Inmarsat has increased its ecosystem of certified application providers (CAP) with more companies providing analytics and data processing services
Inmarsat has increased the number of companies involved in its CAP programme to 11 with access to their services over its Fleet Data and Fleet Connect services. These include shipbuilding conglomerates, engineering corporations, bridge system service companies, analytics companies and start-ups.
Inmarsat expects to introduce more CAP partners throughout 2020. Its current list includes:
These provide analysis and optimisation services from the Fleet Data platform, which extracts data from onboard sensors and uploads this to a secure central cloud-based database.
Users can access all their onboard sensor data from a simple dashboard and use application program interfaces (APIs) for customisation and analysis.
Some CAP services are available on Inmarsat’s Fleet Connect, a dedicated bandwidth service that provides connectivity independent of the ship operator’s primary bandwidth. This allows application providers to have an always-on, or on-demand, two-way communication channel to the vessel.
Fleet Data and associated Fleet Xpress capabilities will be extended this year as Inmarsat provides connectivity for Nekton Research Institute’s ocean exploration in the Indian Ocean.
Fleet Xpress will provide the broadband backbone used for the UK-based institute to stream images from an underwater vehicle exploring the ocean and seabed off the Maldives and Seychelles to shore. Fleet Data will be used for first-ever transmission of water chemistry and geophysiccal data to international research institutes during this exploration.
Nekton’s 2020 mission, First Descent – Midnight Zone, will include a 35-day voyage, starting in mid-March, exploring biodiversity around the Maldives and Seychelles.
Video, audio and data will be transmitted from the deepest parts of the Indian Ocean to the research vessel Pressure Drop, then relayed via Fleet Xpress to marine science projects focusing on sustainable oceans.
“For all practical purposes, until now it has not been possible for research vessels in remote seas to transmit large quantities of data back to base in real-time,” said Inmarsat senior vice president Peter Broadhurst, “let alone stream images suitable for high-definition TV broadcast.” However, Nekton’s decision to work with Inmarsat has changed that.
High-definition video was streamed over Fleet Xpress during Nekton’s 2019 subsea exploration campaign in the Indian Ocean, for which Inmarsat was nominated for an award during Riviera Maritime Media’s Annual Offshore Support Journal Conference, Awards and Exhibition in February 2020.
This year data from Pressure Drop will be transmitted over Global Xpress satellites to a secure central cloud-based database and open source platform for further research and processing. All datasets will be blockchain-coded to ensure security, transparency, and decentralisation.
Registered marine scientists around the globe can participate in a virtual Hackathon to interrogate data and publish findings within two weeks.
Application platforms, data analytics and ship connectivity will be addressed at Riviera Maritime Media’s Optimised Ship Forum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on 18 May
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