OPERATION MANUAL

VDR/S-VDR

Edition: 2.1

Date: Jun, 2007

Qingdao Headway Marine Technology Co., Ltd.

 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Content
1 Introduction of Playback Software ···················································································································- 2 -
1.1 Required hardware & Software environment ································································································· - 2 -
1.2 Installation of software··································································································································· - 2 -
1.3 Introduction of playback software·················································································································· - 5 -
1.3.1 The head page ············································································································································· - 5 -
1.3.2 Sub menu ···················································································································································· - 6 -
1.3.3 Menu shipInfo············································································································································· - 6 -
1.3.4 Help menu··················································································································································· - 7 -
1.4 Tools introduction ·········································································································································· - 7 -
1.5 Instruction for playback content····················································································································· - 7 -
1.5.1 Conning instruction····································································································································· - 7 -
1.5.2 AIS instruction ·········································································································································· - 11 -
1.5.3 Alarm/Status ············································································································································· - 15 -
1.5.4 Transducer ················································································································································ - 16 -
1.5.5 Hull Stress················································································································································· - 16 -
1.5.6 Play Audio ················································································································································ - 17 -
1.5.7 Radar ························································································································································ - 17 -
1.5.8 System Event ············································································································································ - 18 -
1.5.9 Ship Info ··················································································································································· - 19 -
1.5.10 NMEA Source········································································································································· - 19 -
2 Operation of the Software································································································································- 20 -
2.1 Download data from the PDC ······················································································································ - 20 -
2.2 Download data from Hard Disk ··················································································································· - 21 -
2.3 Replay the data ············································································································································ - 24 -
2.3.1 RealTime player········································································································································ - 24 -
2.3.2 Replay the data after downloading ············································································································ - 25 -
3. Equipment Maintenance and Failure Removal ····························································································- 27 -
3.1 “SHIPDC”&”VDRDC” ······························································································································· - 27 -
3.2 CH1 AIS ERROR ········································································································································ - 27 -
3.3 “CH3 GPS ERROR”&“ZDA SENTENCE LOSE” ······················································································ - 27 -
3.4 CH5 GYPO COMPASS ERROR ················································································································· - 27 -
3.5 CH6 SPEED LOG ERROR ························································································································· - 27 -
3.6 “MAIN RADAR ERROR”&“AIDED RADAR ERROR” ··········································································· - 28 -
3.7 PDC CONNECT ERROR···························································································································· - 28 -
3.8 NOT RECEIVED INF ································································································································· - 28 -
3.9 Serial-Port Data Gathering··························································································································· - 28 -

-1-
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

1 Introduction of Playback Software

1.1 Required hardware & Software environment
⑴ 600MHz & above CPU.
⑵ 128M & above memory.
⑶ 20G & above Hard Disk.
⑷ Operating system: Win 9X/Win NT/2000/XP/Vista.
⑸ Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 & above.
⑹ 100Mb Network card。
⑺ 1024*768 Resolution Rate & above.

1.2 Installation of software

Please put the installation disk in the drive and click to open it, find “playback software” and double click it to
install, and you’ll find three different icons of VDR software on the desk of your computer.
As following:

Please enter user name and company name, and the code is 053283107818.

-2-
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Keep on clicking “next” till the installation is finished. Finally close the installation page.

-3-
Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

-4-
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

And you’ll find three different icons of VDR software on the desk of your computer

1.3 Introduction of playback software

There’re four menu items in the main menu, they’re Play, Screen, ShipInfo, Help.
1.3.1 The head page
Double click the “VDRPlayer”, you will see the following:

-5-
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

There’re “Replay from file …”, “Download From PDC”, “Extract Audio”, “Exit”, etc four functions in the “Play”
menu.
1. “Playback from file”, is to select the file for playback. After the selection a frame appears. Select the program
path of playback and open “config.dat”.
2. “Download From PDC” is to download the data directly from PDC.
3. Function of “Extract Audio” is to save the “.wav” file of audio and “.bmp” file of image gained from playback
process in order to check the middle data. If “Extract Audio” is selected, save “.wav” file and “.bmp” file,
otherwise not. There’re two methods.
I: A recommended easy method. After you have selected “ Extract Audio”, the system will save the decoding of the
data playbacked from the file next the one under play to the one till you cancel” Extract Audio”. That is, “.wav” file
of audio and “.bmp” file of image will be saved to file “C:\HeadWay” that automatically established. User needn’t
to have any other operation.
II: After you have selected “Extract Audio”, a dialogue frame appears. This way is used only when putting the data
under “C:\data” in advance, meanwhile establishing a file “tempdata”, which consists of three empty files “other”,
“audio”, “picture”. Then the “.wav” file of audio and “.bmp” file of image that decoded in playback process are
separately put in these files.
Usually we don’t use this function.
4. “Exit” is exit the playback system.
1.3.2 Sub menu
Submenu can be directly selected and be put on the current page.
For example, “sound” is selected, then put “sound” on current page. If you want to put other page on current page
to show the content, the same method will be selected.
1.3.3 Menu shipInfo
Function of Reload, Upload, Save.
Function of Reload is to reload the content of ShipInfo，

