Telenor Satellite is launching a new platform over its Ka-band coverage to almost treble bandwidth capabilities to vessels. This will boost capacity from 35 Mbps at present to 100 Mbps to a single ship.
The Norway-headquartered satellite owner has been ploughing its own technology route in maritime VSAT. It operates a regional Ka-band service from the Thor 7 satellite over Europe and the north Atlantic that stretches from the Mediterranean to the Arctic.
Telenor Satellite director of data services Jan Hetland explains to Maritime Digitalisation & Communicationswhy the company is upgrading its VSAT platform to deliver more bandwidth to seafarers and guests on cruise ships and ferries.
“Our highest profile on Ka-band is with 35 Mbps downlink and 6 Mbps uplink,” he explains. “We are pushing the boundaries of the current platform and will launch a Newtec Dialog platform early Q3 this year to keep up with rising requirements from offshore vessels, ferries and yachts.”
This new platform will “be able to achieve more than 100 Mbps using selected beams on Thor 7”. This will increase capacity for voice, data, email and internet communications. “Our current customers have a mix of requirements. There is increasing demand on our network for social media applications such as Facebook and YouTube. It can represent more than 50% of the traffic,” he says, adding that voice over IP is also an important application over Ka-band VSAT.
Thor 7 provides broadband communications coverage primarily for maritime from Svalbard, Norway and over the Barents, Norwegian and Kara seas. Coverage stretches over the north Atlantic, west of Iceland to south Greenland and to Newfoundland after Telenor Satellite switched beams from the Middle East. “We also have excellent coverage in the Mediterranean and Black Sea,” says Mr Hetland.
The passenger vessel sector is the biggest market for Thor 7 in terms of data usage, while the fishing sector has the largest number of connected vessels. Telenor Satellite is a leading provider of communications on ferries sailing north European routes and delivers Ka-band VSAT connectivity to several ferry lines in the Mediterranean as well.
“We expect to add more ferries to Ka-band in the months ahead,” says Mr Hetland. “Passengers need more bandwidth and wifi is being rolled out on ferries. These vessels also need VSAT for their own office requirements. Passenger traffic is driving growth and for that reason, Telenor Satellite needed to invest in the new platform. ”
Thor 7 also delivers VSAT to a growing number of offshore support vessels (OSVs) with around 70 using the Ka-band service, and at least another 30 expected to sign up. Telenor Satellite initially encountered barriers to entering the OSV market as owners were reluctant to replace existing Ku-band VSAT hardware.
“But in the past 12 months, we have tripled the number of OSVs going on Ka-band,” says Mr Hetland. “As more equipment is replaced and vessels are upgraded we are seeing more OSVs selecting Ka-band and replacing the old Ku-band antenna.” This is for OSVs including platform supply vessels, crew boats, anchor handlers and offshore windfarm support vessels.
“Offshore vessel owners want robust quality of service, but with good value for money,” he continues. “Our contended services are priced significantly lower than comparable single channel per carrier services while providing near the same quality.”
Telenor Satellite has also added small fleets of oceangoing and coastal tugs to its VSAT services. “We were surprised to see VSAT demand from small tugs and workboats as they usually operate close to shore and we thought they would not consider VSAT,” Mr Hetland says.
There has also been considerable growth in the number of fishing vessels connected over Thor 7. This is partially because vessel owners need to comply with European regulations, reporting fishing quotas, and need to react quickly to customer requirements. “Fishing operators need to produce catch reports and this is a driver for installing VSAT,” says Mr Hetland.
“We hear fishing factory vessels want to tailor what they deliver to shore. They need real-time information about requests from customers, such as the number of boxes of different fish needed. This is sent over satellite communications as is data from onboard equipment that is increasingly monitored from shore.”
Remote monitoring is a growing trend for all vessel types as fleet managers consider managing operations in real-time. “VSAT is used for remote monitoring, maintenance and configuring systems,” says Mr Hetland. Suppliers use VSAT to remotely connect to onboard systems for diagnostics and remote maintenance.
Security and safety concerns can also be addressed using VSAT. “There is more CCTV on vessels with video sent over VSAT, enabling people onshore to see what is happening on board,” he explains.
Telenor Satellite also provides Ku-band connectivity for maritime users, primarily through its part ownership in the Intelsat 10-02 satellite, which has coverage from the Indian Ocean up to the seas around Svalbard. It also uses third-party satellite beams to provide Ku-band coverage. The Norwegian business operates a teleport outside Oslo for maritime VSAT and broadcast services across Scandinavia.
During Q4 2018, Telenor Satellite introduced Anker Ka-band VSAT with three products – Anker Speed, Quota and Custom. These provide different elements to meet variable vessel operator requirements. Anker Speed provides a guaranteed committed information rate (CIR) with the ability to rapidly increase bandwidth for a short period, with bursts up to 24 Mbps download and 6 Mbps upload.
Anker Quota is for owners who need a fixed amount of data each month in one package, with the ability to add more. It offers quotas in 5, 10 or 25 GB, with top-up packages of 5-200 GB available if required, Anker product manager Geir Anders Varanes explains.
“When owners reach 50% or 90% usage they will be notified by email that they need to top up,” he says. “Speed will be reduced down to CIR, unless owners top-up the quota after spending their monthly amount.”
Telenor Satellite then introduced a customised version for vessel operators who need more capacity than offered by the quota and speed products. These include operators of offshore and research vessels with high data transmission requirements who need large data packages.
“Anker Custom provides full flexibility and the possibility to create a profile suitable for any requirement,” says Mr Varanes. This can include symmetric and asymmetric profiles for vessel owners. “The speed and quota products were created to fit the most common use cases. Custom products with full flexibility have a higher overhead and will be slightly more expensive.”
Source: https://www.marinemec.com/news/view,new-platform-will-treble-vessel-vsat-throughput_57276.htm