Higher bandwidth enables shipowners to invest in IoT to reduce fuel and maintenance costs while improving onboard crew welfare
VSAT technology is an increasingly important investment decision for shipowners to allow them to monitor daily operations and improve crew communications. Owners use VSAT to deploy internet of things (IoT) technology on vessels and allocate controlled online access to seafarers.
KVH Industries, one of the largest suppliers of Ku-band VSAT worldwide, lays out the benefits of using VSAT rather than remaining with L-band satellite communications. KVH has seen more than 90% growth in year-on-year VSAT installations and in February this year, its maritime VSAT sales surpassed 9,000 terminals.
KVH co-founder and chief executive Martin Kits van Heyningen says shipowners are investing in VSAT because they want higher bandwidth, larger data plans and reliable broadband for cost-saving applications on ships.
“There is no such thing as enough bandwidth,” he tells Maritime Digitalisation & Communications. “Owners want more bandwidth, but at lower prices for more applications and speeds.” There is also a trend towards providing enhanced VSAT services over new constellations of high-throughput satellites (HTSs).
“People want the HTS network, more content, better coverage and VSAT for their business models. They want it all-inclusive with installation, content and network controls.
“Some owners want to pool bandwidth across the fleet – with category controls and applications allocated across multiple crews – and no bill shocks,” says Mr Kits van Heyningen.
Crew welfare remains a major driver for VSAT installations, but operational and monitoring requirements have greater importance in decision making. “A big driver is IoT applications and business models that depend on getting the data off vessels and integrating ship IT,” says Mr Kits van Heyningen.
Data comes from sensors on ship machinery, providing fuel consumption, performance indicators and information on operating conditions. This data can be managed on board, allowing masters to reduce operating costs, and packages can be sent ashore. Or this data can be fed in real-time to shore which uses much more bandwidth.
VSAT benefits include allocating bandwidth and controlling access to online services. Owners can meter bandwidth use, can charge seafarers for what they use, manage traffic settings, maintain cyber security and prevent bandwidth misuse.
“Ship operators want faster and better coverage with hardware that has more features and dynamic selection to block harmful and data-high applications to mobile devices on vessels,” says Mr Kits van Heyningen.
This is necessary if crew bring their own devices on board, because smartphones and tablets automatically synchronise, download and upload video and images when they identify and connect to a wifi system. “Owners do not want phones to soak up the available bandwidth on a vessel,” Mr Kits van Heyningen continues.
“We provide the ability to disable background traffic or any unwanted traffic for owners.” Background traffic could amount to 50 GB, if sharing Dropbox folders or cloud services and is something owners need to avoid.
“This can be toggled on or off to slowdown bandwidth use or crew can be asked to pay by the MB,” he says. “There is no ability to turn this off on the phone, so owners need to disable background traffic.”
Owners can block access to high bandwidth applications, such as streaming services, if they do not want to be stuck with a high bandwidth bill. Operational bandwidth can also be separated from media content distribution.
KVH delivers media content by multicasting it during quiet periods on a ship’s broadband. “IP-MobileCast removes media from the network,” says Mr Kits van Heyningen. “It provides news, sports, films and training video by multicasting it out to the fleet of ships on top of daily communications with no impact on the vessels’ data plans.”
Other bandwidth uses are voice over IP (VoIP) and video conferencing. “We can provide controlled connectivity for Skype, Facebook and other social media,” he says. “Owners can block access to video chat applications if they do not want to be stuck with a high bill, or provide crew with a way to pay for the bandwidth,” says Mr Kits van Heyningen.
KVH has incorporated iDirect’s technology into its Integrated Commbox Modem (ICM). “This provides crew allocation, communications management, and links to our IP-MobileCast content delivery service,” he explains. It has a VoIP adaptor, network management software, built-in wifi and Ethernet ports.
KVH offers Videotel training films, updates to navigational charts, weather forecasts and corporate video with its media service. Shipowners can use IP-MobileCast to send their own video messages to vessels in the fleet from headquarters. KVH intends to introduce a new media service this year that will integrate content into its overall service.
VSAT technology
KVH provides its VSAT services with TracPhone antennas and the ICM below-deck unit. It runs two VSAT networks for maritime users, one using widebeam Ku-band and the other including spot beams of high intensity Ku-band from HTS constellations.
Owners can select either a TracPhone V3 HTS VSAT, a 37-cm diameter antenna or a TracPhone V7 HTS unit with a 60-cm diameter antenna. There is also a TracPhone V11 antenna with 1.1-m diameter dish.
“Our HTS network is primarily provided by Intelsat’s EpicNG constellation and Sky Perfect JSAT,” says Mr Kits van Heyningen. This includes the Horizons 3e satellite now it is fully commissioned, to provide HTS coverage over the Pacific Ocean and Asia Pacific area.
“We will run the original network for several more years, so we will not force owners to migrate to the HTS network,” he continues. New customers will automatically go on the HTS network and existing clients will be switched over when they decide to replace or upgrade onboard equipment.
Shipowners can obtain downlink bandwidth of 10 Mbps and uplink speeds of 3 Mbps using TracPhone V7-HTS. “Our TracPhone V3-HTS is smaller than rival L-band terminals, but it can deliver speeds of 5 Mbps down and 2 Mbps on the uplink, making it an economic solution for fishing, workboats and leisure vessels,” says Mr Kits van Heyningen.
Snapshot CV: Martin Kits van Heyningen
Since KVH Industries was founded in 1982, Martin Kits van Heyningen has steered the company to become one of the largest providers of VSAT in the maritime sector. Under his leadership, KVH has transformed maritime VSAT with its own series of antennas, below-deck equipment and two networks. It expanded into maritime training content through acquiring Headland Media in 2013 and Videotel in 2014.
Mr Kits van Heyningen is a graduate of Yale University and prior to founding KVH, was a marketing consultant with New England Consulting Group for two years.
For shipowners yet to adopt VSAT technology, knowing the right technology to invest in is vital. This decision comes down to finding solutions for onboard challenges and issues. Owners need to consider the following questions:
There will be many other questions to answer for more detailed studies into the reasons for selecting a VSAT service and provider, depending on what services owners need, but the above should be an initial checklist.
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.