The project was appointed by Eniram Ltd, an IT company which offers the maritime industry solutions in the form of turnkey packages installed aboard ships to aid crews in enhancing many aspects of vessel performance. The need for a study and comparison was identified into different ship-to-shore communications methods for transmitting the data acquired from Eniram’s onboard system modules to Eniram’s office for processing. The objective was to provide a clear procedure for selecting the most appropriate solution for implementation aboard a ship, on a per-customer basis.

Through research into marine communications, the communications industry as a whole, and interviews with Eniram, the project described the relevant characteristics of the possible communications methods and their feasibilities in being employed for Eniram’s purposes. These were according to each vessel’s operational factors, as well as implementation and financial considerations discussed from a general project planning viewpoint.

The project resulted in the production of a set of procedural guidelines, or a solution map, that stipulate in a systematic manner the information that needs to be collated for each ship installation, the factors that need to be formulated from this information, and the consequent logical decisions required to be made when selecting the optimal solution for a vessel.