Maritime IoT: An Architectural and Radio Spectrum Perspective

The concept of maritime Internet of Things is developed initially to modernize the maritime industries by the United Nations chartered International Maritime Organization under the name e-Navigation. At the heart of this concept is the maritime machine-type communication (MTC) technology. However, maritime MTC faces many unique challenges that are different from its land counterparts in many ways, rooted in the unique maritime environments, service requirements, and the radio spectrum. This paper presents the challenges and solutions from the perspective of architecture and radio spectrum with a focus on allocation, interference, and regulations, as well as management and sharing techniques.