Objective
Inland navigation can be viewed as an environment-friendly alternative to road haulage. Within the transportation sector, a shift from the growing road haulage towards inland navigation can be stimulated through the development of a specific infrastructural network.
In September 1992 it became possible for vessels to sail - without ever leaving European inland waterways - from the North Sea to the Black Sea. Making possible such a voyage was the opening of a canal joining the Main and the Danube rivers. One of the main problems however is the lack of proper communication facilities on the aforementioned trade route. It is the premise of this COMSINE project, that an open datacommunications system providing services specifically designed to benefit inland waterways from the North Sea to the Black Sea, can be implemented in which the Inmarsat-C mobile satellite communications system is uniquely placed to form the backbone of that system.
The objective of the COMSINE project are:
-To investigate the requirements in inland navigation in the area of communications facilities,
-To establish an open communications infrastructure providing services, especially designed to meet the needs of inland shipping across Europe. The Inmarsat communications services are uniquely placed to form the backbone of such an infrastructure,
-To implement field trials in inland navigation on the trade route from the North Sea to the Black Sea.
The project will commence with an investigation into the current infrastructure and will identify the main bottlenecks in the area of communications, when sailing from the North Sea to the Black Sea. Next a study will be made of the requirements set by inland navigation. Based on these activities an overview will be made of the possible services that can be provided by an Inmarsat-C communications system and that will meet the user requirements. The next activities will focus on the functional and technical design, after which the system will be built. Partners will be selected to carry out a field trial, for which a pilot test structure and organisation will be developed. After the field trials an assessment will be made, on which further recommendations for the future implementation will be determined.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
2585 GB Den Haag
Netherlands