VSTEP simulators for Bulgarian naval academy

VSTEP will supply several NAUTIS simulators to the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy’s (NVNA’s) simulation centre in Varna, Bulgaria, the company announced on 11 October.

The newly opened Centre for Integrated Management and Monitoring of the Coastal Zone will feature VSTEP’s Liquid Cargo Handling Simulator with instructor station, a NAUTIS DNV Class A Full Mission Bridge Simulator (FMBS) with 240° FOV, and a NI accredited NAUTIS DP Class A FMBS with 180° FOV including instructor stations. 

The simulators will be used to train naval and merchant marine students, alongside the NAUTIS Class A Full Mission Bridge Simulator and RescueSim Incident Command Simulator delivered to the academy by VSTEP in 2014.

VSTEP has also developed a tool called Live Data Module that visualises the movements of real ships taken from an AIS system or any other objects such as oil spill, man over board or real weather sensor delivered conditions inside the simulator. It has been successfully implemented in and around the port of Varna and the coast of Bulgaria in 3D in the simulators.

With this tool, operators can 'be' in the bridge of each real ship virtually, and the realistic 3D modelling of the port and the coast provides a view in the simulator which closely matches the view on the real ship, converting the simulator into a operation centre.