Korean Register

Maritime requirements had to be built into 3GPP standards designed for land

The Korean e-Navigation project adopted LTE-M, a high-speed maritime wireless network, for broadband maritime communication. Expanding the service abroad required maritime service scenarios and requirements to be included in 3GPP international standards. But 3GPP standards such as LTE were designed for land, so everything from service requirements to network architecture and radio access had to be re-examined for use at sea.

We contributed maritime service scenarios and led the maritime study and work items as rapporteur

SyncTechno submitted contributions with maritime service scenarios and requirements to 3GPP SA1 meetings and, as rapporteur (the editor responsible for the work item), reflected the results of each meeting in the standards documents. Among the Korean e-Navigation services, maritime safety information (MSP5), pilotage (MSP6) and tug (MSP7) services were recast as 3GPP use cases. In 2018, based on the study results, we proposed a new work item, had it approved and took charge of drafting the technical specification.

1. 01Maritime service scenario contributions

   In 2016 we contributed the technical report scope and an annex on IMO's 16 maritime service portfolios (MSP); in 2017 we submitted 32 scenario contributions (including revisions) covering MSP5, 6 and 7, of which 11 were approved.

2. 02Rapporteur role

   For the FS_MARCOM study and the Rel-16 work item, we prepared status reports and updated drafts and presented the work at TSG plenary meetings.

3. 03IALA engagement and next steps

   We submitted four information papers to the 22nd IALA ENAV meeting in 2018, supported the Korean Register's presentation and set out plans for Stage 2 and 3 standardization.

Maritime communication requirements were approved as a 3GPP technical report and specification

In June 2018, technical report TR 22.819 with the maritime communication study results and a new Rel-16 work item were approved. After the SA1 meeting in November, TS 22.119, the specification of maritime communication service requirements, was approved at the TSG SA plenary in Sorrento, Italy, in December. TS 22.119 includes maritime-specific requirements such as service continuity between direct and indirect network connections, linking ship identifiers with device identifiers, maritime safety information notification and distribution of onboard emergency rescue requests. Building on the contributions developed with the Korean Register, SyncTechno served as rapporteur for TS 22.119 and carried the work through to approval.