1 What is the main purpose of Dynamic Positioning?

Answer C To increase operational safety

There are six degrees of freedom on a vessel afloat, three of which can be controlled
2 by a Dynamic Positioning system. One of these three does not depend on the input
of a position reference system. Which is it?

Answer C Yaw

3 What is the purpose of a Vertical Reference Sensor?

Answer C To measure the pitch, roll (and heave) motions of the vessel

4 What single component is the most essential part of a DP system?

Answer C The compass

5 What is the nominal accuracy of a modern DGPS system?

Answer C Less than 10 meters

What has a major negative effect on sound propagation in water when using an
6
Acoustic Position Reference system?

Answer C Thruster activity

When making a move under DP control it is recommended to make the move at a

7
low speed. What is the main reason for this?

Answer C The reduction in transverse thruster efficiency creating a risk of losing heading control

8 When is it advisable to deselect the wind sensor?

Answer A When a helicopter is about to land on your vessel.

9 What is the main advantage of a triple redundant DP system?

Answer B A dramatic increase in the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rating.

10 What is a Fanbeam system?

Answer C A Laser positioning system

A DP system fitted with two gyrocompasses, both are enabled and one is in use by
11 the DP system. The system suddenly alerts you that there is a heading difference
between the two compasses. What would you do?

Compare the two compass readings with the standard (magnetic) compass, to decide
Answer C
which one is giving the correct heading and switch to it.
12 What is a vessel model?

Answer C A mathematical description of how the vessel reacts to the forces acting upon it (stimulus).

Most modern DP systems have a built in Trainer. What would be one of the
13
requirements to enter the Trainer mode?

Answer B Ensure DP system is in Stand By Mode

14 What is required to enable Auto heading while in Joystick mode?

Answer C Compass input

61 The Coanda effect causes

a decrease in net thrust from change in momentum as propeller wash curves upward on
Answer B
downstream side of the hull.

62 Fixed speed, variable pitch propellers

Answer C lose up to thirty percent of full thruster power at low thrust.

63 For a given fixed-pitch propeller, thrust is directly proportional to:

Answer C Shaft torque.

64 One of the main functions of the Power Management System is to:

Answer A Prevent blackouts.

70 The purpose of wind feed forward is to hold closer position by

Answer C providing an opposing thrust calculated from drag coefficients

The thrust required to hold vessel position against a wind of ten knots is 12,000
71 pounds ~ 53.38 kN. Considering wind only, and from the same direction, what thrust
would be required at 60 knots?

Answer A 432,000 pounds ~ 1,922 kN

At full rated thrust a fixed pitch variable speed thruster will produce about 30
72 pounds ~ 133.4 N of thrust per shaft horsepower. At half of rated thrust, the same
thruster will produce about

Answer B 30 pounds ~ 133 N per horsepower

73 Underwater Acoustic transmission is not hampered by

Answer B Solar prominences

74 Acoustic reception is not damaged by

Answer C Snow

75 Acoustic reception is not obscured by

Answer B Coriolis impingement

76 Long base line acoustic position is determined by

Answer A Round trip time to multiple transponders in an array

77 Ultrashort base line acoustic position is determined by

Answer B Phase shift between elements in a single transducer

78 Short baseline acoustic position is determined by

Answer C Difference in time of arrival of signal at separately mounted hydrophones

79 How many Global Positioning Satellites are above the horizon at any time?

Answer A Approximately 12

80 How many Global Positioning Satellites are required to fix a position at sea?

Answer B 3

Cumulus coud thunder storms can drop cold air and generate surface winds in
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excess of

Answer B 60 knots

82 A Gulf of Mexico Eddy Current is a spin off from

Answer A The Gulf Stream

83 In a DP control system, the controlled degrees of freedom are

Answer B Controlled independently

84 In a DP control system, the controlled degrees of freedom are

Answer B Surge, sway, and yaw

85 Multipath can be a problem for both acoustic and satellite position sensing by

Answer A Confusing the distance and/or direction from the source through reflection

86 What task does the Thruster Allocation Logic perform?

Answer C Distributes the required force among active thrusters

87 What is a thruster exclusion zone

Azimuth sectors within which thruster output is significantly limited to prevent noise and/or
Answer B
inflow degradation of other thrusters

88 What is thruster modulation

Answer A Significant frequent variations in thruster load

Explain the effects if a thruster drive fails such that thruster output falls to 50% of
89 commanded output on a thruster that is pushing the vessel to STBD (assume that
this DP system does not use RPM feedback for control purposes)

Initially the vessel will move off location to PORT. The resulting position deviation causes
Answer A the control system to correct the error by pushing harder with the remaining thrusters to
STBD. After a few minutes the DP system will calculate an increased force from STBD.

Which of the following statements is most true about a controllable pitch fixed RPM
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thruster.

Starting currents are very high, power consumption is about 25% at zero thrust, and certain
Answer A
types of control failures may cause the thruster to run at 100%.

Which of the following statements is most true about a fixed pitch variable speed
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thruster

Starting currents are small, power consumption is about zero at zero thrust, and most
Answer B
control failures cause the thruster to shut down.

