Digital Voice Communication in the Maritime VHF Band

Kurzfassung

Today’s and future communication systems in maritime rely on digital data communication between the ship and transceivers that are either on land, in air (satellite) or on sea. Analog voice communications is not an integrated part of future maritime communication system proposals. However, it is in general preserved in its functionality according to future maritime communication system proposals. In recent years parts of the dedicated voice spectrum was already reallocated for digital non-voice communication systems. Within this paper, we focus on the possible usage of digital voice communications in the maritime VHF frequency band regarding its technical feasibility, benefits, and challenges.