Dynamic Positioning System Engineers role in a Project Management team Recently Dynamic Positioning System vessels project management

Teams started hiring someone for DP systems. Is it a good Idea to have someone nominated as DP Engineer ? If yes, then what is expected of him? Any Engineer can't claim to be an expert of DP system Design unless he has clear understanding of the complete ship design including Piping, Structural, Electrical, Automation, Instrumentation, Protection and communication apart from DP system itself. A good DP system design Engineer can fore see the redundancy requirement for Fuel Tanks, Pipe lines, Valve arrangement, interconnection and segregation of Piping and their effects of Power system redundancy requirements. The DP Specialist should have a thorough understanding of IMCA guidelines for DP Ship design. IEC rules, Classification rules and recommended practices. The Engineer should be able clearly understand the Worst Case Design Intent and Worst Case Design Failures. With the latest trend in having a Ring Main Power system, the DP specialists Job becomes more challenging. His skills will be tested when designing / reviewing the Emergency Shut down Systems. With the latest DNV recommended practice for DP vessels intended to have Ring Main Power system, the Power Engineering skills of DP Specialist will be tested. Ideally he should have thorough knowledge of Protection device coordination and familiarity with Power system tools such as eTap and SKM is added advantage. A good ETap modelling can help to simulate most of the failure modes for FMEA. A good understanding of propulsion equipments such as Thrusters and Propellers and their drives including Diesel Engines and Variable frequency drives is required. Normally, a DP specialist have FMEA running in the background for every decision he makes. When safety and Position Keeping contradicts each other, usually a DP engineer stick to Position Keeping goals, however, a clear understanding of the event can help him in taking a better decision. Ideally DP Vessel Project team should have Manager with clear understanding of requirements to be met with by various disciplines and he should have a strong foothold in Power system which is essentially back bone of any modern DP system. The Position helps him to put his recommendations through easily. Finally, the main question? Should we still hire a DP Engineer? Actually there is no such academic branch which specializes someone as DP Specialist. Even people from Kongsberg cant be called as DP vessel Specialists, they are just DP system Specialists. A DP vessel Specialist should have knowledge of various DP System Architectures available and their Pros and Cons. He is not required to be a DP software expert, that is ultimately V endors responsibility. The DP Vessel Expert one with above skill tests with good understanding of Automation Principles, Communication Networks and Automation testing methods. Actually any project with good DP vessel expert saves substantially on reworks and last minute surprises. Are you looking for one?? well.. you can just google for anilsabaji.