Advancing Remote Control Capabilities for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships: Insights and Lessons from Trials

The development of remote control technologies for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) is reshaping maritime operations, with Remote Operation Centers (ROC) enabling shore-based monitoring and control of vessels. While industry leaders advance these technologies using cellular technologies as the primary source of communication, a lack of research on trial data regarding network performance for remote operations in harbors can be identified. To address this, trials were conducted in the Emden harbor using a ROC setup aligned to guidelines of various classification societies, evaluating the feasibility of using LTE and 5G-based cellular connectivity in harbor environments and study the effect of harbor infrastructure on network performance. This paper presents the results of monitoring these metrics correlated to the vessel’s location. Findings reveal that, while the latency is generally within the defined limits for remote operations and cellular connections enable stable and responsive control, significant challenges persist. Depending on the used provider, signal quality varies and is influenced by harbor-based structures which lead to elevated latencies, packet loss and reduced bandwidth especially when using LTE networks. These limitations highlight the need for improved network resilience and prioritization. This paper underscores both the viability and current challenges using cellular connections in harbor-based environments for remote operations, offering insights to guide future regulatory frameworks and technological development.