What makes
a ship difficult?
A vessel is a sealed steel space, and the radio environment is far harsher than anything ashore. Conventional radio runs into these five problems one after another.
Thick steel, structure and machinery block or reflect the signal, leaving areas where communication is unreliable or simply absent.
Space on board is limited and often restricted; with several teams working at once, even moving and routing cable is tight.
Heavy thick RF cable is weighty and bulky, and installing it often takes several workers or special equipment, driving up labour cost.
Existing port, equipment or communications infrastructure struggles to support growth, and legacy systems cannot scale with the business.
When a fault occurs far from shore, the support team is constrained by communication delay and cannot locate or clear it remotely.
Conventional radio vs fibre distributed antennas
The same ship, two approaches — and the difference shows in every metric that matters.
One DAS covering every deck
Optical remote units and smart antennas distributed along the hull carry coverage from the bridge through to the engine room and the holds — wider, deeper, without a dead spot.
Sealed hazardous spaces
need explosion-proof antennas
On a tanker the engine room, cargo tanks, pump room, paint store and dangerous-goods holds are classified hazardous areas — an ordinary antenna cannot go in. Those sealed steel compartments are exactly where reliable communication matters most: if work goes wrong, a worker has to be able to call for help immediately. We cover them with the MAEX10 explosion-proof smart antenna — intrinsically safe construction, all-metal housing — extending the DAS safely into the most dangerous spaces on the ship.
Design through operation, delivered as one
A sounder investment that still meets the owner's future needs — four stages carried end to end by one manufacturer.
95% coverage on board, with no dropped handover.
Smart antenna status is visible, so faults are cleared faster.
A local team responds, without the delay of distance.
Mature RFoF DAS, proven across projects.
Lightweight cabling cuts cost and leaves room to grow.
No more dead spots on board
Cargo ships, cruise ships, tankers — one fibre DAS covering every deck and compartment.
Marine and warehousing key facts
Deck to hold
Coverage through steel bulkheads and decks
Yard-wide
Quays, yards and gate areas
Racked aisles
Coverage between high-bay racking
NetFlex
Positioning and task management for crews
Vessel, port and warehouse coverage FAQ
The questions we hear most often on selection, certification and delivery.
Didn’t find your question? Ask an engineer →Steel decks and bulkheads isolate each compartment. A distributed system places antennas in engine rooms, holds and accommodation so crews can talk across the whole vessel.
Yes. High-bay racking blocks signal much like steel structures; antennas are placed along aisles and fed by fiber repeaters for even coverage.
Outdoor ORUs and antennas cover quays, yards and gates, linked by fiber to a central signal source.
With NetFlex and positioning-capable radios, supervisors can see crew locations and receive man-down or SOS alerts.