The US Navy recently released an RFP looking to outfit a destroyer with 22 cameras to watch it’s machine rooms. It says the cameras will help “reduce workload in the Central Control Station and Bridge.”
The system has to be scalable so that cameras can be added and removed at any time and they want software that will allow the control room to view six streams at once, among a number of other requirements.
The whole thing is part of a the Destroyer Modernization program.
The modernization program is the Navy’s effort to upgrade it’s fleets to extend the life of the ships and keep up with current threats. For destroyers, that means changes and upgrades from everything from electronic components for weapons systems, to adding more efficient watertight doors, to video surveillance upgrades.
Take a look at the RFP docs.
What I'm confused about is how the cameras will "reduce the workload." There isn't any elaboration to that in the docs and I know it would take forever to get a response from the DoD on that. So has anyone ever worked on a project like this before and have some insight? Anything stand out to you about this?