Deployment Strategies of Mobile Networks for Internet-of-Things in Smart Maritime Ports

It is estimated that 80% of world trade is transported via maritime logistic. The maritime trade networks can be seen as a graph with links and nodes. For an optimal network, the links representing the maritime routes must be short (with minimal cost) and secure. The nodes of the network represents the maritime ports, which are hub sending, receiving or switching the goods (in form of containers). The ports has passed from analog to digital ports to make use of IT tools to speed up the process, especially the administrative part. Nowadays, we talk about smart ports that uses data to further speed up the process administratively but also use a full automation to accelerate/optimize the processing of the goods/containers in terminals/quay. Terminal Operation System (TOS) is the main components in these operations. Therefore, the use of Internet-of-Thing (IoT) in TOS a decisive step towards smart ports. In this work, we propose to extend the notion of IoT in other smart domains to be considered in the smart port paradigm, such smart building, smart grid, smart environment monitoring, etc. Furthermore, we study the optimal strategies for the deployment of a performing networking infrastructure, which is the core element in the IoT layered model. Private network based on Long Term Evolution (LTE/4G) has been estimated to be an optimal solution for private enterprise networking in Industry 4.0. Here, we analyze its suitability for smart maritime ports.