11 Oct 2021
For the third year running, our colleagues from Naval Systems Programme Centre (PC) kept their learning spirits high with their annual data analytics (DA) hackathon, this time focusing on the RSN’s Littoral Mission Vessels (LMV)!
Held online from 10 August to 8 October 2021, this iteration tasked teams to analyse LMV maintenance data to generate insights for improving operations and support for the vessels.
Over the course of two months, 13 teams from various PCs took up courses online to level up their competencies in data science and learn more about data visualisation tools. They also took the opportunity to employ a wide range of DA techniques and approach the task from various angles. The hackathon culminated on 8 October 2021, when the teams came together to present their findings.
After a day of engaging presentations, Team Jarvis emerged as the winner! Comprising Deputy Programme Director (Naval Systems) Serene Goh, Senior Programme Manager PO (Naval Systems) Foo Ce Yang and Senior Programme Manager (Naval Systems) Jeremy Sim, the team wowed the judges with a visually impressive analysis filled with new insights, demonstrating their naval engineering experience and excellent teamwork. Taking an unorthodox approach of letting their data analysis results dictate their research direction, the team was able to adapt to developments quickly and leverage their strengths to produce optimal results.
Sharing their experiences, Serene said: “The hackathon was very challenging for us. We had to spend a lot of time cleaning up and visualising the data while developing ideas along the way, and we could only discuss virtually. Trust, support and understanding of one another helped us overcome these challenges.”
The winners! From left: Jeremy, Ce Yang, and Serene
Close behind were Teams Froude and WHATaHACK, which took first and second runner-up respectively.
From left: Senior Principal Engineer (Naval Systems) Lim Hong Han, Head Engineering (Naval Architecture) Dr Nigel Koh, and Head Capability Development (Unmanned Maritime Systems) Kelvin Lin
For Team WHATaHACK, the hackathon was also about getting out of their comfort zones and learning how to use data visualisation tools from scratch. However, the team – comprising Assistant Director (Planning & Control) Raymond Tan, Principal Engineer (Naval Systems) Xu Jinyi, and Engineer (Naval Systems) Wilfred Hsu – agreed that the experience was a good one.
Wilfred said: “It was quite beneficial for many of us, as it was our first time encountering these maintenance data. Through the hackathon, we learnt about many new systems onboard the ships, as well as the different types of maintenance procedures, which will be useful for our work in the future.”
Team Whatahack clinched second runner-up.
The aptly named Team Newbies, consisting of three junior engineers who had just joined the DSTA family in June 2021, received a commendation award for their efforts and in-depth findings. Despite being fresh faces, the three – Engineers (Naval Systems) Eugene Chow, Shaun Tan and Wong Yu Hin – were still able to generate many new discoveries.
It was not an easy task, but the team was definitely pleased with the opportunity to take on the challenge. Yu Hin said: “The hackathon motivated us to think of new solutions. Working together, we were able to combine our expertise and bounce ideas off one another to develop new ideas that we might have overlooked if we had worked individually."
Team Newbies, starring (from left): Eugene, Shaun, and Yu Hin
Many other teams also gave an equally strong showing.
Senior Programme Manager (Advanced Systems) Tang Tze Yi and Programme Manager (Advanced Systems) Iris Ng, the duo that made up Team I&T, acknowledged that the hackathon was a very fun and rewarding journey. This was especially so as neither of them had worked on the LMV before, and the hackathon was a good opportunity to try something new.
“Such hackathons allow us to gain new knowledge and skills – like data science in this case – in a relatively short amount of time. Also, working in teams also allowed us to find synergy in our ideas, and strengthen our soft skills, which are important for our work!” said Iris.
Iris and Tze Yi from Team I&T
With the hackathon now over, all the teams could agree on one thing: how much they look forward to the next one!