Page 36: of Marine Technology Magazine (April 2006)

36 MTR April 2006 which is collected and stored on an onboard server, can be transmitted in real-time over a satellite link to a control center, or even to a secure Web portal for shipping com- pany or customs personnel to monitor. RFID continues to improve and become more affordable, making this an attractive solution for deep-water vessels.

In addition to RFID, many companies are beginning to employ next-generation tracking and telemetry systems.

These systems facilitate quick dock turn-around times and help to maintain optimal vessel performance. For example, if a ship's generator is running hot and experi- encing excessive vibration, this information can be for- warded in real-time over the satellite link to a fleet control center so that repair crews and spare parts can be standing by at the vessel's next port of call. These new Machine 2

Machine (M2M) monitoring systems can save days of downtime ordinarily spent awaiting parts or technicians to repair systems. Moreover, they can provide a ship cap- tain with the ability to predict failures and to react to them before they even happen, avoiding costly and dan- gerous system failures at sea.

While VSAT-based services offer an array of benefits to the enterprise and to the vessel, they also offer a variety of benefits to the crews onboard. Many organizations are finding personnel training and retention to be an ever- increasing challenge. Employers must often invest innu- merable dollars and hours in cold-water survival, haz- ardous materials, and other specialized training so that crews can be certified for offshore work. While tradition- al classroom training is expensive and keeps crewmen onshore rather than onboard, high-bandwidth VSAT sys- tems allow crew members to benefit from training while at sea through real-time videoconference sessions and interactive distance learning programs. Not only does this technology allow for training, but also it enables a ship- ping company CEO to talk to every employee in the com- pany simultaneously, whether they are in the corporate office or hundreds of miles out to sea.

Of course, training onboard crews is often not enough to retain key personnel. As crews can spend weeks, and even months, at sea without any shore leave, having a "communications lifeline" back to civilization is an

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