Maintaining reliable communications is critical to the success and safety of everyone on the water, from crews aboard commercial vessels to day cruisers on yachts. With the increasing demand for digital communications at sea for business, operations, and personal use, highly reliable and stable networks are needed to ensure that everything onboard can be monitored and controlled. A simple goal, but not easily achieved as vessels with global itineraries move in and out of satellite beam coverage while antennas must constantly detect and track available satellites in the network.
Using traditional Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), vessels transmit data over the satellite using the same return channel properties as all other vessels regardless of the quality of each vessel’s connection. Add capacity availability and heavy rain or storm conditions to this mix and efficient two-way communications can be erratic.
Fortunately, the dynamic nature of Adaptive TDMA removes the transmission limitations of the traditional version to optimize return link communications. KVH uses this technology to maximize the efficiency of the mini-VSAT Broadband HTS network and deliver more consistent connections and a superior user experience.
Take a look at this video to see exactly how it works.
