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Marine Expedition
Route Planning and Execution
Please note:
The marketing of PERPLEX through Werum expired at the end of 2009. From now on, this software is distributed by the AWI (Alfred Wegener Institute). You can download PERPLEX free of charge on the AWI’s Website.


PERPLEX® is a computer-aided system for dynamic planning and execution of scientific maritime expeditions. It substantially simplifies the complex and time consuming scheduling process:
  • It guides a user through the process of cruise planning
  • The user defines stations or casts with a few mouse clicks
  • It visualizes planning results as lists or on sea charts
  • The software provides various databases for sea charts and coast lines or equipment
  • The time requirements are calculated automatically
  • The schedule is automatically updated integrating the current cruise data
During the expedition it now becomes much easier to adjust the cruise plan; may that be due to scientific requirements or because of constantly changing weather conditions. It takes only a few mouse clicks instead of reconsulting various paper charts and tables, manually recalculating and then documenting the changed schedules.
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 Broad Scope of Applications
 Planning Methods
 Benefits
 Casts, sections and stations
 Entire Cruise
 Going on the Cruise
 Variants and Features







Broad Scope of Applications
The PERPLEX® software is aimed at shipping and logistics companies, expedition leaders and scientists working in the field of marine research journeys, and also users in offshore industries and fishery. It supports any kind of journey planning and facilitates the execution.
Forget Conventional Planning Methods
Even today, the planning of a scientific expedition with research or survey vessels is generally a time consuming task. It involves a lot of paper work and many complicated calculations. Sea charts and a pair of compasses are required to determine the position of each scientific cast.

A number of up-to-date lists and tables need consulting to determine the scientific equipment capabilities as well as the time needed for every cast.

It takes time to put all this together - maybe several days or possibly weeks. Changes and modifications invariably result in costly delays.
The conventional way:
planning a cruise on paper
with sea charts and calculator
Benefits  Top of Page
The advantages of using PERPLEX® are convincing and allow for significant savings in terms of money and time:
  • usage of digital coastline maps and depth contours
  • easy and straight forward creation of cruise plans and waypoint lists
  • instantaneously consider and incorporate changes to the schedule
  • instantaneous overview of cruise layout
  • make and maintain accurate predictions of time required
  • optimize the usage of available ship time
Planning casts, sections and stations  Top of Page
When planning cruises with PERPLEX® the complex process is broken down into small meaningful units of a cast. Such a small unit may be, for example, an equipment at a station. The software utilizes this information for reasonable predictions. A station may consist of multiple casts, a section may comprise multiple casts at different locations.

Scientists intending to participate in a ship expedition have to submit their planning for scientific casts and sections for approval in advance. Instead of manually working with charts, calculators, spreadsheets and navigational equipment, the PERPLEX® software simplifies the planning task. It provides a user-friendly, interactive way of gathering essential information concerning
  • Location
  • Equipment details
  • Activity information


Station Schedule  
When using PERPLEX® for planning sections of a cruise the scientist gets a comprehensive plan of his proposed section which can be submitted for approval. Later on, this predefined section can be passed on to the chief scientist who easily can import this section definition into his overall cruise plan. This way, the time consuming reentry of section details is eliminated. Furthermore, the chief scientist than can easily optimize the cruise layout taking into account the requirements from the scientists sections.



Defining casts as well as sections of casts is accomplished by simply
  • Selecting a predefined area of the world, e.g. Arctic, Antarctic or Atlantic or by user definition of latitudes and longitudes
  • Selecting the required equipment from a database where additional equipment may be added
  • Mouse or keyboard selection of waypoints
    • Start and ending point of a section
    • Individual points
  • Showing the results as
    • Waypoint and cast lists
    • Waypoints on a map
  • Exporting the results
    • PERPLEX® format
    • as waypoint lists



Planning Steps  
Planning the Entire Cruise  Top of Page
Prior to effectively starting a cruise, the chief scientist has to meet the challenge of planning the research journey. During the planning process, requests from various scientists participating need to be considered. In addition, ship-related requirements or other circumstances influence the planning process.

