Efficient wireless link modeling for marine drone application under harsh offshore environment

Tasks to be carried out in maritime are usually expensive due to the use of the manned vessels with large operational crews that includes the safety of life and property at sea environment. Utilization of drones has potential to significantly improve the efficiency and safety of marine and offshore operations. Examples include remotely operated inspection for navigation, surveillance or monitoring ship conditions including emissions, unmanned offshore delivery from shore and search & rescue operations. With defining of new technology as marine drones in such applications, ensuring robust control under harsh offshore environments is the critical issue that needs to be addressed before marine drones can be adopted for widespread commercial use. One of the key research areas to ensure the robust control and operation of marine drones is wireless communication link between drone and control station [1]. The main radio-wave propagation mechanism for near sea-surface applications in an evaporation duct is illustrated in Figure 1.