cargo vessels, tankers, and shipyards. Compared to merchant ships, warships are much more sophisticated and require integrating control and monitoring. Ethernet is already becoming a trend for integrating in-ship communication for a variety of large ships. |
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Moxa's Solutions |
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DNV/GL/ABS/LR/NK-certified Industrial Ethernet Switches for Maritime Solutions |
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DNV/GL/ABS/LR/NK marine certifications prove that Moxa's industrial Ethernet switches are rugged enough to thrive in hazardous maritime applications. In addition, Moxa offers DNV-rated industrial media converters, serial device servers, and industrial embedded computers to provide one-stop shopping for all your marine operation needs. |
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Industrial Strength |
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Moxa's industrial Ethernet products are designed for smooth and reliable operation in harsh industrial environments and meet strict industrial standards such as, Class I Div 2/ATEX Zone 2, UL, CE, and FCC standards. Nearly all of Moxa product enjoy a wide temperature range of -40 to 75°C. |
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Solid 3 and 5-year Warranty |
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Moxa products come with a solid 3 or 5-year warranty. |
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Complete One-net Solution |
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Moxa provides a one-net solution for integrating data, video, and voice together over the Ethernet for real-time viewing, information, sound monitoring, and control applications. |
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Over 20 Years of Expertise in Industrial Communication |
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Moxa has more than 23 years of experience dedicated to the industrial communication networking technology. |
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Global Service with a Local Touch |
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Moxa has "Moxa Technical Support Certification (MTSC)" centers worldwide to guarantee that Moxa customers receive friendly, professional, and localized service and support in a timely manner. |
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