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July 2015 - Version 5.4 released

2018-04-25 10:01:16
Changes in version 5.4 includes integrating the work process around requesting a tidal window into PROTIDE, performing a check on calculation conditions when definitely approving a result, swell and wave diagrams based on used 2D wave spectra and multiple improvements to the transit-context interface introduces in the previous release. Version 5.4. also introduces itineraries, improves data polling/processing and adds support for the latest Amarcon DLL and the latest version of the 2D wave spectra correction algorithm.

Work process integration

PROTIDE supports managing the work process around a transit. An agent can make a transit request via PROTIDE, port authorities can be approve this request and make a request for tidal window calculations to providers. After completing calculations and approving results port authority and pilots can review the tidal window, and optionally update the itinerary. Finally, the agent can be notified with a result for his request. At every step in the process notifications (for instance emails) can be sent to configured addressees keeping all involved parties up-to-date.

Check on calculation conditions

A series of checks is now applied upon definitely approving a calculation result.
  • Checks can be configured for swell restrictions, preferred calculation settings (for instance 2D wave spectra), data sources required to be up-to-date and conditions on ship measurements.
  • A check may be produce warning, which can be skipped. Skipping warnings requires an explanation to be provided. Warnings/explanations gets included in the generated reports.
  • An example of a case where warnings might get skipped is a situation where the preferred calculation settings is 2D wave spectrum, no 2D wave spectra and calculation get conducted based on 1D spectra.

Swell and wave height diagrams based on 2D spectra

In case of calculations based on 2D wave spectra, predictions diagram for swell and wave height now display the swell and wave height as contained in the spectra. Moreover it is now configurable for which channel position the predictions as used by PROTIDE will be displayed.

Itineraries

This version of PROTIDE introduces the concept itinerary. An itinerary corresponds to the reference route (i.e. green line) in the tidal window. Using the itinerary module found under the results tab, the itinerary can be set to alternatively start time where only the statistics for the route are re-calculated. Depending on user rights, updating the itinerary is allowed between different tidal window or limited to the active tidal window.

Changes to transit-context tabs

  • Multiple updates have been made to the forms in the transit-context tabs.
  • The requested time of departure (RTD) has been made updateable after calculations have been started. If only the RTD changes for a transit, then it is no longer needed the re-enter the current transit again with the only the RTD changed.
  • The earliest route start time has been removed, and replaced by the possibility to explicitly provide a start time and a calculation period. The default value for the start time is RTD minus 2 hours, the default value for the calculation period is 12 hours.
  • At multiple places (such as updating or closing a transit) a comment can be provided for the action performed. This comment will be included the status as well.
  • Most drop-downs for adding and new transit and starting a calculation are now configured with a default value.
  • The e-mail button on the results tab is renamed to Notify as PROTIDE can now support multiple notification methods. Also it is not required any longer to select the email list, which was always a single option choice.

New version correction algorithm for 2D wave spectra

PROTIDE supports a new version for 2D wave spectra correction based on swell and wave height predictions. This new version better maintains the shape of the original spectrum, and its peak frequency. Matching the swell prediction is now achieved by shrinking/stretching the spectrum on the swell axis instead of translating the spectrum over the swell axis.

New version library for ship's vertical motion analysis (Amarcon DLL)

PROTIDE uses an external library from Amarcon for calculation a ship's motion. A new version of this library is now used providing an improved modelling of the ship's behaviour. The new library also allows to provide the ship speeds for which the calculation should be performed, which decreases interpolation errors (for instance for squat) because the step size between consecutive results can be set smaller.

Improved data polling and processing

Data polling (from Matroos) and data processing is split into separate tasks. The data response received from Matroos is stored first before applying further processing. This approach allows to identify and reproduce any problems encountered in processing/parsing Matroos data. Also, it would allow to manually upload any Matroos response in case the data server would be unavailable for a longer period.