Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPA), also known as radar ARPA simulator, is a 1:4 training simulator. The system software provided by TRANSAS, a leading simulator company, provides a variety of port environment, including Port of Hamburg, Germany, Port of Amsterdam, Netherlands, Strait of Malacca, Singapore, and Strait of Dover, the United Kingdom; as well as a variety of ship models, including container ship, oil tanker, bulk carrier, warship, and LPG carrier. It can also simulate various weather and sea conditions to train crew or trainees on their handling capabilities and familiarity with COLREG.
The trainer workstation of the radar ARPA simulator can monitor operations on four trainee workstations, to train cooperation and interaction among bridge team members. Four ships can be set for fleet exercise, which allows concurrent identification of targets that pose a threat to safety of navigation and provides target information, including course, speed, estimated distance to closest point of approach, and estimated time of closest point of approach, based on which seafarers can better understand various conditions at sea and make immediate and correct judgment to avoid collision. Courses on COLREG training and fleet exercise are available.
IMO stressed the importance of use of simulators in training in several parts of Regulation I/12 of the STCW Convention of Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers (STCW 78/95). The radar ARPA simulator is a useful maritime simulator as it can simulate 6 degrees of freedom of ship motion and various environmental characteristics, therefore, it can be used as a basis for maritime training and evaluation.
The simulator was accepted at MSTC of NKUST, on March 18, 2003 and has been certified according to Standard for Certification of Maritime Simulator System. As a Class C SHS, it provides the team exercise function, and is currently applied to crew competence (radar operation-management level) training, including advanced operations and piloting training in restricted waters. It is a Multi-Function Cubicle (MFC).
