Enhanced Communications on Satellite-Based IoT Systems to Support Maritime Transportation Services

Maritime transport has become important due to its ability to internationally unite all continents. In turn, during the last two years, we have observed that the increase of consumer goods has resulted in global shipping deadlocks. In addition, the future goes through the role of ports and efficiency in maritime transport to decarbonize its impact on the environment. In order to improve the economy and people’s lives, in this work, we propose to enhance services offered in maritime logistics. To do this, a communications system is designed on the deck of ships to transmit data through a constellation of satellites using interconnected smart devices based on IoT. Among the services, we highlight the monitoring and tracking of refrigerated containers, the transmission of geolocation data from Global Positioning System (GPS), and security through the Automatic Identification System (AIS). This information will be used for a fleet of ships to make better decisions and help guarantee the status of the cargo and maritime safety on the routes. The system design, network dimensioning, and a communications protocol for decision-making will be presented.