SATELLITES FOR MARITIME APPLICATIONS

The purpose of this paper is to show that communication satellites can provide significant economic benefits to shipping company operations and alleviate the problems of distress alerting, search and rescue, and losses due to collisions, groundings, and heavy weather damage. During the past three years, extensive technical and economic studies have been conducted of maritime service satellites, technology development has continued with partial experimental evaluation and candidate systems have been synthesized. Results have rather clearly shown the potential benefits to be derived by the maritime transportation industry from communication satellite services. This paper reviews that data and examines three other generic service areas: navigation, distress alerting and search and rescue and casualty loss avoidance. A fifth service area entitled, traffic advisory, is also presented although it overlaps, and to a varying degree, interrelates with each of the four previously mentioned services. Emphasis in this paper is placed upon both the application of space technology to alleviate present service deficiencies and the costs and benefits of this new application. Candidate and competing equipment and system techniques are covered in the references cited in paper. It is concluded that while maritime service satellites appear to be quite viable technically and economically, with sizable potential economic and safety benefits to be accrued, and while the initial or ground-breaking efforts have been completed, there is a substantial amount of analysis, definition and development work yet to be accomplished. Further, the shipping companies themselves have a formidable task ahead -- specifically, that of developing new home office and fleet operating business practices and procedures to capitalize with maximum effectiveness upon the new technology which will provide high quality, high reliability, rapid access communications worldwide and position fixing services with accuracy and fix rates adequate for the user's need and specific location.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Presented at AIAA'S 9th Annual Meeting and Technical Display, Washington, D.C.
• Corporate Authors:

  American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

  1290 Avenue of the Americas
  New York, NY  United States  10019
• Authors:
  • BAKER, J L
• Publication Date: 1973-1

Media Info

• Pagination: 48 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Communications satellites; Crash avoidance systems; Navigational satellites; Satellite communication; Satellite navigation systems; Search and rescue operations; Vessel traffic control
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00052128
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Report/Paper Numbers: No. 73-47
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 26 1974 12:00AM