ROTA: An Archipelago-Wide Area Network for High Speed Communication to Ships

The ROTA project is aimed at offering high-speed network connections to ships traveling at archipelagos, i.e. seas with dense clusters of islands, such as the Aegean sea. The ROTA system is based on the use of directional antennas on-board the ships and stationary antennas on the islands. The stationary antennas on the islands are connected to high-speed commercial computer networks, which are available on practically all inhabited islands at the Aegean sea, thus implementing a Virtual Private Network (VPN). This approach is much more cost-effective when compared to current approaches that rely on the usage of satellite communications. This paper presents the concept behind ROTA platform.