Designing a ballast control system operator interface

The ballast control system, part of the vessel management system (VMS), allows operators of an offshore oil drilling platform to use the vessel's fluid control system to keep the vessel at an even keel. This procedure is critical during the drilling process and for the overall safety of the ship. Based on a heuristic evaluation of the ballast control operator interface for a vessel being commissioned, this paper describes a prototype which implements human computer interface (HCI) design principles that were lacking in the original displays. The former design included elements of information overload, poor shape and coloring of icons, inconsistent layouts, and inadequate menu designs. We prototyped a simulation plus operator interface to explore improvements in these areas and for enabling future students in the US-Brazil exchange program to understand and build on the current design. This paper reviews the existing ballast control operator interface on the Pride do Rio oil drilling platform and describes the features of the new prototype simulation system.