Shipboard and desktop applications, fleet cloud platforms, instrument firmware, and integration with shore-side systems, developed to specification and supplied under the customer’s brand where required.
DS Engineering develops software for the marine sector to a customer’s specification. Engagements range from a single application, or an integration between two existing systems, to a complete platform comprising instrument firmware, desktop software and a fleet cloud service.
Software is written for the conditions in which vessels operate: intermittent connectivity, records taken by crew rather than specialists, equipment that remains in service for many years, and a technical department ashore that requires the performance status of the whole fleet without opening individual records.
The company’s own platforms, DS Desktop and DS Cloud, are described below. They are in service for diesel engine performance measurement, and they are the basis from which a customer programme can proceed where this reduces development time.
A platform can be operated by DS Engineering as a hosted service, or transferred to the customer to operate under the customer’s own control and brand. Software developed by DS Engineering is in service under other suppliers’ brands; client names are held in confidence.
The company’s experience is in engine performance measurement; the work is not restricted to that field. Enquiries for other shipboard and fleet software are welcome.
Applications for Windows, macOS and Linux that acquire data from instruments on board, carry out the calculation, and present the result. They are arranged so that an engineer who uses the software a few times a year is guided through the procedure, while a specialist retains full access to the underlying values.
Browser-based platforms that consolidate records from every vessel: fleet overview, trend analysis, record comparison, templated reporting and access governed by role, with upload arranged for vessels without a permanent connection.
Embedded software for measuring instruments: acquisition, timing and signal processing, storage on the device, and the transfer of records to a PC or to the cloud.
Transfer of data into an operator’s existing systems, such as an engine builder platform, a vessel performance platform or a planned maintenance system, and the reading of instruments from other suppliers so that existing equipment and measurement history remain usable.
The application, its users, the data sources and the systems to be connected are established.
Functional specification and commercial terms agreed in writing before development begins.
Software developed and tested against the agreed specification.
Supplied as a hosted service or transferred to the customer, with continued maintenance as agreed.
Measurement data is of limited value in its exported form. DS Desktop processes the acquired signal and presents the derived quantities per cylinder, against the reference values for the engine concerned. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, so a technical department is not obliged to maintain a particular computer solely to read its own measurements.
Results are presented as pressure–crank angle and pressure–volume diagrams with the corresponding calculated values, allowing deviation to be identified without manual interpretation of the raw trace.
The software is arranged for two kinds of user. An engineer who takes measurements a few times a year is guided through the procedure and shown a clear result; a specialist retains full access to the underlying values and diagrams. Neither is served at the expense of the other.
Support is not restricted to instruments purchased from DS Engineering. Where a fleet already holds analysers from another supplier, DS Desktop can be extended to read them, so existing equipment and existing measurement history need not be discarded in order to adopt a current system.
Where measurement data remains on individual laptops, fleet-level assessment is not possible. DS Cloud collects the measurements from every vessel in a single platform and makes them available to the technical department ashore. Vessels are identified by name or IMO number, and an operator managing more than one fleet can hold them separately.
Every vessel presented together, each with a single condition index derived from its most recent measurements. Vessels requiring attention are identified without opening individual records, and the fleet can be ordered by condition rather than by name.
The date of the most recent record is shown against each vessel, with overdue vessels flagged. Gaps in the measurement programme are therefore visible at all times, rather than being discovered only when a report is requested.
Records are held against the individual engine, not merely the vessel: main engines and auxiliaries are each identified by type and designation, so a fleet of mixed two-stroke and medium-speed machinery is represented correctly.
Successive records compared per cylinder and per engine across the full parameter set. Progressive deviation is identified as a trend, permitting intervention to be planned rather than carried out in response to failure.
Multiple records selected and compared directly across vessels and engines: before and after an overhaul, one cylinder against the rest of the engine, or a vessel against its sister vessels.
Measurements are corrected to the standard reference conditions of ISO 3046-1, so a record taken in the tropics and one taken in winter can be assessed against each other and against the engine builder figures. Correction is applied by both the desktop and the cloud software once the ambient data for the record has been entered.
Reports produced from a stored record against selected reference records, generated to a defined template and issued as PDF for technical department and class purposes.
Each vessel is assigned to a responsible superintendent, and records requiring attention remain marked as unresolved until they have been resolved. Access is governed by role, so viewing and administration are separated.
Every cloud-connected instrument is registered by serial number with its hardware, software and firmware versions recorded, calibration status held alongside, and its upload history retained. Firmware and engine reference libraries are distributed to those instruments from the platform rather than unit by unit.
Measurements transferred from the instrument directly or by way of a PC, so vessels without a permanent connection are still able to submit records.
DS Cloud is hosted within the European Union. Vessel records, engine data and user accounts remain in the EU, so an operator subject to European data protection law need not rely on an international transfer arrangement in order to use the platform.
Records export as CSV or JSON and DS Cloud exposes an API. Measurement data can therefore be transferred into an operator's existing systems — engine builder platforms such as Everllence CEON, vessel performance platforms of the Wärtsilä Expert Insight or Kongsberg Vessel Insight type, or a conventional planned maintenance system.
Integration with a specific third-party platform is developed on request, for the system the operator uses, on the basis of the export formats and the API described above.
An operator managing more than one fleet can keep each fleet separate and decide which users have access to each.
Please provide the engine types concerned, the measurement or development requirement, and any existing equipment in use. This includes proposals for instruments outside pressure and acoustic emission measurement. A response will follow with scope, timing and price.
