The Evolution of Marine Satellite Communications Technology

Ben Ellison Owner of Panbo.com

Ben Ellison is Editor/Owner of Panbo.com, the Marine Electronics Blog. In addition, he is the Electronics Editor for Yachting & Cruising World magazines and Senior Electronics Editor for Bonnier Marine Group. He has been writing about marine electronics for over a decade, and previously served as editor of Reed's Nautical Almanacs. Beginning in the 70's, Ben spent many years working as a professional yacht captain and as an instructor of seamanship and navigation, along with stints at commercial fishing and boat building.

Q. For starters, could you please tell us about your background in marine electronics and describe your Panbo.com blog?

A. I got fascinated by boating as a young man and managed to spend much of the 70s and 80s on the water, sometimes cruising but also making a living as a professional yacht skipper, commercial fisherman and navigation instructor. Eventually, I also became intrigued with the PC revolution and all of the electronic developments that so changed marine navigation and communications. While my boating life became mainly recreational, my work life evolved from developing tide prediction software to editing Reed’s Nautical Almanacs and finally writing for boating magazines. I started blogging at www.Panbo.com in 2005 as a way to further focus on marine electronics and now it’s my main endeavor. It’s read by about 80,000 marine electronics enthusiasts and professionals each month. I’m particularly pleased that many well-informed readers contribute to the conversations at Panbo, and I invite all of you to join in.

Q. How has marine satellite communications technology evolved over the last two decades in the pleasure boat market?

A. Nowadays most every boat going more than a few miles offshore has at least some form of satellite distress communicator, and possibly a portable satellite phone and/or tracking device. The high-budget vessels that used to be the sole users of satellite services now often have complete high speed communications suites. In short, there’s been a great deal of evolution over 20 years, though I think it’s just gotten started.

Q. What, in your opinion, are the drivers for the marine satellite communications market today in the pleasure boat market?

A. The “need” to stay in touch — be it by voice, email, or text message — has grown enormously. Boaters are also recognizing, though slowly, the value of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications for off-boat monitoring and security, and other services. Boats often travel at the edge of the land-based communications technologies that have fed these “needs” and sometimes well beyond. It’s becoming obvious that satellite communications can fill the big holes and the little holes, and can even be the superior choice for many applications when competing directly with cellular or WiFi. Market penetration, then, is largely about the cost of hardware and services, the features offered, and the ease of use.

Q. What are boating consumers looking for in the way of marine satellite communications today?

A. Most of us would like the high speed distributable broadband we now experience in our homes and offices, VoIP calling and media streaming included, or at least the services we’re used to with 3G smart phones. Due to costs, however, many of us would settle for a calling or text messaging alternative when we’re beyond reliable cellular coverage. Additional features like one-button distress calling, tracking, weather alerts and the ability for family and associates to contact us at any time — all reliable wherever we go — will certainly add to the attraction.

Q. As you know, the Iridium 9602 Short Burst Data Transceiver launched last year. How do you think this will impact the boating electronics sector?

A. I believe that the potential impact of the Iridium 9602 is huge, and I really appreciate how Iridium’s partner ecosystem strategy is fostering a wide variety of implementations. However, the rubber will really meet the road when consumers start getting more access to the actual devices and services. Costs, features, performance and marketing are all important aspects, and it has to be understood that recreational marine electronics is a very fragmented market. Some niches, like bluewater sailors, will take an immediate interest in some of the Iridium 9602-based products I’ve heard about. But to achieve a major impact, SBD products will have to make sense on boats that rarely go beyond cellular service. I think that’s quite possible, but I suspect that it will take clever product development, competitive pricing and extensive, patient marketing.

Q. The Iridium 9602 is expected to open a broader market for asset tracking, monitoring, telematics and other M2M applications. How do you see this playing out in the boating industry?

A. To be frank, I’ve seen a number of reasonably well designed off boat monitoring/security systems enter the market and hardly make a ripple! There are many factors involved, including the fact that many boaters are in denial about out-of-sight-boat dangers until that boat starts sending them “all’s well” text messages. This prompts them to realize that something could actually happen. I think the Iridium 9602 could be the core of the most reliable and fully featured monitoring/security system yet, with bonus features such as underway tracking and two-way messaging, but it will be key to educate consumers about its value.

Q. As you know, Iridium recently announced a number of new partners for the Iridium 9602, including consumer-oriented companies such as ACR Electronics and DeLorme. What impact do you think these agreements will have on the marine electronics sector?

A. Iridium SBD-based products from well-known and respected marine electronics companies such as ACR will tend to validate the value of the technology. Such companies also have the marketing clout and skills to explain its intricacies to the boating public (and DeLorme has a similar profile with certain land-based segments). Some boaters interested in an SBD device will lean toward a known and appreciated brand, while others will shop for some combination of features and value.

Q. What about personal satellite location and distress devices? Do you foresee a significant market for these devices in the boating industry?

A. This is a tricky area. While the fast, global two-way messaging offered by Iridium 9602-based devices appears to be an excellent way to communicate with search and rescue (SAR) resources, the one-way devices built for the COSPAS-SARSAT system are very well proven. On the other hand, the proliferation of one-way satellite messengers has shown that even a quite limited commercial distress device can succeed if priced right and bundled with non-distress features such as tracking and rudimentary messaging. I suspect that two-way multifunction devices will become the primary distress device for some boaters, a secondary one for others.

Q. The ProTECTS Alliance launched in 2009 to promote the orderly market development of the new generation of personal location and distress alerting devices based on two-way satellite data links. One of ProTECTS’ goals is to serve as a “bridge” connecting the companies developing and selling these devices with the international SAR community, with the idea of developing widely accepted industry standards for these products. Why is a set of industry standards important for this emerging product category, which is right now developing in an unregulated market environment (unlike EPIRBs or ELTs, for instance) to protect consumers and ease the jobs of the SAR responders?

A. This is very important. While I believe it's perfectly possible for commercial entities to design and build distress technologies and deliver distress messages to SAR authorities – who are often government agencies, such as the U.S. Coast Guard – there's got to be high level of coordination between all parties. As a boater I'd like my call for help to pass through the system as quickly as possible, and with as much relevant data as possible, but I also don't want to be part of a false alarm situation that wastes SAR resources. An overarching organization such as ProTECTS can help ensure coordination between private and public distress organizations in several ways, like standardizing data protocols and rescue debriefings.

Q. Looking into your crystal ball, what do you see as major trends in the marine communications sector over the next few years?

A. There is a product on the market now that may finally fire up interest in fixed onboard monitoring/security/messaging devices, but clearly its functionality and reliability could be vastly improved with Iridium technology. It also seems like a lot of this functionality, plus voice communications and a somewhat bigger data pipe, could be provided by a docking system for satellite phones. Plus I think that the concept of marrying some features of a portable satellite messenger to a consumer’s own apps phone is brilliant. A wild card is the possibility of a major marine electronics brand integrating an Iridium 9602, or something like it, into a suite of gear already familiar to many consumers. I certainly don’t know how all this will play out — the devil’s in the details — but I’m confident that satellite-based communications devices will become much more commonplace on medium size and even small vessels, including those that only ply coastal and even just inland waters.