-6-
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Function of Upload is to upload ShipInfo，

Function of Save is to save content of ShipInfo.
This part will be detailed introduced when adding shipinfo.
1.3.4 Help menu
The menu contains imprint and help content of the playback software.

1.4 Tools introduction

The toolbar mainly has “play”, “stop”, “pause”, “open file” and “drag” five tools as follows:

“Open file” is to open one file, will pop up a dialogue box as follows, open “config.dat” under “data” folder which
are downloaded from PDC.

“Stop” is to stop the file under play. “ Pause” is to pause the file under play. If to continue to play, click “play” to
play the file from the break point.
After the file to open selected, “play” becomes operable, “stop” and “pause” turn gray, which indicates
dis-operable.
“Play” turns gray when playing, “stop” and “pause” are both operable.
Slip rail can be dragged to change the content under play.
When the system is busy, that’s to pre-deal with the file to play, the tool bar is gray.

1.5 Instruction for playback content

1.5.1 Conning instruction
This page is mainly the basic information of ship shipping and navigation. The data mainly comes from GPS，
Speed Log，Anemometer，Echo Sounder，Engine Telegraph etc. When put Mouse cursor on displayed data, it will
appear VDR Channel, Equipment, NMEA info consistent with displayed data. Pls refer to the following Channel,
Equipment, NMEA info.
Ⅰ Time & Position(GPS)
It mainly shows UTC, Local time and Longitude, Latitude, Satellites and Quality. The default data is N/A.

-7-
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Ⅱ Speed(KN)
When speed data collected is consisted by landscape orientation and portrait speed corresponding to water and to
earth separately, it shows the format as 3-2. If only a relatively speed is gained, turn “Transverse” to “Relative”，
and show the value of relatively speed measured under “ Water” on third line.

Ⅲ Wind
It shows information of wind speed and wind direction. The second line of the form is relatively wind speed and
wind direction measured. The third line is theory value. Default value is N/A.

Ⅳ Depth
It shows the depth below keel during navigation. For example in the following figure, “0m” is the current depth,
“0m” inside bracket is set over value. The green line is the gridding shows the changing depth curve along with
time. As following:

-8-
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Ⅴ Engine Telegraph
It shows the current status of Engine Telegraph. Abbreviation is defined as follows. Engine Telegraph is as
following:
ST： Stop engine
AD： Dead slow ahead
AS： Slow ahead
AH： Half ahead
AF： Full ahead
BD： Dead slow astern
BS： Slow astern
BH： Half astern
BF： Full astern
CA：（CRASH ASTERN）
NF：（NAV.FULL）

Ⅵ Engines/Shafts revs
It shows revs of the Engine or Shafts. If the data is blank, it shows N/A.

-9-
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Ⅶ Digital & Analog

It shows the digital and analog of VDR

Ⅷ Heading
It shows the heading of ship navigation in 2 different ways. Way I: Heading is always right above the figure(black
dot). Display way I: according to acquired heading angle, turn Gyro Pointer to enable it to point to vessel’s
headway. Display way II: always enable the direction “N” to point to the right above, according to acquired
vessel’s heading data, the pointer’s direction indicates the vessel’s heading. Through “Gyro” & “North Up”, change
display ways is possible. Way I and Way II is as following:

Ⅸ Heading value display

It displays the value of True Heading and Magnetic Heading. Blank is N/A.

Ⅹ Header/Track Control
Show Steering Mode & Stand alone.

- 10 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Ⅺ Rudder Order & Response

Default value is N/A, if the value is invalid, will display “invalid”.

Ⅻ Power Supply
This to display the Power-Supply working status. When a certain power supply indicator color is red, means
that this power is supplying for VDR. (when AC Power is working, it will be green color, otherwise, it is
grey color)
If DC indicator color is red, shows that DC power from the vessel is working;
If BT indicator color is red, shows that VDR spare Power Supply is working.

