Maritime Communication to Support Safe Navigation

The main objectives of the MarCom project (‘Maritime Communications - broadband at sea’) are to investigate the main user needs and communication technologies requirements to accommodate those needs within the maritime community. The project will carry out several pilots to demonstrate the usability of terrestrial wireless technologies in combination with, and in some areas instead of satellite communication (SatCom). The major benefit to the maritime users are expected to be reduced costs, increased bandwidth, Quality-of-Service (QoS) and improved communication security and versatility. The MarCom approach is characterized by combining thorough investigations of present and future user needs through nine scenarios/user cases along with identification of cost-effective communication platforms to match the application requirements being obtained. The MarCom investigations have revealed the bandwidth needs for a set of application groups, and identified the data integrity requirements for each group. Furthermore this paper is addressing the MarCom work with the IMO/IALA e-Navigation strategic initiative in establishing the bandwidth requirements to obtain the major objectives of the e-Navigation concept

A Case Study from an Emergency Operation in the Arctic Seas

The objective of this paper is to highlight the needs for improved access to high quality maritime data and information in the Arctic, and the need to develop maritime communication infrastructure with at least the same quality, in terms of availability and integrity, as in other more centralized areas. The foreseen Arctic ice meltdown is expected to provide new maritime transport corridors within relatively short time, and there is an urgent need to prepare for this, to ensure safe operations at sea and to protect the vulnerable Arctic environment. This paper points out some of these needs by presenting a case from a former accident in the Arctic sea. The case shows how the lack of proper information and data complicates the emergency operation. Some possible solutions to the challenges are proposed, and finally the paper briefly discusses the IMO e-Navigation concept in light of the Arctic challenges