DVB Native IP: enhancing life at sea
Rami Moussawi (ST Engineering iDirect)
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of crew connectivity when thousands of stranded crew members had very limited access to communications with home. It woke the maritime industry up to the fact that access to reliable connectivity is interwoven with crew welfare and their mental health.
Need for connection
Life at sea is isolating, placing immense strain on seafarers who are often away from home for long periods. As the heartbeat of any ship, crew members must feel supported and looked after by their employers. Today, connectivity to vessels has become an overriding consideration when seafarers browse employment opportunities, with many turning down positions offering sub- standard access to connectivity for contacting home, social media, and entertainment.
ISWAN (International Seafarers Welfare Assistance Network) reported that there was a 44% quarter-on-quarter increase in calls and messages relating to mental health challenges in 2023. According to the Seafarers Happiness Index, in the second quarter of 2024, tankers, container ships, offshore vessels, and general cargo fleets were at the bottom of the pile for crew contentment.
Crew demographics are also changing, as younger crew members are digital natives and users of multiple devices with high expectations of a connected, living room experience no matter where they are.
Streaming services PoC
Germany-based satellite service provider MediaMobil specializes in the provision of secure communications to remote regions and is familiar with the needs of the shipping industry. The company is focused on adding crew welfare to its portfolio of value-added services and is working with German Tanker Shipping, a shipping company based in Bremen with a fleet comprising 14 oil tankers.
In partnership with satellite operator Eutelsat, content delivery solutions provider Inverto, streaming provider Airmont, and ST Engineering iDirect, MediaMobil has delivered a proof of concept (PoC) to provide streaming services to crew on board the tanker fleet. The services will enhance the on-board experience for crew, enabling them to tune into news, sports, movies, documentaries, and much more while at sea.
Live and file-based
The PoC utilizes the DVB Native IP standard (DVB-NIP), which enables a truly converged media distribution solution. Using the efficiency of broadcast networks, it enables distribution of large- scale content to modern IP devices. Live and linear distribution can be enabled both unidirectionally or bi-directionally, the latter using a VSAT platform for the satellite return path.
DVB-NIP also facilitates file-based content delivery, enabling crew to gain access to educational material so that they can focus their time on developing other skills such as learning a language or gaining a qualification.
A questionnaire was distributed to the German Tanker Shipping crews to find out their specific content requirements so that the partners can then start the process of securing content rights to develop the bouquets that are right for the crew on each vessel, who may be of diverse nationalities. The service will initially be deployed on board four vessels.
The use of DVB-NIP is ideal for the maritime market as it provides a way of using the existing bandwidth and capacity more efficiently. It’s optimized for video, which accounts for at least 80% of internet traffic. The ability to deliver highly relevant content to crews in an efficient way results in a happier workforce with easy access to familiar content, and German Tanker Shipping will have a unique service to attract and retain crew in an industry where recruitment and retention is a constant challenge.
This article first appeared in Issue 66 of DVB Scene magazine.
Rami Moussawi is Senior Product Manager at ST Engineering iDirect. He leads the company’s Media & Broadcast product portfolio and headed up the development and launch of the company’s multi-carrier satellite gateway solution.
