Maritime Broadband Communications: Applications, Challenges and an Offshore 5G-virtual MIMO Paradigm

Orienting to the competitive exploration of marine resources and the ship intelligent navigation, the broadband and stable maritime communications has regarded as a matter of concern. Due to the particularity of the ocean environment, the maritime communication network is severely restricted compared to the terrestrial one. By understanding the requirement of maritime business, this article deepens the research on maritime communications at offshore areas and ocean and makes a summary of the urgent problems and mainstream communication technologies. Besides, an experimental type of maritime network paradigm based on the coast-5G network involving virtual MIMO technology is present, with a view to providing open issues for the offshore maritime broadband communications.