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PALM IN THE REAL WORLD
The U.S. Navy puts Palm handhelds into service
By Steve Niles
To maintain its military readiness, the United States Navy must perform all kinds of tasks, such as inspections of personnel, equipment, and working environments; personnel accounting and training; food preparation and meal service; equipment maintenance and inventory; etc. Many of these tasks are performed in environments such as on board Navy ships or in field environments where information must be captured on paper and later entered into a computer. Often these tasks must be conducted on cramped submarines, aircrafts, and ships and without access to power outlets.
Considering these factors, it's no wonder the Navy is such a major consumer of Palm OS handhelds. These compact computers are ideal tools for members of this important military branch. In this article, we'll look at the variety of ways the U.S. Navy is putting Palm handhelds to use.
The Navy's Program Executive Office for Theater Surface Combatants
PEO TSC (The Navy's Program Executive Office for Theater Surface Combatants) is responsible for ship procurement for the Navy. They monitor the two shipbuilding yards responsible for building the Navy's destroyer fleet: ISI (Ingalls Shipbuilding Incorporated) in Pascagoula, MS (at http://www.ingalls.com), and BIW (Bath Iron Works) in Bath, ME (at http://www.gdbiw.com).
Before the Navy accepts a ship, the ship must pass a series of rigorous inspections known as builder's trials. These continuous inspections cover every square foot and every piece of equipment on the ship. The inspectors must ensure that there are absolutely no deficiencies in the shipboard equipment. This thorough, detailed inspection process is critical toward ensuring that DDG 51 class destroyers like the one pictured in Figure A are war-ready, prepared for the rigors of the sea, and safe to carry U.S. service personnel.
FIGURE A
 
DDG 51 class destroyers must pass PEO TSC inspection. Roll over picture for a larger image.
Traditionally, Navy inspectors from the Supervisors of Shipbuilding at Bath and Pascagoula documented inspection discrepancies in spiral notebooks. The trial and inspection process generates approximately 3,000 discrepancies per ship. Upon completion of an inspection, inspectors would return to their desks and manually copy discrepancy information from their notebooks to standard forms. These forms would then be forwarded to administrative personnel to be entered into the main Oracle database.
Naturally, there were numerous problems with this method, in terms of the time it took and the chance of error. PEO TSC decided to replace its notebook and paper forms with an automated data-collection system that would standardize both product and process.
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