US Navy operating astern of touchscreens

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sjisailor

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Nov 2, 2021
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Interesting move and discussion both about mechanical interfaces and the (implicit) need for positive handoff and confirmation of control.

Short summary is that the Navy is replacing touchscreen controls with mechanical controls on various ships, after finding that confusion over touchscreens contributed to a collision.

www.naval-technology.com

US Navy to replace touchscreens with mechanical controls

The US Navy is to replace touchscreen controls on destroyers with physical systems in 2020 after a report into the fatal 2017 USS John S McCain collision.
www.naval-technology.com www.naval-technology.com

Our previous boat had two stations and it was a perpetual issue to manage transfer of control between them. Not difficult in particular ... just unintuitive and easy to forget a step.
 
Suggest reading Navy Times - Ghost in the Fitz's machine. Couple of years ago but accurate picture of working conditions.
Yesterdays technology tomorrow.
Thankfully the Academy has reinstated the course in using a sextant.
 
Greetings,
I vaguely recall (?) a similar reversal of "new and improved" some time ago. Analog gauges in aircraft were replaced with digital. Made it difficult to simply scan readings. They changed back.
 
The NFL is starting to implement a Sony system to replace the sideline chains for measurement of first downs. They are installing them throughout the stadiums and maybe next year it will be up and running. What could go wrong…
 
Good news on the change. Remember, there can be as many as four or five different watch sections on a destroyer using this equipment, and within each section there might be 4-5 different helmsmen relieving each other during the watch. Stuff needs to be simple for these 19–21-year-olds.
 
What 19 to 21 year old can’t work electronic stuff better than old people?
 
Comodave said:
What 19 to 21 year old can’t work electronic stuff better than old people?
Click to expand...
It's not so much a matter of technical aptitude, but whether the systems are easy and intuitive to use. The more you have to look and think to make effective use of a set of controls, the more likely you are to screw it up under pressure.
 
rslifkin said:
It's not so much a matter of technical aptitude, but whether the systems are easy and intuitive to use. The more you have to look and think to make effective use of a set of controls, the more likely you are to screw it up under pressure.
Click to expand...
Correct. These systems are not the Apple or MS software these kids grew up with, AND they can be under stress when operating them with officers yelling orders, radios blaring, guns firing, wind and rain making noise, and the darned ship rolling about like pig in mud.
 
When you forget the KISS rule, you're gonna have a problem
 
If one thinks today's combat situations are simple... I would think the lightning fast tech changes in the last 2 years in the warfare around the globe would pretty well prove it's not.

Heck, I witnessed combat information centers on antique USCG cutters 30 years ago respond to combat drills and it was so fast paced, that if it wasn't pretty much computer controlled or nowadays AI controlled you were dead in minutes.

Yes, the human interface needs to be intuitive, but simple is in the past.
 
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