“No-one reads the manual anymore – everyone wants a plug and play solution, they don’t want to wire it up. In terms of commissioning, they want to spend less time and want equipment which commissions itself and gives them a step by step guide as to how it works. They don’t have time to learn how it all works.”
And he points out that simplicity is equally important when it comes to the user interface with technology advancing in terms of what can be done with the products.
“The message is all about safety, making boating easier and more fun. Language is very important – commercial crews don’t always have English as their first language. People’s expectations in terms of language and content are extended so that means we have to have an intuitive way of leading people through the menus,” he says.
“We have to employ very clever people to produce the 26 languages we provide in the user interface and 16 languages in the manuals. A lot of coordination is needed.
“It needs to be simple and easy to understand.”
INTERACTION
How people interact with their products is a key factor Raymarine has been working on over the last three years with its latest MFDs with reliability and safety at the forefront of decision making.
“People want the latest technology and integration regardless of whether they are buying at the low end of the market or the high end.”
Another example of technology moving ahead is with autopilots which previously needed calibrating to individual vessels, which not only cost operators in terms of time but also money. Now the latest autopilots automatically adapt to the vessels, allowing the same autopilot to be fitted to a fast RIB or a work boat and work accurately.
“Technology has come along in leaps and bounds. The adaptive control learns the characteristics of the boat – it could be a metal boat where the magnetic field changes or a GRP hull,” says Mr Jones, director of project management. “More possibilities are being embraced yet there is no compromise on safety.”
Equally with sonar, users want to see a higher resolution picture of the sea bed and companies such as Raymarine are now using technology which has previously been developed for the leisure market and crossing it over to the commercial side.
“The newest sonars put out a variable frequency putting more information into the water. Filtering is done to a far higher degree so we are able to get better resolution photos back,” says Mr Jones.
“Boating has the potential to be dangerous and additional information can only improve the safety aspect of the surroundings.”
He added: “In addition, video is becoming used more, allowing the captain to be more aware of what is going on around the vessel. Video analytics can merge different views together so the situation around can be seen which is beneficial to everyone. Wherever we go, we are in a data connected environment.”
By Katina Read
