Inmarsat helps self-driving boats take a step closer

The new network, called Orchestra and due to be completed by 2026, will use up to 175 of Inmarsat’s new and existing satellites but will tie them in with new high-speed 5G mobile phone networks rolling out across the world.

In time, Inmarsat said connecting its satellites with land-based communications systems – or instruments, hence the name Orchestra – would allow the roll-out of “a host of new and previously unattainable possibilities for industries across the world”.

Among them, it says, is the ability for boats to navigate autonomously once they get close to shore.

The idea is that the satellites handle the boat’s communications needs out at sea, but once it comes within range of a land-based 5G network, it will automatically switch across to the faster network.

Picking up the land-based 5G network will reduce latency – the time it takes for the computers onboard a boat to receive a response from the internet – so that the boat’s ability to respond to changing conditions while piloting autonomously will happen almost instantly rather than half a second later.

Reducing latency is important when boats are maneuvering into tight spaces, such as berths or slipping between other boats while docking alongside a jetty. 

Inmarsat said its future network would also use boats near the shoreline and in reach of a 5G network to relay information to other boats via Inmarsat’s satellite network.

“This effectively creates a mobile web of terminals that extend the network’s reach and improve its performance and resilience,” Inmarsat said.

The world’s car-makers are welcoming the new 5G networks because they can move data much faster than the current 4G networks, which is important for a vehicle navigating a busy urban streetscape.

The faster 5G data transfer, along with more accurate GPS services that can now tell which side of a street a car is parked on, allow autonomous vehicles to work out almost exactly where they are at any time. Before, cars had to learn where they were using other sensors such as laser-based radar systems and cameras.

Unlike self-driving cars, autonomous boat technology is still in its infancy. Marine engine makers Mercury and Volvo Penta have both demonstrated automated docking systems. 

Volvo Penta’s automated docking relies on land-based reference points to accurately locate itself in a mooring, while Mercury’s uses marine electronics maker Raymarine’s DockSense system linked to a series of onboard cameras.

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