Introduction
Loadarm systems on commercial ships tend to be extremely complicated, and play an important role when the ship is in port. Most traditional loadarm systems only have a proximity sensor to measure when the arm is in its outmost position, and do not give any warning before the arm bumps into something. Using this kind of system, which relies heavily on the skill of the operator, can be costly, and it takes a lot of time to load and unload a ship.

A European company is using MOXA’s IA240 embedded computer in their Loadarm Angle Monitoring System (LAMS). The system is set up to take frequent measurements of the arm’s position, and in this way give operators the ability to avoid potential collisions.

Cameras on the dock are used to send images in real time back to a control center. By connecting the cameras to a IA240, the images can be transmitted over Ethernet. When the ship is approaching the dock, the cameras can monitor the position of the loadarm in real time. The centralized nature of the solution allows staff in the control center to monitor the entire situation. When an incident occurs, warning signals can be sent simultaneously to the pagers of all crew members on the ship, allowing the crew to take quick action before the ship or dock is damaged.

Using IA240 for LAMS provides the following advantages.

• Compact design makes it easy to integrate with the existing architecture.
• Multiple communication interfaces (serial and Ethernet) allow flexibility for the entire system.
• Hardened design suitable for any harsh environment.
• Real-time monitoring makes the LAMS safer to operate.

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