Powering the digitalisation of the oceans – AST and OneWeb at Europort2021
At Europort 2021 we proudly showcased our wide-ranging remote connectivity services for the maritime industry. For the first time, this included OneWeb that provides high-speed connectivity everywhere – on land and sea. This important milestone in fibre-like connectivity from space demonstrates that AST, their official partner, has the know-how and experience to be at the forefront of worldwide communications.
During the event we heard from Carole Plessy, Head of OneWeb Maritime; Richard Beecham, Director of Global Partnerships & Strategic and Stuart Castell, Director at AST Group. They described how OneWeb’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation will transform maritime operations.
OneWeb’s pledge to the Maritime Industry
OneWeb’s pledge is to ‘Fully connect and empower the bridge and the crew in remote locations to feel at home.’ This means, low latency and low barrier to entry with reliable, very low-cost hardware and speeds reaching 100Mbps+ , globally, pole to pole.
OneWeb have set out to transform maritime connectivity to meet the requirements of seafarers expecting the same level of online access as those on shore – with abundant high-speed online access at a very low cost. By providing high-speed and low-latency connections, operational restraints will be reduced improving operational efficiencies and meeting increasingly stringent compliance requirements.
Setting new standards for crew
During the pandemic up to 400,000 seafarers were stranded on vessels across the world, with an average connection speed at 1-5Mbps (vs. 60Mbps+ on shore https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52646811) video calls were not an option. Crew welfare has become essential and connectivity can improve both crew retention and morale by connecting families and friends whilst away from home, 1 GB per day with speed reaching 100Mbps+, provides an hour of video call home, an hour of rich media content.
External forces are also driving a digital transformation for operations
- Push for lower carbon fuel efficiencies
- Vessel optimisation solutions
- Arrival at berth in a timely manner
- Financial predictability
Typically, 90% of data usage is driven by crew and ship owners are not always focussing on operational efficiencies which causes operational restraints. What if 1TB of data per vessel per month became the standard? It would truly open up IoT opportunities, rich data set -100s of data point per minutes could be sent back to shore, driving operational efficiency, opening up opportunities for shore assisted vessel operations, real-time regulatory compliance and connecting the bridge to shore ‘face to face’.
What does the future look like with OneWeb?
Connectivity will be abundant and affordable, enabling vessel operators to
- Improve operational efficiency
- Use AI assisted operations
- Enhance crew welfare and happiness onboard
How OneWeb will transform Maritime connectivity?
OneWeb is confident that they are bringing a transformational change to connectivity which will revolutionise the industry over the course of the next four years.
10 x Maritime Capacity
10 x High Speed
10 x Improved Latency
99% Shipping routes including throughout the Arctic
100% Designed with security built-in
To know more about our latest solutions get in touch with one of our experts here.