VOWL: A User-Friendly GUI for Analysis of Maritime 5G Links with Floating Base Stations

Maritime wireless networks have begun to receive increasing interest in recent years. However, there is a general lack of tools for analyzing the performance and planning the deployment of a network in this unique environment. In this paper we present an application for Visualization of Over-the-Water Links (VOWL). VOWL integrates over-the-water wireless simulations of base stations located on floating platforms with visual results in the form of geographic heat maps. The application is fully configurable, allowing for analysis of the environment at a single moment in time as well as statistical analysis of time-series simulation data. VOWL is an easy-to-use graphical user interface for efficient analysis of maritime or littoral networks which could impact operations such as disaster relief.