Maritime emergency simulation system (MESS) - a virtual decision support platform for emergency response of maritime accidents

This paper presents a maritime emergency simulation system (MESS) for the improvement of emergency response skills of participants of search and rescue (SAR). Firstly, the system architecture, software and hardware system are proposed, and the components and function are also introduced. Thus the virtual environment based on virtual reality is established with the distinguishing advantages of immersive, intuitiveness, low-cost and interactive. Four main types of accident are implemented in this system, to accomplish this, five key technologies which have been introduced in MESS are also proposed, among these technologies, some could enhance the immersive such as the traffic flow simulation and accident logic, while some advanced technologies could improve the efficiency and feasibility if being applied to the actual SAR. Moreover, the application domain including skills improvement of participants in SAR, accident investigation, adaptive decision-making based on scenario analysis, human reliability in emergency response are also discussed. Finally, the conclusions and further research are remarked.