Planning an entire cruise with the PERPLEX® software typically involves the following steps:
  • Entry of starting and destination point as well as the dates of departure and arrival
  • Entry of intermediate stations
  • Import of section and cast definitions provided by the scientists
  • Entry of additional station data
  • Optimizing the cruise layout by rearranging or combining stations and casts
  • Export and printing the cruise and stations schedule



With PERPLEX® this demanding task is accomplished easily:
  • Create a cruise template by selecting the starting and ending points from a list
  • Enter the respective dates for departure and arrival
  • Define the geographical area
    • Using predefined charts
    • Selecting an area based on latitudes and longitudes
  • Calculate the initial cruise schedule
Adding station information to this cruise schedule is achieved by
  • Selecting a position by
    • Pointing and clicking on a chart
    • Entering latitude/longitude data
  • Assigning equipment to the station
  • Optional import of station and section information from files supplied by scientists participating in the cruise
On completion of these steps, the cruise layout can be plotted. At this stage, it becomes obvious where the cruise plan can still be optimized.

The planner in charge then simply rearranges the stations, modifies the start and ending dates of the individual casts or possibly decides to combine casts with high proximity.
Going on the Cruise  Top of Page
Once a cruise has been completely planned and approved, and the vessel has left port, the chief scientist has constantly to deal with a number of factors which may seriously influence the initial planning. Such factors may be for example:
  • Scientists want to change or add individual casts
  • Weather conditions differ from the initial assumptions
  • Performing single stations simply takes longer than expected or planned
This requires an update of the cruise schedule in order to ensure that
  • Fixed appointments can be kept
  • A specific location can be reached within the given time period
  • The maximum cruise time available will not be exceeded
The PERPLEX® software assists the chief scientist by
  • Allowing him to easily adjust the ships' required cruising speed
  • Calculating the maximum distance the ship must travel to reach a specific location at the appointed date
  • Rearranging the order of casts or updating the cast data within seconds and with a few mouse clicks
  • Exporting new waypoint lists
  • Printing updated station schedules
PERPLEX® – Variants and Features  Top of Page
Basic Edition – Pro Edition
In view of the different user requirements Werum offers two versions of the PERPLEX® software:

The PERPLEX® Basic Edition allows users to plan casts, sections and cruises offline. It is suitable for scientists planning their casts and cast sections in order to submit an application for scientific time on a cruise. In addition it enables chief scientists to plan the cruise in advance and to prepare all required station schedules and waypoint lists.

The Basic Edition thus addresses customers who need the capabilities of planning casts, sections and stations offline, e.g. scientists and chief scientists.

The PERPLEX® Pro Edition provides the complete functionality required to execute and maintain the cruise planning throughout the entire cruise. Here users update their cast and station details dynamically, adjusting the cruise plan to the current vessel speed or by integrating, for example, sea ice information into the cruise plan and its execution. This version of PERPLEX® provides all tools required to deal with the day-to-day challenges of being responsible for a scientific cruise on board a research vessel.

The target group of the Pro Edition are users operating research vessels who need the capability to adapt cruise and station plans to the current situation - dynamically, fast and without complications. Most likely the PERPLEX® Pro Edition version is highly attractive for shipping companies running research or survey vessels for use on board. Also it might be interesting for users in offshore industries, fishery or steering committees who are scheduling and planning ship times.


Add-ons and Options
The functionality of PERPLEX® can be enhanced with several add-ons and options. These are, for example:
  • Global Maritime Boundaries Database
  • Depth contour lines
  • High resolution coast lines
  • Sea Ice Concentration Display
  • Ports Database
More information about the add-ons and options will be provided upon request.

PERPLEX® – A Tested and Proven Solution
PERPLEX® was initially developed by a scientist of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). The Alfred Wegener Institute has granted Werum the exclusive marketing rights to boost the commerical availability of the product. Within the scope of a technology transfer agreement Werum is now also responsible for product enhancements, support and maintenance.

PERPLEX® was designed by scientists involved in the planning and execution of research cruises. The system clearly reflects long-standing and practical experience. It has been tested and proven during various AWI expeditions.



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