Assisting Anomaly Detection in Maritime Shore-Based Operator Work

This article reports findings from a study on risk identification and mitigation in maritime traffic information services. A human-centered design approach has been employed to develop and evaluate a concept on support for shore-based operators, in the task of providing timely and necessary information to ensure safe movements and mitigate the risk of a collision or grounding. Asa first step, an analysis of incident reports from 2016-2019 was conducted. Further, one online and one onsite workshop with Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) operators were held to explore how experts identify, classify and act upon information available within the current system. In the concept development phase, two specific scenarios (grounding, collision) were used to discuss what an automation could potentially act upon and how the information should be communicated to the shore-based operator. In the final step, the concept was evaluated within a demonstrator workstation setup. Four shore-based operators participated in the evaluation. They thought that the concept generated meaningful suggestions for risk mitigation, which could be used to generate a wider timeframe for an operator to act. However, the operators also raised concerns regarding responsibility, communication needs and the ability to understand what an automation basis its assessment on. Overall, while the support in anomaly detection and the identification of risk mitigating measures is appreciated, a refinement of the current concept is needed to become meaningful in the eyes of the operator.

Keywords: Vessel Traffic Service (VTS), Human-automation teaming, Human-centered design, Risk identification.