1.5.2 AIS instruction

The whole interface is as follows:

- 11 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Ⅰ Show Info & Hide Info

“Show Info” & “Hide Info” are 2 groups of tools, they respectively show the info & hide the info,
They respectively have 2 tools “Guard Zone” & “Selected All” with the function of controlling operative
scope. “Guard Zone” means the operation towards the vessels within the selected scope (within the circle),
mainly indicates Shows AIS Info & Hide AIS Info. “Selected All” means show & hide all vessel’s info
recorded in AIS. Operation towards “Show Info & Hide Info” can be through clicking the mouse.

Ⅱ Zoom & Guard Zone

The first slip rail means changing the value of Zoom, the second slip rail is changing the size of Guard Zone(circle).

- 12 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Value of Zoom is from 01NM to 99NM, means that it can display the vessel at 99NM distance from this current
vessel. Guard Zone means the selected scope, change scope is also from 01NM to 99NM. Through these 2 buttons’
operation, may select the vessels in different scope.

Ⅲ Back Color
The “Backlight” slip rail is for changing the brightness & darkness of background color. You’re free to adjust the
color of blue background according to your own comfortable degree.

Ⅳ Position Move
The four removable buttons including “Up”, “Down”, “Left” & “Right” enable displayed “Guard Zone” center to
move in parallel towards above four directions. Default status is that make this current vessel be the center of
“Guard Zone”, i.e. position of middle little circle. After move, all the displayed vessels moved in parallel the same
distance, through this way, may check vessel’s info in bigger scope. If click “center”, all the vessels will move in
parallel to original position, enable this current vessel to be the center of “Guard Zone”. All the vessels move in
parallel to the position where center is this current vessel.

- 13 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Ⅴ AIS Information Display

① Inside “Display Information”.

Select some vessel then right-click the mouse , will show the AIS info as the following figure. These info include
MMSI No., Position, Navigational Status, Heading, Speed, Course over ground, Rate of turn, Distance. Distance
means space between selected vessel and this current vessel. As follwing:

- 14 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

② Refer to “Info” tools in 1.4.2. I, for example, in case:

Show the vessel info of “Guard Zone”, just select “Guard Zone” of “Show Info”;
Show all the vessel’s info, just select “Selected All” of “Show Info”;
Select “Guard Zone” of “Hide Info”, hide the vessel info of “Guard Zone”;
Select “Selected All” of “Hide Info”, hide all the vessel’s info.
③ At the bottom of this page there is one line characters “AIS Pointing At :”. This is the geographic position of
mark’s location. Distance is the space from this current vessel.

④In all displayed vessels, sign means this vessel has Heading value, sign means this vessel has not
Heading value.
1.5.3 Alarm/Status
This page mainly is playback of various alarm info, including Acknowledged, Time, Source, Description,
Condition. If alarm info is confirmed, “Acknowledged” will show “ACK”; if not, will only show “-”.
Alarm info will be in turn shown in above form, if alarm info does not send out alarm signals, it will show black
words; if “Condition” shows “alarm” red words, it has sent out alarm.

- 15 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

1.5.4 Transducer
This page shows the data measured by transducer. “type” is category of measurement value, “unit” is the unit of
measurement value.

1.5.5 Hull Stress

Show hull stress, playback contents include measured stress point & stress value.

- 16 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

1.5.6 Play Audio

In one set of VDR system, four microphone channels & two VHF are installed, they are respectively Bridge
Microphone channel 1, Bridge Microphone channel 2, Bridge Microphone channel 3,Outdoor Microphone channel,
& VHF1, VHF2.
1. Equalizer is used to adjust audio effect, may move the slip rail to change.
2. The slip rail of each audio track is used to adjust audio volume, when the slip rails moves to furthest left,
means close this audio track.
3. When audio track has not sound or close, it will show “VDR Sound Meter”.

1.5.7 Radar
This is to record the radar data and it will show the Radar image when replaying.

- 17 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

1.5.8 System Event

This is to record all the working circumstances of system and all connected equipments. When carry out
Playback, can observe the equipment ID, status, date, time. Through reply, the running status of each equipment
before accidents can be understood. It will show the system log information during the current time period.
Attn：refer to Appendix for detailed explanations of equipment ID.

- 18 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

1.5.9 Ship Info

In “Ship Info” page, may check vessel’s basic info, also can add and change vessel’s info. When install system,
may use this function to record vessel’s info into VDR, when carry on playback, it cannot randomly change
vessel’s info.
Ⅰ Positioning vessel info method：
① Select “Play”---“Play from file ”---“open”, select the file “config.dat” under “data” folder, at this
time, positioning is ok.
② Directly select “open file”---“open”, position well file “config.dat”.
Ⅱ When playback data, ship info will be shown in following page:

1.5.10 NMEA Source

The following page mainly shows the received NMEA sentences which are for user’s reference and comparison.
“NMEA” shows for NMEA sentence, “Source” shows sourcing equipment, “Channel” shows sourcing channel.

