Vessel type
Ferries and passenger ships: the distribution is the product
On a passenger vessel the television is part of what the ticket buys, and the cellular signal below decks is part of what the crew and passengers complain about. Both are distribution problems before they are hardware problems.
Channel count and the multi-room configuration
The CATV route documents up to 58 channels in a multi-room configuration by carrying different channel sets on the two polarizations, so services do not interfere. On a ferry with cabins spread over several decks that is a practical ceiling worth designing to: it decides how many receivers, how many modulators and how much coax spectrum the headend needs.
Where more than broadcast television is wanted — CCTV views, on-demand films, port and safety information — the IPTV route takes the same sources and streams them over the ship LAN, with the documented menu, user management, boot screen, information insertion and catch-up features. That is the layer that lets an operator change what a passenger sees without changing hardware.
The cellular problem below decks
A ferry is a steel box full of passengers who expect their phone to work. The documented answer is an indoor antenna distribution layer — a micro-cell inside the ship that spreads the shore base-station signal through the accommodation, engine room and control room — with the documented benefit of better call quality and a higher connection success rate, plus traffic taken off the shore macro network.
This is specified alongside the 4G/5G marine antenna rather than instead of it: the outdoor unit brings the shore signal on board inside roughly 35 nautical miles, and the indoor layer spreads it to the spaces the hull shields.
Cameras on a passenger ship
Ferries need coverage of vehicle decks, mooring stations and passenger areas, and the vehicle deck is the hard one: enclosed, classified, and impossible to clean during a turnaround. Wiper PTZ cameras on the deck ends and fisheye units over the vehicle lanes cover the space with fewer mounting points, and the washer tank keeps the glass usable between turnarounds.
The rest of the camera mix is ordinary — fixed IR units at mooring stations and gangways, domes under overhangs in passenger areas where a barrel housing would be knocked or objected to.
Specify against these points
- How many channels the schedule actually needs
- Whether the operator wants menus, CCTV channels and catch-up
- Where the cellular signal dies inside the ship
- Vehicle-deck cleaning between turnarounds
A typical configuration for this vessel
An example, not a quotation — the model follows the route and the footprint. Send the route and the numbers come back with the model.
Buyer questions
Ferries & passenger
How many channels can a ferry system carry?+−
The documented multi-room CATV configuration carries up to 58 channels by using both polarizations for different channel sets. Beyond that, the IPTV route is the way to add content because it is no longer limited by coax spectrum.
Does the mobile coverage system need its own antenna?+−
It needs a donor signal, which is what the 4G/5G marine antenna provides inside roughly 35 nautical miles. The indoor layer then spreads that signal through the ship.
Can passengers see the cameras?+−
If the operator wants it: on the IPTV route CCTV is one of the documented sources, so camera views can appear in the same list as broadcast channels — subject to the operator's own policy on showing them.
What about cleaning cameras on a vehicle deck?+−
That is the case for wiper units plus washer tanks: the deck is enclosed, the glass fogs and films, and a turnaround does not leave time for a manual clean.