Marine Communication

SolaCom helps marine authorities safely and securely manage vessel traffic

SolaCom's mission-critical communication and information solutions for marine communication applications provide: Networking solutions to dynamically link different sites Greater than 99.999 (5-nines) availability Multilingual operating support Management experience with single to nation-wide installations

12 Questions to Ask When Deploying a Marine Communication System

Using the same core technology deployed for our Air Traffic Control and Air Defense systems, the Liberty-STAR Marine Communication Control System (MCCS) provides an ideal combination of reliability and functionality, tailored to marine communication requirements. This includes support for:

• Automatic Identification Systems (AIS)
• Communications Control Systems (CCS)
• Continuous Marine Broadcast (CMB)

Automatic Identification System

The Liberty-STAR AIS is an autonomous, self-organizing data transmission system that is used to exchange navigational information with ships, and between ship and shore stations.

• AIS data can be integrated to any VTMIS to provide a common user interface
• AIS data can be archived or played back through the VTMIS system
• AIS data can be disseminated in real time or near real time
• The system is based on proven technologies that provide reliable and timely information
• The system is flexible enough to cost-effectively adjust to future changes to the organization, technical platform, and geographic distribution of the user
• AIS is compliant with IMO, IEC, ITU and IALA standards
• Supports Class A and Class B ship-borne mobile stations
• Supports remote monitoring aids to navigation
• Supports long range identification and tracking to identify and track vessels within a predetermined boundary

Continuous Marine Broadcast (CMB)

The Liberty-STAR CMB is used to record, playback and broadcast audio through a single or group of transmitters. This system includes the following features:

• Transmitter groups may be predetermined or selected dynamically
• CMB supports text to speech using naturally sounding voice technologies and is available in multiple languages
• CMB will accept audio from different sources, e.g. microphone, internet website, CD or tape recording, plain text files
• CMB is a multi-user system running on a Windows operating system and is capable of operating in a networked environment

Marine Communications Control System (MCCS)

MCCS is a fully digital, non-blocking, fault tolerant distributed switching device capable of monitoring and controlling voice and data communications from both local and remote sites. Features provided by the Liberty-STAR MCCS include:

• MCCS is fully scalable and can accommodate multiple operator positions, radios, landlines and remote sites
• Each operating position has the capability to access all available radio channels and landlines
• Built with an intelligent network solution which allows the functionality of one center to be accessed by another center
• Supports any combination of MF, HF, VHF and UHF radios
• Capable of connecting to radios at a remote site via any type of medium such as analog landlines, digital landlines and satellite systems
• Capable of monitoring and displaying status information from both local and remote sites
• Capable of interconnecting telephone lines to any frequency or channel
• Capable of providing system management functions to facilitate system configuration, diagnostics, statistics and repairs

Networked solution enables resource sharing among centers

With the Liberty-STAR's interswitch trunking, communication centers can be networked together to create much larger virtual systems. Radio and landline assets can be shared in order to make better use of system resources. This ability delivers immediate benefits in emergency situations or times of crisis where a combined work force of two or more centers can be more effective than a single center.

Patching (ship-to-shore, ship-to-ship)

Patching allows communications centers to connect radio frequencies to the shore-based telephone system. This allows maritime vessels to communicate with a shore party over landlines. The Liberty-STAR MCCS offers multiple ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship coupling.

The Liberty-STAR MCCS Patch Timer is used to display and record the duration of a patch in minutes and seconds for billing purposes. When this feature is active, a record for each ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship coupling on any operator console or workstation, will be stored in a text file on the system server.

Call Check Recorder provides convenient "point-to-click" searching

The Liberty-STAR Call Check Recorder is a recording database that offers operators immediate and convenient "point-and-click" search, with digital playback capability for recorded MCCS calls. This is used to quickly replay a conversation and to verify information.

The Liberty-STAR Call Check Recorder is software based, and can be connected to any audio source to record all voice communication. The recorder is in continuous operation, indicates call duration, and provides instant playback for MCCS calls. Pitch, speed, volume, and looping settings allow for optimal recording manipulation, while recordings are sorted by date and time.

Click on this link to request more information about SolaCom's mission-critical communciation and information solutions for marine communications.