DP: addressing the threat of network storms

摘要

Over the past year, when using Teams or Zoom for meetings, you've probably encountered non-critical minor 'network storms' evidenced by that moment when someone freezes. While annoying this is usually harmless and even amusing. Now imagine a 'storm' disrupts operations on a DP vessel controlled entirely by networks while a diver is on the seabed, or the vessel is alongside a platform with the wind picking up. A storm in these situations would be anything but harmless or amusing. First, let's define a network storm: it is the accumulation of traffic on a computer network. Extreme amounts of traffic constituting a 'storm' consume sufficient resources rendering the network unable to transport normal traffic. IMCA's DP committee hosted a workshop in early March on DP system network storms attended by vessel owners and operators, third-party consultants, network specialists and OEMs from member companies. Three IMCA presenters were all heavily involved in the subject; and workshop sessions enabled everyone to discuss and debate many specific points.