A Portable Measurement and Recording System for Ship Motion Data or Other Analog Signals

摘要

The Navy's ability to assess crew performance under operational conditions has been severely limited by the difficulty of making simultaneous measurements of performance and the environment. This is especially true when ship motion data are required. The measurement of ship motion is complicated, requiring up to three simultaneous reference coordinate systems, and motion measurements must often be made in high sea state conditions that are destructive to equipment and unpleasant for both ship personnel and researchers. The primary purpose of this effort was to develop a portable ship motion measurement and recording system that could be used in conjunction with performance tests developed as part of the Critical Task Performance Measurement (CTPM) project. This system was to be small, to make few demands upon ship resources, and to be capable of measuring the motions of small craft operating in high sea states. In conjunction with this hardware development, an overall implementation plan was to be developed for its use in performance testing. The functional requirements of a working system, data on environmental and operational hazards to the equipment, and ship/test compatibility requirements were determined. Selection of the general technology to be applied involved consideration of size, weight, power consumption, cost, and low reliability of analog instrumentation. As a result, it was decided to use a microprocessor-based system designed around commercial components.