My previous column for this publication focused on the oil and gas exploration and production sector, with particular reference to the increasing attention of the energy industry on deepwater and ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon reserves which now appear to be much more abundant than was thought ten years ago. A result of this is that the applications solutions and broadband communications solutions imperatives of the energy market, whilst they represent, in relative terms, a small fraction of energy companies’ total CAPEX and OPEX, well managed ICT networks can play a disproportionately great role in reducing expenditures in exploration, drilling, and production.
In the broader maritime environment the use of broadband, satellite-based, com-munications solutions has a similar imperative, and the GVF, through its vertical market-focused series of communications conferences and other events, has already broadened the satcoms end-user industry dialogue to include the commercial Broadband Maritime arena. In addition, the Association, in partnership with UK-EMP, has plans to extend this to other facets of the maritime communications end-user space.
The GVF broadband maritime satcoms agenda sets out to examine the widespread deployment of advanced communications technologies and services that are constantly accessible anywhere at sea, with a particular focus on a number of key subject areas.
The first of these is new service provisioning, delivering ‘always on’ broadband applications with Quality of Service guarantees that go beyond basic ‘pay-by-the-minute’ service types and which facilitate greater predictability in mission critical delivery, as well as accuracy in the calculation of the cost of communications and, therefore, improved corporate overheads budgeting.
Another is access to applications and networks to meet today’s imperative for constant, seamless and cost-effective connectivity to ensure optimised exploitation of physical maritime assets, maximised passenger satisfaction, maximised crew welfare, and optimised navigational safety.
A third is key hardware technology developments in the design and deployment of state-of-the-art stabilised satellite antennas which enable effective satellite tracking and maintenance of signal integrity as vessels pitch and roll.
Moreover, the GVF agenda looks to the fact that whilst there has already been much recent improvement in the availability of advanced communications at sea, it is only now that the maritime satcoms environment is progressing fully, from a mainly narrowband communications arena, and into the broadband age, exploiting the increased synergies of advances in satellite equipment technologies and the availability and accessibility of new bandwidth across, and linking, all the world’s oceans.
More specifically, in the commercial maritime arena, this evolution into the satellite broadband space means opportunities to optimise of the effectiveness of fleet management applications whilst on the high-seas, including networking for cargo management, and com-munications links for crew welfare/retention aboard bulk carriers, container ships, and tankers, and providing an enhanced passenger experience on cruise liners and ferries.
This also extends to the maximised exploitation of the maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS), the Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS), and the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) system, as well as navigation and weather data applications and systems, through a partnering with satellite networking.
As indicated above, the GVF Broadband Maritime conference agenda will also be considering the maritime satcoms terminal equipment arena, which is undergoing significant supply-side challenges & developments. This includes an increasing range of technologies in an expanding vendor market, remote spectrum switching between C-band and Ku-band, linear polarisation & circular polarisation, the latest technology gains of DVB-S2, ACM, etc., and such design parameters in antenna technology as self-pointing/self-stabilising systems built to ruggedized standards for survival in hostile environmental conditions.
In the military space, even in times of international peace, the operations of naval and naval auxiliary forces potentially span multiple geographic theatres. Whether it is fisheries and oil/gas installation protection, or narcotics trade interdiction in home waters, or sea lanes security, or food aid distribution in far-off regions, or a multitude of related tasks for which military maritime resources are particularly suited, the fundamentally mission critical role of satellite-based communications – as characterised by some of its most crucial features of flexibility, rapidity of deployment, footprint ubiquity, and cost-effectiveness – becomes overwhelmingly evident.
This is particularly true of situations in which international and inter-agency communications at sea – encompassing the networking technologies and capabilities of various national naval forces, air-sea rescue, border protection patrols, coast guard, human trafficking interdiction, police, civilian rescue organisations, the commercial maritime sector, and authorities governing marine navigational safety and vessel identification through coastal and international sea lanes – are an essential support to joint operations to address natural or man-made disasters, etc.
To cover many of these issues, the GVF 2nd Annual Broadband Maritime South East Asia: New Communications Networking Offshore & the High Seas conference, takes place 23rd to 24th February 2010 in Singapore, and to facilitate the dialogue, free-of-charge admission to the conference will be provided for shipping and ship management companies, and ship owners/operators across the container vessel, cruise line, and ferry operator segments, and to port authorities. For more information, follow the link from the GVF homepage at www.gvf.org.
