Abstract
Abstract-Current maritime systems are to a large extent based on legacy analog VHF radios for ship-to-shore communications near port waters, and relatively low bandwidth digital satellite communications (SatCom) for long-range ship-to-ship/shore communications. The cost of bandwidth for SatCom networks is expected to remain high due to the cost of launching satellites into orbit and also due to the stabilizers required for presently available on-board antennas. On the other hand, the legacy VHF system comprises low bandwidth radios incapable of supporting applications requiring high data rates. Unlike the terrestrial networks, advancement in maritime communication means is severely lagging behind its land counterpart.