Necessity of mechatronics knowledge in marine engineering education

Improvements in the electronics and sensing technologies show its influence on industry and ship systems. The more recent ships are built with newer electronic technology and automation systems which reduce the necessity of man power while increasing the reliability of the system. However, these ships are manned with the marine engineers and officers who have very limited knowledge of electronics and electronic control systems which are generally called mechatronics systems. It is clearly foreseen that the mechatronics education will be a must for the new generation of marine engineers. The curriculum of the marine engineering education should be updated considering this deficiency. In this paper, the new mechatronics laboratory of ITU Maritime Faculty will be introduced. The hands on education and training capabilities of the laboratory, the equipment and instruments, and the experimental facilities will be explained. Its effect on marine engineering education and its benefits to marine engineers will be discussed.