Fleet Xpress Annual Service on an Intellian GX100 in Rotterdam

Project overview

In September 2026 Satcenter carried out the annual preventive maintenance of an Inmarsat Fleet Xpress system on a cargo vessel in the Port of Rotterdam. The vessel sails with an Intellian GX100 Ka-band VSAT antenna for Global Xpress and a FleetBroadband terminal as the L-band backup link.

The service followed Inmarsat's annual service checklist for Intellian antennas and was completed within a single port call, even though the vessel changed berth during the work.

Scope of the annual service

Antenna inspection above deck

Our engineer opened the radome and inspected the complete above-deck unit:

• radome top and base checked for cracks and damage
• cables and connectors checked for moisture, corrosion and loose fittings, including the cable glands at the radome base
• free movement on every axis, antenna balance, belts, bearings and sensor box verified
• bolts, shock absorbers, reflector and feed horn inspected for wear and corrosion
• initialisation sequence and home-flag operation confirmed

All mechanical parts were in good condition and moved freely and smoothly.

Below-deck rack inspection

• cable labelling and connections checked and tidied where needed
• cooling fans inspected and cleaned
• IP connectivity between the antenna control unit (ACU) and the router verified
• gyro input logged to confirm the correct heading string format
• PDU settings checked against the system drawing

Firmware updates and calibration

Both the iARM and the antenna firmware were updated to the latest versions. After the update the antenna was recalibrated according to the service guide:

• tilt sensor bias calibration
• rate sensor calibration
• elevation offset verified to be within 0.5°
• conical scan pattern verified

A full antenna diagnostic test was then run, and it reported no errors.

FleetBroadband backup verified

Fleet Xpress relies on FleetBroadband as its automatic backup when the Ka-band link is unavailable. We reconfigured the FleetBroadband terminal and tested internet and telephony again, so that the backup is ready to take over when needed.

Following the vessel to its next berth

Halfway through the service the vessel had to shift to a berth at another terminal. Our engineer followed the ship, carried on with the work that same evening and finished the final checks after midnight, so the vessel did not need a second service visit.

Result

• annual preventive maintenance completed successfully and registered with Inmarsat
• system commissioned again with Inmarsat's One Touch Commissioning
• received signal-to-noise ratio of 13.3 dB in clear weather
• updated photo set of the antenna, mast and racks delivered for the vessel's records

Why annual Fleet Xpress maintenance matters

A VSAT antenna on a mast is exposed to vibration, salt and temperature changes every day. Worn belts, loose connectors or old firmware rarely fail all at once; they slowly reduce tracking and uptime. An annual service catches these problems in port, before they turn into an outage at sea.

Satcenter carries out commissioning and maintenance for Inmarsat and other maritime VSAT systems in Rotterdam, Istanbul and other ports. Contact us to plan the annual service for your vessel.