WLAN-coverage and throughput in ship engine rooms

The application of Augmented Reality technology for the support of service and maintenance processes generally relies on the use of mobile devices communicating with a central server via wireless network. The wireless connection is necessary to coordinate several teams during the execution of interlocked, but locally distributed maintenance activities, for requesting and granting clearances for system units as well as for the access to operation data from sensors and databases. Yet, there exist very few experiences with the application of wireless communication networks in sea vessel maintenance and particularly within ship engine rooms. Several test series have been planned and conducted by the Fraunhofer IGD Rostock in order to evaluate the possibilities for the application of WLAN-technology in such environments. The analysis of first results has shown that the application of WLAN technology for broadband communication within the ship engine room is generally feasible. Given an appropriate positioning of the access points, a nearly complete coverage of the engine room is possible even with reduced transmitter power.