92 Which fixed pitch thruster configuration would cause the least power load

Answer C Six thrusters running at 15% of rated thrust each

Which fixed pitch thruster configuration would produce the least noise effects on
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the acoustic position reference system

Answer C Six thrusters running at 15% of rated thrust each

94 Which thruster configuration would produce the most thrust.

One thruster running at 90% Yes, run fewer thrusters at higher RPM to improve power
Answer A
factor of rated thrust

Can a DP Operator set up DC thrusters to improve the power plant’s power factor? If
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so, how?

Answer A Yes, run fewer thrusters at higher RPM to improve power factor

96 Which might best help DP performance in a power limit situation?

Answer C Both A and B above

What is the most likely reason a DC thruster that is being commanded to run at 45%
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would only show 20% feedback and what effect would this have on station keeping?

Answer B Failure of the thruster drive system. Calculated forces would be incorrect.

If one thruster has been running for hours at 45%, opposing the environment, still
has 45% command but suddenly begins showing 20% feedback and a drop in real
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load, what effect should this have on positioning ability? Assume the DP system
uses open loop thruster control.

The vessel will initially move off setpoint away from the environment, returns but becomes
Answer B
somewhat unsettled until the calculated forces readjust

If one thruster that is opposing the environment is being commanded at 45% and
over 12 hours still runs at 45% but slowly changes to where it is only showing 20%
99
feedback, would this affect the positioning ability? Assume the DP system uses
open loop thruster control.

Answer C There would be no effect at all except a prediction alarm on that thruster.

If one thruster is being commanded 45% but suddenly began showing 20%
100 feedback, what immediate action should you take? Assume mild environment and
plenty of spare thruster capacity is available.

If positioning remains stable, notify appropriate personnel to start troubleshooting the

Answer A
problem. Immediately remove or replace the thruster in case of instability.

If one thruster that is running 45% suddenly starts showing 20% feedback, what is
101
the fastest method to troubleshoot it from DP?

Answer B Compare the thruster’s load readings with other thrusters running at similar RPM.

102 Can the drive of a DC thruster exhibit a zero or near-zero power factor?

No, the associated DC motors never stall; power factor is about 0.6 at low RPM and
Answer C
approaches 1.0 at full RPM.

At what loads do DC thruster drives exhibit their best power factor and how high
103
should it be?

Answer A At full Amperage and full RPM it should achieve 0.8 or higher.

104 In general, what is a network.

Answer C A set of devices interconnected by communication paths

105 Explain how a network works.

Networks transmit data in one of several standard formats along a communications path
that is common to many devices. Dedicated software and hardware layers serve to make
Answer A
the data transfer transparent to the final devices, so that equipment from numerous
manufacturers can exchange data reliably.

106 What does the term “collisions” refer to on Ethernet networks?

Two or more devices transmitting at the same time, so that messages “collide” at the
Answer A
receiver and cannot be decoded

107 What is a data timeout?

Answer A Data fails to arrive within the expected time frame

108 How does Ethernet handle collisions

Answer C The devices wait a random time and then retransmit.

Does Ethernet allow a percentage of data loss, or does it make sure all data gets
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through securely

Answer C Ethernet doesn’t know or care about data loss.

110 A network hub or switch may be used in a DP system:

To combine data from several devices on a network and distribute the data in a controlled
Answer B fashion to the destination devices. One example is the hubs used to link the DP computers
and remote I/O.

TCP/IP is the protocol used on the internet and most DP networks. Which best
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describes TCP/IP

TCP or “Transmission Control Protocol”, is responsible for verifying the correct delivery of
data from client to server. Data can be lost in the intermediate network. TCP adds support
to detect errors or lost data and to trigger retransmission until the data is correctly and
Answer C
completely received. IP is responsible for moving packet of data from node to node. IP
forwards each packet based on a four byte destination address (the IP number). IP doesn’t
make sure that the data arrives. TCP/IP refers to the result of both protocols.

One DP computer has a sticker on it that says “207.123.123.001”. The second

112 computer has a sticker that says “207.123.123.002”. The remote I/O has a sticker that
says “207.123.123.003”. What are these numbers and why are they important?

These are the IP addresses of the devices. If a replacement is installed its network address
Answer C must be set to the correct IP address for the other devices to be able to communicate with
it.
113 Explain power factor

Answer C A & B

Two thrusters have the same power rating and same propeller diameter. One has
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wide blades, the other narrow blades. Which one has the higher efficiency?

Answer A The one with the narrow blades

Two thrusters have the same power rating and propeller diameter. One has wide
115 blades, the other narrow blades. Which is more likely to cavitate and generate
noise?

Answer A The one with the narrow blades

Two thrusters have the same power rating. One has a large propeller diameter, the
116
other a smaller diameter. Which one generates more thrust at bollard pull ?

Answer B The one with the larger diameter

117 At full power, in which condition does a thruster propeller generate more thrust ?

Answer A Bollard pull

One thruster is at 20 feet ~6.5m depth. Another is at 80 feet ~ 26m depth. Both do not
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cavitate. Which is more efficient?

Answer C No difference

A thruster is at 20 feet ~ 6.5m depth. An identical thruster is at a depth of 80 feet ~

119 26m. Which one is more prone to cavitate and generate The same magnitude of
thrust noise?

Answer A The one at the lesser depth

A thruster operates at bollard pull on one occasion, and in 4 knots current on

120 another occasion. In both cases it works at full nominal power. At 4 knots speed
does the thruster generate:

Answer A 25% less thrust than at bollard pull