SEPTEMBER 2018 • FOGHORN 13 FOGHORNFOCUS: TECHNOLOGY The European World Leader, proudly serving America's finest ! Reservations, Check-In, Port Automation, ePoS Reservations, Check-In, Port Automation, ePoS We care about your Customers Worldwide, we serve over 33 million passengers, 5 million vehicles and over a million cargo units annually. From whale watching to fine dining and from bay crossings to ocean voyages; Carus has the answer. www.carus.com The European World Leader, sisted, to remote-control. While this ca- pability might not immediately apply to all passenger vessel operators, and certainly not in all situations, it puts us ahead of the curve in terms of develop- ing dynamic operator assist systems. Much in the same way that automak- ers have incorporated systems like dynamic cruise control, lane-keep assist, blind-spot indicators, and emergency braking, we envision dynamic oper- ator-assist systems that run unobtru- sively in the background until needed. The potential impact of such safety im- provements has drawn the interest of numerous operators, and they make perfect sense for passenger vessel operators, too.” The vessel’s operations may be monitored from a mother ship via radio link, or from shore via satellite link. In the instance of lost primary and backup communications, the vessel will assume pre-programmed behavior, such as station-keeping. Other safety features include geo-fence tools, emer- gency-stop buttons, and the ability to switch from autonomous to manual control at any time. New Age Communications According to survey results conducted in January by the Pew Research Center, 77 percent of Americans are online on a daily basis, with a staggering 26 percent of American adults reporting that they’re online “almost constantly.” Accommodating that demand isn’t always easy for commercial businesses, particularly with the unique challenges that operating in a marine environment brings. Compounding the issue is the ability to offer consistent cellular phone service on a moving object. PVA Associate member Neutral Connect Network, Boyntown Beach, FL, understands the challenges and offers solutions to vessel operators such as PVA Vessel member Staten Island Ferry, which operates large ferries carrying thousands of passengers 24 hours day/365 days a year in the New York City metropolitan area. “For the most part, passengers on commercial vessels such as commuter ferries are forced to try to ‘catch’ signals from outside the vessel to make a con- nection using with WiFi or cellular service,” Tyler Kratz, Senior Vice President at Neutral Connect Network explained. “And sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t.” NCN is using state-of-the-art tech- nology to bring data to passenger vessels in numbers that were unheard of just a short time ago. “Staten Island Ferry has the fastest WiFi on any passenger vessel in the world. Upon launching the WiFi, and its subsequent upgrade that will be finished this month, the ferry system is pushing nearly one-and-a-half terabytes every day,” said Kratz. For context, one terabyte equals 1,024 gigabytes. And, an iPhone X, for example, only has up to 128 GB, which illustrates how much data a terabyte holds.