- 19 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

2 Operation of the Software

Please set the IP address as 192.168.0.32 firstly. And then connect the MCU and the computer with Ethernet Cable.
Please refer to the installation manual to finish it.

2.1 Download data from the PDC

Please double click the VDRPlayer icon, choose “Play→Download From PDC”

Please input:
Addr: 192.168.0.33
User: HMT
Password: HMTPDC
Port: 21
Then click “Connect”

- 20 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

The left window is the local disk, and we can set the address to save the data in it. Find data in the “Server” and
right click on the key to select “Download”. And the data will be saved in the computer.

2.2 Download data from Hard Disk

Please double click the VDRPlayer icon, choose “Play→Download From PDC”

- 21 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Please input:
Addr: 192.168.0.88
User: target
Password: target
Port: 21
Then click “Connect”

Please input “//”in the Server and enter. And the Server direction will be changed “c:\”

- 22 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Please input “d:/” in the Server and enter

- 23 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Backed up data are all recorded under the folders whose filenames are 9digits, and the recorded data under “data”
folder are the same as those recorded in PDC.

2.3 Replay the data

There are two methods to replay the data. One is realtime player, the other is replay the data after downloading.
2.3.1 RealTime player
Please double click the icon” VDRRealTimePlayer” on the desktop. And the replaying will be started automatically
after 20 seconds. If it is not start automatically, please click “start”.

- 24 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

2.3.2 Replay the data after downloading

Please double click the icon “VDRPlayer”, then click “open file” or “Play→Replay from file”

Please choose the “Config.dat” and open it. The “play” change disable to enable.

- 25 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

Click it and the replaying starts.

- 26 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

3. Equipment Maintenance and Failure Removal

We shall detect the cause of the equipment failure through observing the message show on the screen of Remote
Alarm Panel. Now let me introduce how to check failures when the Remote Alarm Unit indicates relevant alarm
information. First is to check the probable cause of the failure through the Remote Alarm Panel. When the system
works normally, “system ok” appears on the screen. If it is necessary we can build backups by pressing both “ACK
Flash” and “Test” for emergency save.

3.1 “SHIPDC”&”VDRDC”
When “SHIPDC” appears and indicates that the 110/220V power has been cut off, and the VDR system is powered
by the battery in the power supply box, VDR system will record only Bridge audio. If VDR can’t get powered by
DC24 or the main power supply within 2 hours, it will automatically stop recording any data.
When “SHIPDC” appears here, it indicates that the 110/220V power has been cut off, and the VDR system is
powered by the emergency power of the vessel. We can press “ACK FLASH” to stop flashing, press “Mute” to stop
buzzing and search for the causes. First, check if the power supply is still charged with electricity, and the
connection is good or not. If the connection is good, after plugging in the main power supply, the Remote Alarm
Panel will indicate AC power supply. In case of emergency, in order to save PDC data, it is necessary to press both
“ACK FLASH and TEST buttons at the same time until “backup 01” appears on the screen, and the data of latest
12 hours will be saved in the big Hard Disk forever. After successful backup, “BACKUP 01” will appear on the
screen. “SYSTEM OK” indicates that the system is working normally.

3.2 CH1 AIS ERROR

When “CH1 AIS ERROR” appears, the first step is to press the “Mute” & “ACK FLASH” to stop alarm sound.
Then check whether AIS equipment is on, whether the plug of AIS input is loose and whether the connection is
good. If the connection is good, we should check whether the AIS equipment can send signals to VDR. After the
failure is eliminated, the displayed information of Remote Alarm Panel screen will disappear automatically.

3.3 “CH3 GPS ERROR”&“ZDA SENTENCE LOSE”

When “CH3 GPS ERROR” appears, as there is no GPS input, ZDA sentence alarm also appears at the same time.
The first step is to press “Mute” & “ACK FLASH” to stop alarm sound, then check whether GPS equipment is on,
whether the plug of GPS input is loose and whether the connection is good. If the connection is good, we should
check whether GPS equipment can send signals to VDR. If only ZDA sentence alarm appears, please check
whether GPS has sent out ZDA sentence. After the failure is eliminated, the displayed information from Remote
Alarm Panel screen will disappear automatically.

