China Mobile Fujian Enhances Maritime Wireless Coverage with Virtual Sea Evaluation, Accelerating Maritime Digitalization Development

As the reach of 5G services continues to expand, China Mobile Fujian has introduced an innovative solution called "Virtual Sea Coverage Evaluation" to improve wireless coverage in sea areas. This cutting-edge solution enables remote prediction of wireless coverage in sea areas with accuracy that rivals traditional sea area coverage evaluation methods. This solution is highly versatile and can be utilized in various business scenarios, such as live commerce through floating fishing farms, sea farm monitoring, and marine law enforcement. By implementing this solution, China Mobile Fujian contributes to developing a 'smart ocean' and accelerates the digitalization and growth of the marine economy.

Maritime command center of a city in Fujian, China

Traditional sea coverage evaluation methods are expensive and time-consuming, and limited to specific sea areas.

User behaviors and service distribution vary significantly in coastal, offshore, and deep-sea areas. Traditional sea coverage evaluation methods rely on ships and cannot accurately simulate user travel patterns in specific sea areas or routes. The main challenges are as follows:

Virtual sea coverage evaluation is a highly efficient and cost-effective solution that can be applied to a wide range of sea areas.

This innovative technology uses satellite maps and intelligent image recognition to detect floating fish farms and aquaculture areas, eliminating the need for ships. It leverages simulation foundation models, 5G MR data, and 4G MDT data to create digital twin maps of the marine environment and related services. By integrating sea user measurement information with maps, it effectively identifies weak coverage areas and coverage holes in sea areas and generates site planning and optimization advice to improve coverage.

This solution was implemented for a Tailu-Dongluo island route, a floating fish farm, a port (Kemen Port), and the deep-sea area near the Huangqi Peninsula in Fuzhou city. Its coverage evaluation result is comparable to sea coverage evaluation using traditional methods.

Sea coverage evaluation result near Huangqi Peninsula in Fuzhou city

Lin Wenzhou, general manager of China Mobile Fujian's network department, highlighted that Fujian's has consistently prioritized its mountain and sea resources for economic development. The implementation of 5G networks not only establishes a communication infrastructure for the "digital ocean," but also bridges the digital divide and invigorates the local economy by facilitating the digital transformation of Fujian's society and economy.

Ma Hongbo, President of Huawei Wireless Network MAE Product Line, said, "The utilization of Huawei's IntelligentRAN for virtual sea coverage evaluation accelerates digital transformation and opens up new business opportunities for operators. Moving forward, our goal is to enhance virtual sea coverage evaluation capabilities by offering comprehensive coverage, 3D simulation, and coverage evaluation for coastal, offshore, and deep-sea areas. We plan to integrate intelligent technology into marine 5G networks to create a ubiquitous network experience."

In line with the Fujian government's development strategy that emphasizes the digital and ocean economy, Fujian Mobile will leverage its 5G networks to drive new infrastructure construction, injecting fresh vitality into economic development and providing robust support for Fujian's digital economy.