Real-Life Decision Making
You are on a warship cruising in foreign waters. Using active sonar, you
send out sound signals and listen as they bounce back to the receiver. The
signals (pings) are used to locate the depth of the ocean and to track other
submarines in the area.
In your headset, you can hear the signal going out. You can also see it
going out on the display screen.
Suddenly, you can't hear the signal returning on the headset or see
it registering on the display. This is a potentially dangerous situation.
You must get the problem fixed as soon as possible. Not only could you run
aground, you could be in immediate danger from other ships.
"If it's broken and time is of the essence in getting it fixed, then
this probably means that it's more than just a navigation hazard," says
Brad Browne, a sonar technician. "It's the lives of 230 crew on board
the ship at stake because if we need the signals, then there's probably
a hostile submarine out there."
These are five parts involved in using active sonar:
Transmitter -- sends out the signal
Receiver -- listens for the return signal
Computer processor -- analyzes the sound of the return signal
Display -- shows the sent signal and the received signal coming from the
computer processor
Headset -- allows you to listen to the sent signal and to the processed
return signal coming back from the computer processor
Because time is so important, you must decide whether you should examine
all five of the parts of the sonar navigation setup, as might be recommended
in a checklist in your manual. Or should you decide to skip parts of the checklist
in order to save time?
What do you do?