Towards Safety Improvement of Measurement and Control Signals Transmission in Marine Environment

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to some aspects of maritime on-board safety improvement. The contribution of this article is a proposal to extend wireless communication on the ship, supported by examples of solutions that have not previously been used on board. Analyzed aspects concern the measurement and control signal transmission in hostile marine environment. A problem to solve is formulated, how to reduce a negative impact of this environment on effectiveness and reliability of maritime on board communication. The proposed ways for solving a problem under consideration cover recommendations concerning some aspects of ship construction and implementation of wireless sensor network. The main topic faced by the paper is concentrated on case study-based ZigBee as well as WiFi networks implementation in the area of the acquisition of data from sensors and measuring transducers connected to the terminal network. The exemplary implementation of ZigBee network, elaborated in Gdynia Maritime University is related, firstly, to the configuration of a simple wireless measurement and control channel, and secondly, to wireless communication channel supported by autonomously working microprocessor measurement and control system. WiFi networks were also tested in the same area of application. Finally, some concluding remarks are formulated.

Evaluation of a Multi-Hop Wireless Internet-of-Things Network on Large Ships

“…The studies in [16,17] dealt with radio signal propagation measurements inside large ships, exploring both sub-1 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands. Another notable case study in [13] employed Zigbee and WiFi networks, strategically placing routers/repeaters to act as wireless connectors across steel bulkheads. Moreover, Saafi et al [25] proposed the use of 6G solutions for sustainable maritime networks, emphasizing the challenges posed by steel bulkheads.…”

“…This is largely due to the sophisticated wiring systems used during the shipbuilding phase. Ships already have extensive cable connections for measurement, control, monitoring, and signaling, which makes adding more sensors difficult [12,13]. Wireless communication seems like a workable option in these situations, particularly if the target is situated in an inaccessible place.…”

“…However, the ship's environment is challenging for wireless communications because the signal attenuation induced by steel structures and the presence of multipath interference result in reduced signal coverage and degraded signal quality compared to more open areas. To address signal degradation, researchers are looking into using unlicensed frequency bands for wireless communications, such as the sub-1 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands [9,13,[15][16][17]. Nevertheless, deploying a wireless sensor network in the complex maritime environment is still difficult, especially when data need to be transmitted across multiple ship levels (e.g., from the engine room to the navigation bridge).…”

Mapping of Marine Safety Publications Using VOSviewer

“…The history of marine safety is marked by numerous modifications and revisions of maritime industry regulations and standards (Baalisampang et al, 2018). This is because safety on the crew and ship equipment played a vital role in avoiding any accidents and protecting the marine ecosystem (Masnicki et al, 2020). Besides, it has been reported that more than 90% of the world's cargo is shipped by merchant ships; thus, the elements of marine safety became a priority in the maritime industry (Al-Shammari & Oh, 2018).…”