Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) Test and Evaluation, Summary Report

This summary report describes four sea trials and one man-in-the-loop simulator experiment conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center from 1990 to 1993 thoroughly test and evaluate the adequacy of the International Maritime Organizations Performance Standard for ECDIS. Issues examined include the contribution to safety of navigation, the effects of the navigation workload, features and functions required during route monitoring, and the contribution of integration with radar. Each of the five tests were designed to incorporate known methodology and advanced technology to thoroughly test the contributions that ECDIS might make to the operational practices on a ships bridge. As the experiments progressed, the technology became more sophisticated, with information being sought in more breadth and depth. Each experiment, building on the findings of the previous, was designed to ask more indepth questions, to gain more complete information. This four-year effort is one of the most comprehensive studies done on ECDIS performance. There are serveral key findings produced by this body of work. It was shown consistently that ECDIS can provide equivalent or greater safety than the paper chart and more traditional methods of navigation. Another key finding is that navigation workload is reduced, allowing the mariner to concentrate on collision avoidance or other tasks of similar importance. In the area of user-interface design, it was found that the mariner wanted an uncluttered display during route monitoring, with more features immediately available if needed.