In Fig.1., the HITL model is extended to link the performance of IoT platform with marine professionals. Such link also enables marine professionals to provide feedback to the IoT developers. In ANT aspects, marine professionals, IoT developers and IoT platform (including vessel traffic services, satellite, and onshore control center) are all actors. The feedback of work practices, in reality, can be gained and translated into development process through trained field workers [20], [59]. The work practices of marine professionals can be learned through how they configure technology use regarding their experiences. This is important to bring back their domain knowledge on how an IoT platform should be designed useful to them. In such case, IoT developers as users could benefit how to design a useful IoT platform. Every actor in the loop knows what is important to himself/itself. IoT developers can implement IoT platform with their professional skills. Marine professionals can offer their knowledge and experiences to enable IoT developers to design the IoT platform useful. IoT platform can illustrate errors, performance and special efficacy to marine professionals in their work practices. All these actors play roles to make the loop functional and executable. Although the interests of actors are different, the goal of the loop is straightforward – to enable the IoT platform useful. Hence, it will be easier to identify how to implement such a platform.
Configuring of trust between users
In the maritime domain, the offshore control center is used to remotely control the automation ships at sea. Thus, the trust must be established between actors who are in the loop of unmanned ship system. In 2011, the International Maritime Organisation’s sub-Committee on Radio Communications and Search and Rescue (COMSAR) decided “that the navigator should be kept in the loop as a navigating navigator [60].” It is important to notice that which actors are in the loop and how the trust is established (see Figure 3).