IoT Adoption Barriers in Engine Room Monitoring: Experts' and Engineers' Perspectives

Abstract

Internet of Things sensor networks for engine room monitoring — encompassing real-time vibration analysis, thermal imaging, fuel consumption telemetry, and predictive maintenance platforms — represent one of the most operationally consequential digital transformation applications available to the commercial shipping industry, offering measurable fuel efficiency improvements and unplanned downtime reduction outcomes documented across multiple fleet deployments. Yet the adoption of IoT engine monitoring systems aboard Indonesian-flagged vessels remains substantially below the international fleet average, and the institutional barriers to IoT adoption as perceived and experienced by marine engineering practitioners have not been empirically investigated within the Indonesian maritime context. This study examines IoT adoption barriers in engine room monitoring through a qualitative focus group discussion design with 10 Marine Engineering experts from STIP Jakarta's practitioner community, supplemented by document analysis of current ENG curriculum materials. Four adoption barrier themes were identified: Technical Integration Challenges (dominant, endorsed by all 10 participants), Institutional Readiness and Financial Constraints (strong, endorsed by 9/10), Trust and Data Reliability Concerns (distinct from technical challenges, endorsed by 8/10), and Competency and Training Deficits (endorsed by 9/10 with direct ENG curriculum implications). Cross-referential document analysis confirms that IoT engine monitoring is entirely absent from current STIP Jakarta ENG syllabi. The study contributes the first practitioner-grounded, barrier-typologized account of IoT engine monitoring adoption challenges in the Indonesian maritime engineering context and provides direct implications for ENG curriculum development at STIP Jakarta.