Adventure cruising and Internet access go hand in hand with SAILOR 100 GX on board
What springs to mind when you hear the phrase 'cruise holiday'?
For many, it conjures up images of charting a leisurely path
through the Med or Caribbean on an ultra-modern ship kitted out
with all the home comforts. Sun lounger by the pool, cocktail in
hand. And Internet access of course.
But what happens when holiday makers shun the blazing sunshine
of tourist hotspots in favour of adventure cruising in the far
North or South? Deck pools aren't quite as tempting and Internet
access in such remote areas is certainly not easy to come by. Can
guests on board stay in touch with friends and family at home then?
Well, it's not easy to deliver, but Cobham SATCOM and partners have
a solution.
Cold cruising
In May 2015, Inmarsat and Cobham SATCOM partners Network
Innovations and Global Marine Networks were tasked with testing the
Fleet Xpress High Throughput Satellite (HTS) service on Nova
Logistics' 1992 built ice class cruise ship, M/V Ocean Nova. This
was six months prior to the commercial launch of Inmarsat's new
maritime broadband service so presented the ideal opportunity to
try Fleet Xpress in a range of conditions.
The M/V Ocean Nova was looking for cutting-edge services to
provide to their customers who want to explore the furthest reaches
of the Earth while still having reliable contact with families and
work colleagues at home. Delivering reliable, fast, connectivity is
a challenge when close to the Poles but Nova Logistics sees it as
essential to the cruising experience during its tours of the Arctic
and Antarctic.
"Nova Logistics first came to us for advice on the latest in
satellite systems, on-board networking, and optimised satellite
solutions," explains John Dark, VP, Sales and Marketing at Global
Marine Networks. "As a result, we partnered with Network
Innovations and Inmarsat to provide early access to the Fleet
Xpress services, and provided a full suite of RedPort Global
routers and services to optimise the on-board networks."
Smooth installation
Inmarsat Fleet Xpress differs from other satcom services as it
is a global solution designed to deliver greater coverage and
faster Internet speeds than traditional VSAT (Very Small Aperture
Terminal) services. It is made possible by a network of three brand
new Inmarsat I-5 satellites (the Global Xpress network),
transmitting multiple spotbeams on Ka-band frequencies. Uniquely,
Fleet Xpress was designed and developed as a hybrid solution, using
the FleetBroadband service as a way to extend coverage and ensure
availability.
Luckily, Nova Logistics already had a SAILOR 500 FleetBroadband
terminal on board. So for the trial, they only needed to integrate
a Fleet Xpress antenna. The choice of antenna was an easy one.
Network Innovations recommended the equipment they believed most
likely to provide maximum performance on the Fleet Xpress network
based on design and previous experience. That equipment was SAILOR
100 GX.
In addition to class-leading radio performance, which results in
a strong link to the satellite even on the edge of coverage and in
all conditions, SAILOR 100 GX is also designed to be easy to
install. A fact that Global Marine Networks can testify to: "With
the installation instructions provided it was possible to provide
clear instructions to fabricators and our naval architect. The
Ocean Nova was inspected a week prior to install and the
installation took place during an 8-hour port stop. All went
smoothly," said John.
Exceedingly reliable
With the installation complete, it was down to Inmarsat and
Network Innovations to put the Fleet Xpress service through its
paces. The teams were confident in the combination of the Global
Xpress network, Fleet Xpress service and SAILOR antennas' ability
to deliver a reliable, high speed link, even at 55 S - 62 S in the
Antarctic.
The testing involved repeated downloads of data in varying
degrees of weather, particularly heavy precipitation. The results
showed that indeed, Fleet Xpress would deliver a boost for guest
connectivity on the Ocean Nova and the SAILOR 100 GX perfectly
integrated with SAILOR 500 FleetBroadband was the right
state-of-the-art antenna for the job. Nova Logistics agreed and in
February 2016, decided to keep Fleet Xpress on board the Ocean Nova
for the benefit of guests.
Since the trials last year and Nova Logistics' decision to keep
all of the equipment on board and continue using Fleet Xpress, the
service has only improved. "As the trials were based on a
pre-release installation of Fleet Xpress, performance has since
improved as the service has met production standards. Confidence in
the service and hardware is extremely high as it has already proven
exceedingly reliable," concludes John.