  
In conjunction with the Engineering Control System (ECS) provided to the USS Rushmore, L-3 Communications/EDI was tasked with also providing an imbedded On-Board Training (OBT). The system is designed to educate shipboard personnel on the use of the ECS and to provide appropriate responses to a variety of machinery and electric plant conditions and emergency situations that might occur. The OBT function can be invoked from any workstation on the ECS network. What this means is that any location can be designated as the instructor's console and likewise, any other workstation can be designated as a trainee at which personnel learn to interact with the ECS. The OBT utilizes a separate Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), identical to the ones that interface with the machinery and electric plants. Via the instructor's console, a wide variety of plant and ship condition scenarios can be created. The desired situation is then implemented in the PLC, not in the sense of actual inputs and outputs, but in terms of the software dialog that occurs between the "real" PLCs and the OBT workstation. The simulation software is very realistic in that it also generates cause and effect situations that the plant might experience in a given instance. For example, if a main engine should experience a shutdown (for a variety of reasons initiated by the instructor), there are residual conditions that exist because of the speed of the ship through the water, the state of pieces of auxiliary equipment, etc. Or, if a generator should drop off-line, there is a domino effect of other occurrences that would naturally follow in real life. All of these secondary conditions and effects are realistically replicated within the OBT simulation software. Individualized Solutions The WMEC Simulator/Trainer Console was designed and manufactured by L-3 Communications/EDI to be used in conjunction with the WMEC 270' Main Propulsion Control and Monitoring System (MPCMS) Console. It is used as an instructional aide in the proper operation and maintenance of the propulsion and diesel generator machinery onboard the U.S. Coast Guard 270' Medium Endurance Cutter. The simulation console receives input signals from the MPCMS Console for simulation of the specified machinery groups in various states of operation. The simulator responds to the commands from the MPCMS Console as would the shipboard machinery plant in normal operation. The instructor can invoke fault conditions using the keyboard and mouse to simulate machinery system failures. The simulator console receives inputs and simulates the following machinery groups:
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