Maritime Research, Technology, Demonstration, and Deployment (RTDD)

R&D Contributing Resources & Activities for Innovation: Safety
Research is needed to compensate for changing crew compositions and to eliminate damaging pollutants.

	Communication Tools
	Crew Size and Makeup

	Education and Training
	Fatigue
	Incident Reporting / Data Collection
	Infrastructure and Vessel Design
	Natural Environment
	Regulatory Matters

Communication Tools: Advances in technology aid in the secure transmission of communications.  Also, bridging the gaps between different ethnic and professional languages is necessary for the safe functioning of vessels.

• Marine Transportation System Initiative
• Maritime Information Service of North America
• NOAA Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) and other Navigational Aids
• U.S. Coast Guard R&D: Mobile Communications Infrastructure

Crew Size and Makeup: Decreased crew sizes and multi-disciplinary crew makeup makes training complex. Teaming efforts and familiarity with all operations of a ship are necessary.

• Supplemental Training and Safety

Education and Training: Mariner competency is vital to the safe and effective functioning of the maritime transportation system.

• U.S. Office of Naval Research: Human Factors and Manpower

Fatigue: Safety of crews and vessels requires understanding of, and effective management to limit, fatigue.

• U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center (see: Human Error Reduction/Fatigue: Shipboard Fatigue Countermeasures Analysis.  Project Number: 3302.11)

Incident Reporting / Data Collection: Liability concerns keep pilots and crew from reporting accidents and near-misses.  Data is needed to create programs that preempt dangerous conditions.

• PortSource
• SOCP International Maritime Information Safety System (IMISS)  (see: Projects, Current Projects)
• U.S. Coast Guard: Global Incident Notification

Infrastructure and Vessel Design: A comprehensive view of the entire maritime transportation system is required in order for each component to operate safely.

• Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA)
• Offshore Safety and Engineering-Related Research (U.S. DOI) and Risk Assessment and Human Organizational Factors
• U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics: Intermodal Transportation Database
• Volpe Center: Infrastructure Protection and Operations Division
• See also: Shipbuilding and Marine Technology

Natural Environment: Pollution from vessels and crews needs to be contained.

• U.S. Coast Guard: Marine Safety and Environmental Protection
• U.S. Office of Naval Research (Environmental and Marine Biotechnology)
• See also: Environment

Regulatory Matters:  Regulatory frameworks that limit the implementation of new technologies or other innovations need to be re-examined.  

• Volpe Center: Environment and Compliance