Titanic Disaster – IEEE Share Retrospective Technological Insights
A hundred years after the loss of the RMS Titanic, members of IEEE – the world's largest technical professional organization – share their perspectives on the role that technology played during the hours following the collision, and the new technologies that were sparked by the tragedy. "In 1912, the Titanic was the pinnacle of maritime technology," said Gordon Day, IEEE President and CEO. "It had the most advanced shipboard wireless available and, were it not for that, few if any passengers would have survived. Had nearby ships been similarly equipped, and had it been the custom to operate communications systems around the clock, more passengers would probably have been saved.
New Guidelines, Shipboard Wireless LAN Systems
Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) announced the publication of a new guideline entitled, Guidelines on Shipboard Wireless LAN Systems. The use of wireless LAN systems is becoming more accessible in public areas onshore such as airports, train stations, and hotels. However, with the exception of some passenger ships, LAN systems onboard ships have predominantly been limited to wired systems. Even though it is difficult to predict the transmission characteristics of radio waves within the hull structure of a ship completely surrounded by steel plate, there have been increasing calls for being able to use wireless IP phones, remote wireless cameras, and wireless personal computers onboard ship as such systems become ever increasingly more popular.
Navy Selects Mikros for New Shipboard Networks
Mikros Systems Corporation, announced that it was recently awarded two new U.S. Navy contracts. The contracts cover follow-on work based on Mikros' AIRchitect-EMC wireless network design tool, "interference-aware" network design software which allows the Navy to optimize shipboard network design while avoiding interference with critical radar and communications systems. AIRchitect-EMC was developed by Mikros and subcontractor Intelli-Check - Mobilisa, (Port Townsend, WA) for the Navy under a SBIR Phase II development contract to study Radar Wireless Spectral Efficiency (RWSE). The first program is a subcontract to the Classified Wireless Networks for Embedded Forces program…
