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[ Norwegian Language Version ]
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| Alf “Cyber Man” Trøan “looks” into the future. Colleague Kent Åge Solem wonders what's moving inside Trøan's head. He has serious concerns about the future of DNV.. |
A great amount of brain capacity is located at the "development" department who develop new tools for surveyors. The latest news is a prototype from IBM consisting of a pocket PC, a display, camera and a microphone mounted to the helmet. In this way one does not have to carry around check lists, camera and note book..
I have tried out the prototype under ideal conditions and can inform that the equipment functions satisfactory in spite of some "child diseases" in the microphone. This is maybe of advantage since there might be some "technical terms" that in our Trønder dialect that are unsuited for recording.
The check lists were loaded on the PC in advance. On the screen one could read the check list and enter comments (keyboard & sound) and even take pictures for each individual item. The pictures and the comments are attached to the item in the check list that is currently marked. The program allows also printing out a simplified version of a "Quick Report". The intention is to be able to down load the data into Nauticus without any extra work.
The equipment may be suited for larger vessels. To be able to endure conditions like in a one meter high double bottom tank with 20 cm of sedimental grease some modifications may still be necessary. The prototype was tested on a ship. It was frequently commented on board.
It was fun to take part in the test of the equipment, likewise to meet colleagues from other departments at Høvik then the usual one has contact with. I wish Thomas Mestl (DTP340) god luck with the further development.
If this is the future remains to see. It may well depend on the economy as well.
