Design On Voyage Data Recorder

Voyage data recorder (VDR) is a kind of equipment which can simultaneouslyrecord the information of the ship before and after it malfunctions. Recently, themarine accidents have been increasing year by year, timely mastering the voyageinformation of the ship malfunctioned, therefore, can be a great help in the causeinvestigation of the accidents. In many cases, however, the voyage information isrecorded manually, leading to be unable to record timely. For some ships there may benot record at all, and someone may even fabricate the information to evade theresponsibility of misoperation. Hence in case the voyage accidents take place, itbrings about great trouble in investigating the causes. For this reason, through theapplication of VDR and the voyage information it records concerning the position,speed, physical status, operating method and the hull's physical condition of the ship,the cause of the accident can be sought out fairly. Based on the study of recentdevelopment of VDR and applying large-capacity memory and global positioningsystem together with advanced computer technology, this project aims to develop akind of VDR with the characteristic of high quality-to-price ratio and easy operation.At first, this thesis introduces the aim and significance of developing VDR as wellas the present situation of VDR. Then after introducing the standards and presentproducts of VDR, it presents the general design frame of the project and introducesthe solution of the final recording medium of VDR. Next, we collect the signals onboard by using video collection card, global positioning system, miniature reedswitches, and also reserve some spare interfaces for other signals on board.Afterwards, the data must be processed and saved through programming andfurthermore compressed and encrypted. Finally accomplishing the on boardexperiments, the project went through the check by the Science Committee of Tianjin.The highlights of this paper are as follows: on the one hand, this VDR can recordvoyage data as long as 24 hours;on the other hand, this VDR installs as much as4-channel video and audio signals gathering in the ship cab, which is a great help inthe accident cause analysis. However, since the entry of video and audio signals andthe extension of the data recording period, it raises a higher demand for the solution ofmemories. Accordingly, we choose newly large-capacity memory as the finalrecording medium of the VDR, which can not only satisfy the request for storingcapacity, but be competent to use on board with its good property of anti-shock andanti-electromagnetic disturbances. Since the gathering of audio and video signals inthe ship cab, it can properly reduce the categories of the information recorded andreduce the sensors and signal converters needed, reducing the price of VDR to adaptto the needs of small ships in our country. This design also reserves some spareinterfaces for other signals on board, which can meet the needs of new type ships,increasing the flexibility and adaptability of the VDR.