The marine self-organizing VHF data link is a digital radio link with self-organizing ability, which exploits the STDMA algorithm and operates in marine VHF channels. It can support the applications of surveillance, situation awareness and communication. It is the core technology of the Universal AIS which is considered as a future surveillance system at sea by the IMO. In this paper, the operational principle of the marine self-organizing VHF data link is introduced. Simultaneously, a new access protocol is proposed to enhance the marine self-organizing VHF data link so as to support point-to-point communication. The point-to-point communication is one of the most important bases to establish dynamic internetworks among computers on the bridges in the future.

• Wen-Li Sun
• Fu-Wen Pang
• Tchang-Hee Hong