Navy Warfare Center Team Members Throw Dummy Overboard to Test New Camera Detection System

Navy Warfare Center Team Members Throw Dummy Overboard to Test New Camera Detection System

By Teri Carnicelli Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division personnel recently tested a prototype system that detects if a Navy ship crewmember falls overboard by throwing a bright orange vinyl rescue dummy over the side of the command's Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS).

Team members from the warfare center's camera and video systems engineering and sustainment branch temporarily installed the Man Overboard (MOB) Detection System they developed on the starboard side of SDTS's bow Aug. 14 while the ship was docked at Port Hueneme, California.

Once triggered - such as by a body falling overboard - the camera system provides immediate, actionable data to response personnel as well as triggers an alarm in the ship's bridge, though that was not part of the test. The detection system otherwise worked flawlessly, according to Branch Manager Eric King.

King said he believes the MOB Detection System his team is developing "bridges a gap by providing immediate, automated man-overboard alerts, enabling rapid-response search and rescue operations when seconds count."

How it works

Systems Engineer David Dozal serves as MOB team lead and helped design the MOB Detection System, which was initially funded through the Naval Innovative Science and Engineering (NISE) program.

Joining Dozal on the team is mechanical engineer Jesse Power, who is the NISE principal investigator and designed the camera pedestal that is attached to a ship's deck, reaching out horizontally over the water.

Rounding out the team are computer engineers Jessica Diaz and Nayeli Mateo and mechatronics engineer Daniel Lopez, who helped conduct the MOB test on the SDTS.

For the test aboard the SDTS, two thermal cameras were installed in each of two vendor-fabricated pedestals. The pedestals were modified to be temporarily installed using powerful magnets attached to counterweights to secure them to the deck.

The permanent MOB camera pedestals will be welded to the deck itself instead of using magnets, Dozal said. On the SDTS, the two pedestals were about 200 feet apart, but the MOB system would ideally run around the entire perimeter of a Navy destroyer, he added.

The MOB video analytics software uses the opposing cameras' overlapping video coverage to accurately trigger the bridge alarm for MOB events in real time, while providing exact geolocation of the person falling over the side of the ship, Dozal explained.

For the test, the team purchased a 6-foot, 35-pound vinyl water rescue training dummy named OSCAR - the international call signal for "man overboard." Dozal and Lopez dropped the dummy secured by rope over the side of the SDTS multiple times and pulled it back up between tosses.

Dozal then joined team members Diaz and Mateo inside the ship to view the video on a laptop and make sure the system captured all data correctly.

Dozal said the software used in the MOB Detection System was developed by private industry and originally built for the cruise ship industry. Some of the NISE funds were used to secure a license for the software.

That company also fabricated the metal pedestals for the NSWC PHD team, which designed them in-house, Dozal said. The four thermal cameras installed in the pedestals were purchased commercially, he added.

"We needed two thermal cameras per pedestal because one of them captures the short-range blind spot view of the ship and the other camera captures the medium- to long-range view of the ship," he explained.

Next steps

Now that the proof-of-concept testing is complete and the data collected, the next step is to find alternative funding for more tests since the NISE funding is concluded, King said.

"We needed the test results to be able to show proof of concept," he explained, and now "have started the discussions with potential sponsors, along with the possibility of integrating the MOB system into a larger program."

Dozal said ideally the next phase would be to temporarily install the MOB system on an active Navy destroyer for additional testing.

"The team would have to travel to San Diego to test this system aboard a Navy destroyer in port and underway," Dozal said, explaining that the team would need a longer time period, such as during a ship's availability, to install the complete system around the ship and ensure the connective cables were not a safety hazard.

"We also need to calculate the complete MOB installation cost to put it entirely around one Navy ship; we need those numbers to show to a funding source," Dozal added.