The Challenge of Color Calibration for ECDIS Systems

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Bruce Chen and Oliver Wang Moxa Inc.

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The highly regulated and specialized requirements for ECDIS systems lead to specific technical challenges for prospective ECDIS display manufacturers. In particular, a high degree of engineering skill and a well-developed support infrastructure is necessary for manufacturers to reliably produce displays that meet the strict ECDIS color calibration requirements.

ECDIS requirements for color calibration

Color calibration ensures For certain commercial and industrial applications, accuracy and that a display will consistency in color representation is absolutely essential. The accurately represent a human eye is easily misled in its perception of colors due to the target range of colors influence of lighting conditions, color brightness, and presence of under target lighting neighboring colors. Color calibration ensures that a display, printer, conditions television, or other device will represent the target color range under target conditions with maximum accuracy and minimum artifacts.

Since nautical charts rely heavily on colors to clearly differentiate key ocean features and characteristics, reliable color representation is essential to minimize the possibility of human error and ensure maritime safety. ECDIS mandates a set of precisely defined colors that displays must be calibrated against. To meet ECDIS requirements, these colors must be accurately represented within a very narrow range of tolerance for three different bridge lighting conditions.

Figure 1: ECDIS color chart for different lighting conditions

Meeting the ECDIS requirements generally requires that a library of color calibration be generated specifically for each display. The basic process of generating a calibration library that meets ECDIS requirements involves several checkpoints such as RGB color collection and luminance value collection. The end result should be an RGB file that can then be applied to the display unit to ensure that specified colors are interpreted and represented exactly as intended.

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Figure 2: Measurements used for color calibration

The challenge of achieving ECDIS type approval

Color calibration is The color calibration process requires highly specialized equipment difficult to incorporate and a deeply technical understanding of color representation that into the monitor is not easily applied to the production processes for monitors and production process panel displays. In fact, it is precisely due to the nature of monitor production that color calibration is required.

The highly sensitive nature of display components means that subtle variations are unavoidable even when monitors are produced using the exact same production processes and components. As a result, one monitor’s calibration library can produce a different result when applied to another, identically produced monitor.

Aspiring ECDIS display manufactures are thus faced with a choice between individually calibrating every single unit that is produced, or else introducing entirely new production processes that ensure that every unit can share a single calibration library. Either method represents a substantial investment in highly specialized equipment and engineering resources on the part of the manufacturer.

Figure 3: Color calibration in progress

The difficulty in implementing a qualified color calibration process remains a significant barrier that prevents many manufacturers from offering ECDIS type-approved displays. Instead, manufacturers may choose to market their displays as merely meeting or complying with ECDIS requirements.

Prospective buyers can assume that such displays are technically able to achieve the color calibration requirements, but cannot assume that the displays have actually undergone type approval testing. Unfortunately, for ship owners and ECDIS system providers, this leads to a situation of potential uncertainty and risk when searching for ECDIS displays.

Responsibility for Only displays that have attained ECDIS type approval may be achieving ECDIS type incorporated into an ECDIS system - it is not sufficient for a display approval must be clear to be technically capable of displaying and calibrating colors to the to avoid project delays ECDIS standard. Displays that have not actually achieved ECDIS and cost overruns type approval can place an unforeseen burden on ECDIS system providers and ship owners.

It becomes the ship owner’s responsibility to ensure that these displays undergo the demanding type approval testing process in order to maintain compliance with international regulations for ECDIS and ship navigation. If this is not clearly communicated or understood before committing to an ECDIS system, substantial delays and costs can be introduced to the project. In the worst case scenario, a replacement display manufacturer or provider must be found.

Meeting the demand for ECDIS displays

There are several approaches that display manufacturers can consider when responding to the demand for displays for use in an ECDIS system.

Invest in equipment and engineering resources Recent international regulations clearly point to a future of broad adoption for ECDIS systems in commercial vessels. Thus far, there are relatively few display manufacturers that are equipped to offer ECDIS type approval. By investing in a production infrastructure that can support the color calibration process, display manufacturers can offer true value to ECDIS system providers and differentiate themselves from smaller or more consumer-based manufacturers.

Figure 4: Color calibration equipment

This infrastructure can also be applied to other specialized display applications and markets. However, attention must be paid to the expected scale of production and a manufacturer’s current engineering capability, as these and other factors will determine the appropriateness of key process and investment decisions.

Outsource the type approval testing process Since ECDIS purchases by nature are associated with large projects and long lead times, it may be more cost effective for a display manufacturer to outsource their color calibration to a specialized provider. Outsourcing the calibration makes it easier for manufacturers to reach the ECDIS market, since it requires little upfront investment or change to existing production processes or equipment. However, it may be difficult to find companies offering qualified color calibration services. These services can also introduce significant downstream costs and may even become a source of direct competition. Educate customers on the need for obtaining type approval Manufacturers that are unable or unwilling to achieve ECDIS type approval in-house or through an outside service can still reach the ECDIS market. A model that is not type approved may nevertheless be technically able to meet the ECDIS requirements, needing only to be calibrated and put through type approval testing. In addition, ECDIS system providers and buyers may already be working with specialists that are able to manage type approval for the entire system.

While non-type approved displays do not offer the immediate and obvious benefit of formal ECDIS type approval, they may distinguish themselves in other ways through innovative features and form factors. As long as buyers are clearly informed that type approval testing will still be required, manufacturers may still be able to credibly position themselves as specializing in ECDIS systems. Special care must therefore be made to ensure that both the manufacturer and the buyer are sufficiently educated in the ECDIS requirements.

Summary

The need for color calibration cannot be avoided when approaching the ECDIS display market. While ECDIS type approval provides the clearest and most immediate value to ship owners, the highly specialized requirements present a significant barrier for many display manufacturers. To remain competitive and credible in this market, display manufacturers must clearly evaluate and communicate their method of meeting ECDIS requirements, whether it involves implementing color calibration in-house or handing that responsibility over to a specialist, integrator, or systems provider.