Matthew Smith

Smith is a senior navigation and seamanship engineer with BMT, a role he has held since January 2023, before which he was a Royal Navy navigation officer in a seagoing career lasting over a decade. During his time in the Royal Navy, he gained his degree in maritime studies, achieved RN master mariner status, commanded a coastal patrol vessel and served as a navigation officer on both Queen Elizabeth carriers. Since joining BMT, Smith has undertaken a wide variety of work for a range of clients, including looking at novel position, navigation and timing solutions for use by military assets and numerous tasks relating to the design, operation, assurance and certification of MASS. He was solely responsible for the creation of the UK Naval Authority and Technology Group Situational Awareness Design and Assurance Tool. Smith is an associate fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and sits on the committee of the Maritime Navigation Group.

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Presentation

Designing for and assuring situational awareness for remote operation

Remote operation of surface vessels is growing rapidly with more vessels being controlled remotely than ever before. Ensuring satisfactory navigational and Bridge situational awareness to make well informed decisions during a mission is a core part of safe remote operation. BMT and the Naval Authority Technical Group (NATG) have developed a tool to design for, and assure, the situational awareness of remote operation. Taking an approach of equivalence, this tool brings together the applicable type approvals and standards for remote operation centres to meet, in order to be well designed and assured for certification.