Ocean-going ship support using multimedia teleconferencing via satellite

The opportunities offered by advances in shore-based communication networks, satellites and ship-board equipment may be significant for the future operating practices of the marine industry. The use of advanced telecommunications, such as high data-rate land networks and satellite links, allows the transmission of digitised moving video, voice and computer data, to support applications such as multimedia conferencing and computer interworking. These facilities can be used for the remote support of ships´ crews from land-based agencies. A series of experiments conducted within a large-scale project on the use of advanced communications in the marine industry demonstrated multimedia conferencing between a specially equipped ship and shore-based organisations. In the case of a serious technical problem on the ship, it was shown how experts at the shipping company and other locations could use such facilities for remote inspection, problem diagnosis, advice, co-operative decision-making and supervision of the repair procedure