Watchstanders

The Watchstanders Virtual Reality (VR) Simulation is a learning environment for cadets to be able to practice Watchstanding and lookout jobs on a Navy ship. Watchstanding is crucial to preventing crashes between ships, even with technology like radar.

Outcomes and Additional Information

• The testbed, made in Unreal Engine 5, can be used for further research needs to conduct studies on Watchstanding and lookout jobs. Logging output includes event timing and details, ship information, and closest point of approach.

• The nautical environment features an infinite ocean with a variety of vessels, including large Navy ships, such as carrier and destroyers, as well as small civilian crafts like sailboats and yachts. 

• The sim includes different weather settings for  day and night, including clear day, overcast, storm, and fog. The virtual ship has a bridge with a throttle, wheel, fusion plot, and view of the entire horizon. The user can multiple controllable ships, including carriers, destroyers, and smaller civilian crafts.

• The Watchstander training utilizes the virtual throttle and wheel to control the ship. The training includes closest point of approach, which is the closest point between two ships on their current paths. Since one of the key points of Watchstanding is ensuring closest point of approach doesn’t fall below certain threshold to avoid crashes, the sim compares distances between two ships with respect to time and display information to the user via a virtual radar interface.

• Future work will include additional scenarios, multiplayer options, and ships run by artificial intelligence.