VDR is the equivalent of a ship’s black box of an aeroplane. It captures the details of an incident at sea which includes the date and time of an accident, the location of the vessel at the moment of the accident and its speed, course and more. The information recorded is an important resource for identifying safety risks and improving operations.
According to IMO regulations, the standard VDR must contain a range of information. This includes the following: date, time and Coordinated Universal Time, vessel position (latitude and longitude and coordinate reference), velocity and heading and audio from the bridge (voice messages recorded with one or more microphones on the bridge to record recording conversations and audible alerts) and Very High-Frequency Radio Communications (VHF) and radar data (a faithful representation of the display that is visible at the time of recording) including rudder and engine orders and status of the watertight door, and accelerations.
The system consists of a concentrator which processes and encodes data streams, sensors that send data to the concentrator and a final recording media (FRM) that can survive accidents and allow for the retrieval of data from voyages. The FRM could be a fixed device mounted on the vessel, or a retrievable floating device that is connected to the EPIRB to help locate the vessel quickly in the event of a disaster.
The best method to ensure that a vdr operates properly is to include its use in all bridge crew drills and exercises for training. The saved data can click to investigate also be used to determine areas that require training as well as to improve bridge procedures and operational security.