Buzz Wireless has supplied its Buzz wireless Hubba marine broadband system to five Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) patrol vessels owned by four regional IFCAs.
The Hubba X4 features a high powered MIMO (multiple input and multiple output) antenna which is housed in a small, easy to install, IP67 certified casing providing protection from the extreme maritime elements. The antenna is connected to a Hubba X4 router located below deck to create a Wi-Fi hotspot. The unit also has an RJ45 port for wired network connectivity.
Both Hubba X4 models can operate on 4G, 3G and 2G networks, providing upto 100Mbps download speeds, with the flexibility to connect upto 32 devices to the Wi-Fi onboard.
The vessels, belonging to four of the regional IFCAs, are used to help ensure the authorities take a leading and effective national role in fisheries and conservation management.
“The regional IFCAs play a very important role in championing and managing a sustainable marine environment and inshore fisheries and its imperative the crews have a reliable voice and broadband data connection while they are on patrol,” said Steve Smith, Buzz Wireless managing director. “The Hubba X4 Go is designed and built specifically for the rigors of the marine environment and will provide the IFCAs with a cost effective alternative to maritime satellite communications for inshore use.”
Hubba X4 Go was installed on one of IFCA’s Cornwall vessels, the 27m patrol boat Saint Piran, built by Damen shipyards in 2000 which acts as mother vessel to a 6.5m RIB.
In Sussex, the Buzz Wireless Hubba system was installed on the authority’s fisheries patrol vessel Watchful which is used as an integrated enforcement and survey vessel.
Eastern IFCA operates two patrol boats, both of which have Buzz Wireless system installed. FPV John Allen is an 11m Redbay cabin rib which is used to patrol the coastline of the Eastern IFCA district of Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk out to six nautical miles. The system is also fitted to Eastern IFCA’s survey boat, RV Three Counties, which is used by officers to conduct inspections and foot surveys of the cockle and mussel beds.
The North East IFCA has the system installed on its modern purpose built patrol/research vessel North Eastern Guardian III which operates from the port of Whitby, North Yorkshire. The vessel has been designed and equipped to operate as a state of the art research/monitoring platform and is also equipped for acoustic ground discrimination, subsea surveying and biological/benthic habitat assessment.
The Hubba X4 Duo model is specifically designed for vessels crossing between service providers or countries and which have a VSAT terminal. The VSAT failover facility enables the lower cost, faster download of the Hubba X4 Duo to seamlessly take precedence when in range of a mobile connection, substantially reducing the operator’s communication costs.
The Hubba X4 Duo system uses a dual SIM facility, capable to connect to 3G or 4G networks to provide superfast wireless broadband speeds.