Reference Architecture Diagram + Narrative (multi-orbit SATCOM + edge safety)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ROLES & ZONES │
Capt/Bridge │ OT Eng │ HSE │ Corporate IT │ Crew/Contractors │ Port Ops │
└─────────┬─────────┬────────┬────────┬───────┘
│ │ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ VESSEL / RIG EDGE (SEGMENTED) │
│ VRFs/VLANs: ▸ OT/SCADA/DP ▸ Corp-IT ▸ Crew Wi-Fi ▸ Guest │
│ SD-WAN/SD-Branch (ZTP) | NAC/NGFW | QoS: OT > voice > web │
│ Edge Compute: telemetry buffer, protocol normalize (OPC/Modbus)│
└───────────┬───────────────────────────┬────────────────────────┘
│ │
Dual SATCOM (VSAT): GEO / MEO / LEO beams │ Near-shore LTE/5G | Port microwave
(dual modems, auto beam/constellation failover) │ (policy-based prefer at coast/port)
▼ ▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TRANSPORT / SECURITY FABRIC │
│ SD-WAN overlays ║ BGP ║ IX/Peering (shore) │
│ SASE/SSE POPs: ZTNA | SWG | CASB | FWaaS | DLP│
│ Geo/data-sovereignty + vendor access gates │
└──────────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────┘
│ │
▼ ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│ SHORE COLO / DC (sovereign) │ │ CLOUD ON-RAMPS (DX/ER/GCI) │
│ • Fleet Ops • EAM/ERP │ │ • Analytics • Data Lake │
│ • HSM/KMS • PAM • SIEM/NDR │ │ • UCaaS/CCaaS • Crew portals │
└───────────────┬──────────────────┘ └──────────────┬───────────────────┘
│ │
▼ ▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────┐
│ SAFETY & REGULATORY COMMS │ │ WELFARE / BUSINESS APPS │
│ • GMDSS / DSC / Inmarsat │ │ • Email/HR • e-learning │
│ • MRCC integration │ │ • Crew Wi-Fi • eDocs │
└──────────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────────┘
Observability bus (logs/metrics/traces) ──► NOC/SOC + AIOps + ITSM/CMDB + IMO/ISM audit vault
Narrative (how the fleet stays safe, connected, and compliant)
1) Purpose & posture
- Objective: Provide mission-safe, always-on communications for ships/rigs—protecting OT/SCADA and bridge systems, enabling crew welfare, and assuring safety services (GMDSS) anywhere on the globe.
- Posture: Zero-Trust, strict OT/IT/Crew segmentation, and multi-orbit resilience with jurisdiction-aware routing and storage.
2) Edge & underlay (syntax at sea)
- SD-WAN/SD-Branch at the vessel/rig edge, with deterministic VRFs for OT/SCADA/DP, Corp-IT, Crew, Guest.
- Dual SATCOM modems bound to GEO/MEO/LEO beams; policy steers flows by class (e.g., OT control before welfare traffic).
- Near-shore the edge prefers LTE/5G; in-port it prefers microwave. Failover is automatic and stateful.
3) Zero-Trust access fabric (semantics preserved)
- SASE/SSE POPs enforce ZTNA (user/device/role), SWG/CASB/FWaaS/DLP; vendor sessions are just-in-time through PAM.
- Geo/data-sovereignty fences pin corporate and crew data to approved shore regions; OT telemetry is signed and rate-limited.
4) Compute destinations (shore + cloud)
- Shore DC/Colo hosts fleet ops, asset management (EAM/ERP), HSM/KMS, SIEM/NDR, and immutable audit vaults (IMO/ISM evidence).
- Cloud on-ramps (Direct Connect/ExpressRoute/Interconnect) provide private access to analytics, UCaaS/CCaaS, crew portals, and data lakes.
5) Safety & welfare paths (meaning under stress)
- Safety plane: GMDSS/DSC has dedicated priority routes independent of crew internet; MRCC links are pre-staged.
- Welfare plane: Crew Wi-Fi and apps traverse distinct VRFs with bandwidth ceilings and content controls—never lateral to OT.
6) Resilience patterns (grammar that survives weather)
- Beam/constellation failover: SATCOM switches <60s; near-shore LTE/5G preempts when stronger; port microwave overtakes in harbor.
- Edge store-and-forward buffers OT telemetry if backhaul is impaired; ordered replay restores historian truth when link returns.
7) Security & compliance (trust with evidence)
- Identity-centric access (MFA + device posture) for bridge and engineering roles; cert-based identity for PLCs/sensors.
- NDR watches east-west inside OT VRF; SIEM/SOAR auto-isolates crew VLAN on malware signals; WORM/immutable logs meet IMO/ISM audits.
8) Telemetry & KPIs (pragmatics)
- AIOps tracks link jitter/packet loss per orbit, MOS for bridge voice, OT latency spikes; auto-ticketing via ITSM/CMDB.
- Targets: Availability ≥99.9% at sea; failover <60 s; OT jitter <30 ms; MOS ≥3.8; safety signaling success 100% during drills.
9) Minimal BOM (mapped to your matrix)
Dual VSAT (LEO/MEO/GEO), LTE/5G, port microwave; SD-WAN/SD-Branch; SASE/SSE (ZTNA/SWG/CASB/FWaaS/DLP); Edge compute (telemetry buffer); Shore DC (HSM/KMS, PAM, SIEM/NDR, audit vault); Cloud on-ramps; UCaaS/CCaaS; AIOps; ITSM/CMDB; GMDSS stack.