3.4 CH5 GYPO COMPASS ERROR

When “CH5 GYPO COMPASS ERROR” appears, the first step is to press the “Mute” & “ACK FLASH” to stop
alarm sound. Then check whether GYPO equipment is on, whether the plug of GYPO is loose and whether the
connection is good. If the connection is good, we should check whether GYPO can send signals to VDR. If there is
an interface converter, please check whether the converter works well. After the failure is eliminated, the displayed
information of Remote Alarm Panel screen will disappear automatically.

3.5 CH6 SPEED LOG ERROR

Next, let’s come to see when “CH6 SPEED LOG ERR” appears. The first step is to press the “Mute” & “ACK
FLASH” to stop alarm sound. Then check whether LOG equipment is on, whether the plug of the LOG input is
- 27 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

loose and whether the connection is good. If the connection is good, we should check whether LOG equipment can
send signals to VDR. If there is an interface converter, please check whether the converter works well. After the
failure is eliminated, the displayed information of Remote Alarm Panel screen will disappear automatically.

3.6 “MAIN RADAR ERROR”&“AIDED RADAR ERROR”

When the main radar alarm appears, please check whether the main radar is on and whether the connection line is
loose. When the aided radar alarm appears, please check whether it is on and whether the connection line is loose.
It is beneath the main radar connection line.

3.7 PDC CONNECT ERROR

Next, let’s come to see when “PDC CONNECT ERROR” appears. The first step is to press the “Mute” & “ACK
FLASH” to stop alarm sound, then please check whether the plug of PDC connection is loose and here I mean
8cores plug. If the connection is loose, please fasten it. Check whether the plug of the PDC terminal is loose. PDC
is on the roof of the Bridge. If the connection cable is not loose, please connect the cable to the computer and check
whether the PDC can get connected. Both of the cable interface are RJ45. Start the computer, click “start ”, and
then click “run”, enter “ping 192.168.0.33 –t” and see whether can get connected. If not, please check whether
there is any voltage between the foot 6 and foot 7 of the plug in the PDC terminal. If there is, please check whether
the voltage is 24V. If there is no voltage, please whether there is any voltage between the foot 11 and foot 12 of A9
terminal in Main Cabinet Unit. If there is, please check whether the voltage is 24v. If there is no voltage, please
confirm whether the Power Supply Unit works normally and contact us. If the terminal of this side has electricity,
please check the PDC connection line,.

3.8 NOT RECEIVED INF

When “NOT RECEIVED INF” appears. The first step is to press the “Mute” & “ACK FLASH” to stop alarm
sound, then it is to check whether the connection line of Remote Alarm Panel is loose, and it is right here. Check
whether the connection lines within Main Cabinet Unit are loose, such as the Hard Disk connection & CF card
connection lines. Check whether the CF card is tightly inserted.
If all these connections are good, the system can’t work properly, please take out the CF card from Main Cabinet
Unit, through the card reader, insert it into the laptop, and check whether the system files are correct in the laptop.
Please check the filename “VXWORKS” is correct? Then check whether “BOOTROM.SYS” filename is correct.
Is there a “data” folder? Under “data” folder, are there “audio”, “other”, “picture” folders and “radar.cfg”,
“uart.cfg”, “audio.cfg” and “vdr_config.exe”.
Note: “SYS”, “cfg”, “exe” are the extended filename.

3.9 Serial-Port Data Gathering

Sometimes we need the serial-port data to judge the reasons of the fault. Please get the data according to the
following steps:
1. Open the Main Cabinet Unit, switch off the power (there is one black button inside). You will find the Cables
Connection Drawing inside Main Cabinet Unit, please ensure that “①RAP” has been connected well. Please find
one cable from the second officer, one end is 2-core, the other end is 9-pin, insert the 2-core end into “③PC
Monitor”, insert the 9-pin end into “COM” of laptop.

- 28 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

This is the PC Monitor cable

2. Please double-click “VDRConfig” to open it, show the following page (Of course you must first setup the
playback software):

- 29 -
 Headway VDR/S-VDR Operation Manual

In the right corner, please input:

Port No.: COM1
BaudRate: 9600
CheckBit: NONE
DataBit: 8
StopBit: 1
3. Switch on the Main Cabinet Unit (there is one black button inside), after a few minutes, it will display some
message in above page, if message doesn’t display, please check the cables connection to ensure the cables are
connected well, let the VDR system run for 5minutes, then click “Manual save” button to save the displayed
message. Of course you can choose the “RealTime Save”. The default directory is “C:\Program
Files\Headway\Headway VDR player\VdrConfig\Serial”. The serial-port data will be saved in the document
automatically.
Please send the data to us by email. Also please let me know the LCD Indicators status on the Remote Alarm Panel.
Then we can analyze the causes of such faults and tell you the solutions.

- 30 -