SIMS at sea

The need for a new 25-knot lifeboat offered the RNLI the opportunity to capitalise on engineering advancements. The author assesses the institution´s use of Systems and Integrated Management System (SIMS) to advance information, control and safety. SIMS is a distributed network-based arrangement of computers and data input/output devices designed to assist in the management, operation, control and data recording (mission logging) of this highly advanced rescue vessel. The SIMS system has been designed to make the lifeboat crew´s job easier. It allows the removal of non-essential functions from the respective systems and displays on screen the information that the crew need most for both training and operations. Each screen allows the user to view information from all the integrated systems such as navigation and radar. This means that the crew can now stay safely in their seats, removing the possibility of injury that could result from moving about the cabin in heavy seas. It also has five potential power sources, a solid state computer memory which replaces hard drives, a shock mounted rack, waterproof computer boxes, screens and trackballs. The SIMS rack consists of six computers (each capable of running the system by itself) as well as all the other processors required to monitor and run the boat´s systems.