Connecting Off-shore Crews from Port to Rig
"Connectivity for off-shore oil rigs must be resilient and secure, since operations affect global supply chains, economies and the environment."
Customer
An off-shore oil rig company with operations off the Indian coastline has a full fleet of nine barges and passenger vessels to ferry 150 to 200 employees back and forth to its platforms each day for work, with shifts operating 24 hours a day.
Challenge
None of the vessels had connectivity or antenna systems installed, which meant no communications capabilities for those on board–even the captains lacked ship-to-shore radio when outside signal range. Cell service was also unavailable on open water and offered only spotty coverage close to port. Without communications between vessels, rigs and the port, operations were inefficient and crew and passenger welfare was at risk.
Hughes Solution
The off-shore oil customer chose Hughes to deliver a turnkey managed service solution, including equipment and monthly support.
- Today, the customer’s mobility services are powered by the industry-leading Hughes JUPITER™ System, which delivers and optimizes broadband over both high-throughput and conventional satellites.
- The customer selected Ku-band based on the higher speeds enabled by the JUPITER platform with 512 Kbps download and 256 Kbps upload speeds per vessel.
- Hughes supplied and installed all equipment on six barges and three workboats.
- Each vessel now has high speed connectivity to support voice and email communications and uninterrupted service from rig to port and elsewhere (much like terrestrial mobile roaming).
- Wi-Fi is available for workers to access applications like WhatsApp from anywhere within the system so they can keep in touch with family and friends.
Hughes Technology Highlights
- The JUPITER System for maritime service enables reliable, cost-effective and efficient onboard connectivity.
- Compatible with Ka-, Ku- and C-band conventional and High-Throughput Satellite capacity.
- JUPITER System gateways and rugged HT2500 routers enable throughputs of up to 300 Mbps.
- The system supports up to 16,000 simultaneous TCP sessions—ideal for delivering connectivity to a vessel full of bandwidth-hungry crew members and passengers.
For more information, please visit https://www.hughes.com/what-we-offer/mobile-connectivity/maritime.