Multi-orbit connectivity layer
Built into your satellite link, not bolted on top of a cloud login.
Full Ahead Maritime integrates with modern maritime connectivity — Starlink and other LEO constellations, managed multi-orbit LEO+GEO services and legacy VSAT — measuring the link the ship actually has and sizing every sync to it. We publish no coverage percentage for somebody else's constellation; what we stand behind is that the ship keeps working when the link does not, and the outbox drains when it returns.
Connectivity treated as a variable, not an assumption
Link-aware, not link-dependent
The app probes the real round trip and throughput on board — Starlink LEO, OneWeb, a managed multi-orbit LEO+GEO service, Ku/Ka VSAT or L-band — and picks a sync policy for that link instead of assuming a shore-grade connection.
Graceful degradation, in that order
Broadband syncs everything. LEO batches media. GEO trades round trips for larger bundles. On metered L-band only compliance-critical deltas — job closures, defects, certificates — leave the ship.
Outages are covered, not survived
Rain fade, antenna blockage alongside, jamming zones and polar gaps are ordinary events. The offline outbox holds every action with its original timestamp and drains automatically on the next link of any kind.
Supported links and what the platform does on each
| Service | Orbit | Typical link | Sync behaviour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starlink Maritime (LEO) | LEO | 100 Mbps · 45 ms | Broadband — full sync. High throughput, low latency. Full sync including evidence photographs and telemetry streaming in near real time. |
| OneWeb / Eutelsat (LEO) | LEO | 40 Mbps · 80 ms | LEO — full sync, batched media. Strong polar and high-latitude coverage where GEO look angles fail. Full sync with attachments batched. |
| Multi-orbit LEO + GEO (managed service) | Multi-orbit | 60 Mbps · 120 ms | LEO — full sync, batched media. Auto-failover between orbits. Full Ahead re-measures on every switchover instead of assuming a fixed profile. |
| Ku/Ka-band VSAT (GEO) | GEO | 6 Mbps · 620 ms | GEO VSAT — latency-tolerant batching. Latency-bound, not bandwidth-bound. Requests are batched to survive 600 ms+ round trips and rain fade. |
| Iridium Certus / Inmarsat FleetBroadband (L-band) | MEO | 0.7 Mbps · 900 ms | L-band narrowband — compliance first. Metered fallback. Only compliance-critical deltas move; attachments hold in the outbox until a cheaper link appears. |
| Port Wi-Fi / crew LTE | Terrestrial | 25 Mbps · 60 ms | Broadband — full sync. Opportunistic. The outbox drains fully, including deferred attachments, the moment it is detected. |
Throughput and latency figures are indicative planning values for a typical maritime terminal; confirm actual performance with your connectivity provider.
Coverage across the major shipping lanes
Orbit mix and gap handling by lane, stated qualitatively. We deliberately publish no availability decimals — those would be claims about a satellite operator's network, not about our software. Where coverage thins — polar legs, yards, canal transits, interference zones — the ship keeps working offline and uploads on reconnect.
Asia – Europe (Malacca, Suez, Med)
LEO primary, GEO backupDense LEO plus overlapping GEO beams; canal transits fall back to crew LTE.
Transpacific (Asia – US West Coast)
LEO primary, GEO backupMid-ocean LEO cells with GEO fill; great-circle high-latitude legs stay on LEO.
Transatlantic (Europe – North America)
LEO + GEOHeaviest overlap of any lane in a multi-orbit fit; the outbox still covers the gaps.
Middle East Gulf – Asia (crude and product)
LEO + GEOInterference and jamming zones drop to L-band; compliance deltas still move.
South America – Europe / Asia (bulk)
LEO + GEOSouth Atlantic thin spots ride GEO at higher latency with batched sync.
Australia / West Africa bulk routes
LEO + GEORain fade on Ka-band handled by orbit failover, then latency-tolerant batching.
Arctic and high-latitude (>70°)
LEO only (GEO look angle fails)Polar LEO constellations only; outbox covers the residual outage entirely.
Coastal, canal, anchorage and yard periods
Terrestrial LTE / port Wi-Fi, LEOAntenna blockage alongside and in yards is the classic outage — the app runs offline throughout.
Satellite connectivity questions
Does Full Ahead Maritime require Starlink or a specific satellite provider?
No. It is provider-neutral and works over whatever link the vessel already has — Starlink Maritime, OneWeb, a managed multi-orbit LEO+GEO service, traditional Ku or Ka-band VSAT, L-band fallback, port Wi-Fi or crew LTE. The platform measures the link and adapts rather than requiring a minimum bandwidth.
What coverage figure do you publish for the major shipping lanes?
None. Satellite availability is your provider's infrastructure, not our software, and we hold no measurement of it that we could stand behind. What we can state is our own behaviour: a multi-orbit fit uses LEO for latency and high latitudes and GEO for fill, and wherever the link thins — antenna blockage in yards and canals, deep polar legs, interference zones — the offline-first application keeps working and uploads on reconnect.
What happens during a multi-orbit failover?
The link is re-measured on reconnection and the sync policy is recalculated, so a switch from LEO to GEO immediately becomes latency-tolerant batching instead of a wall of failed requests. In-flight actions stay queued and are retried in order.
Will the software eat our satellite data allowance?
Sync moves record deltas — kilobytes per job, movement or requisition. Photographs and evidence files are compressed on LEO and deferred entirely on metered narrowband until a cheaper link appears, so the expensive traffic is the traffic you choose.
Do we need a server on board?
No. There is no vessel-side server or replication window. The application itself runs offline on the laptops and tablets already on board, and the connectivity layer decides when and how much to send.
Related reading: offline ship management software, crew welfare and connectivity and the open API.
Tell us your terminal fit
Send your current connectivity setup and we will show exactly how Full Ahead Maritime behaves on it, lane by lane.
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