ABSTRACT: Current maritime systems are to a large extent based on legacy analog VHF radios for ship-to-shore communications near port waters, and relatively low bandwidth digital satellite communications (SatCom) for long-range ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications. The cost of bandwidth for SatCom networks is expected to remain high due to the cost of launching satellites into orbit and also due to the stabi-lizers required for presently available on-board antennas. On the other hand, the legacy VHF system comprises low bandwidth radios incapable of supporting applications requiring high data rates. Unlike the terrestrial networks, advancement in maritime networks is severely lagging behind its land counterpart. MARINTEK is the principle investigator of the MarCom project, a joint initiative between several national and international R&D institutions, Universities and Colleges, Public Authorities and Industry, funded by the industry itself and The Norwegian Research Council?s MAROFF program, and aiming at developing a novel digital communication system platform to ensure the proliferation of innovative mobile network applications presently being widely implemented on land-based wireless systems.

KEYWORDS: Communication Technology, Maritime Communication, Communication at Sea, Satellite Communications, Long Range Communications, VHF System, Wireless System, Wireless Coastal Area Network (WiCAN)

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