Tugboat Line Monitoring Software

"The issue of line integrity is absolutely paramount," said Joel Altus, supervisor of vessel rigging at Foss Maritime. "The towline is the singular connection between the tug and the vessel. There isn’t anyone who isn’t vitally concerned about it."

Provides Real-Time Tension and Accumulated Tension History
For Monitoring Synthetic or Wire Ropes
Real Time Data in Customizable Display Formats

Measurement Technology NW’s line monitoring program for tugboats is a groundbreaking software/hardware package that tracks winch line tension history over time and allows towing and ship assist operators to accurately monitor the usage and safe remaining working life of their synthetic or wire ropes. MTNW’s Line Tension Monitoring software interface works with or without an LCI display to process sensor data and provide automatic, real-time tension tracking as well as an accumulated tension history of the specific rope being monitored.

Software

The software contains several key features that benefit the operator. Real time display of line tension is provided in several formats: strip chart line graphics in 2D or 3D format, vertical histograms of the amount of time spent in predefined tension ranges (which can be displayed in a variety of engineering units), percent of CBS, and percent of bollard pull.

Data

Data collection and parsing functions can be initiated for each job, and analyzed afterwards (by job or by job group) to provide an insightful view of winch line usage. Handy features ease the Captain's paperwork load by replacing manual paper forms commonly used today with a series of pull-down data-entry fields for tug and vessel information, tug maneuvers, sea and weather conditions, as well as any job related comments the Captain determines are relevant.

Each job can be started and stopped for each escort, and escort vessel data can be entered immediately. However if the operator can not allocate the time for this, the software includes a feature allowing the operator to "parse" the data back to specific jobs at a more convenient time.