Objectives  The purpose of this work is to optimize the communication architecture for existing remotely-controlled ships to meet the challenges of network connectivity across diverse environments (e.g., ports, deep-sea and polar regions), which can address the issues of insufficient capacity, excessive latency, and insecure communication environment.

Methods First, the applicability and technical characteristics of shore-based and satellite network are systematically summarized, while the divers wireless communication requirements of remotely-controlled ships sailing in different water areas are comprehensively analyzed. Based on the above, a satellite-shore-based integrated network architecture that fuses multiple wireless communication systems is proposed. It aims to integrate satellite and shore-based network deeply, thereby constructing an intelligent and stable ship-side communication system.

Results It reveals the huge application potential of the satellite-shore-based integrated network architecture with economic and service quality advantages for remotely-controlled ships in complex navigation environments, and sorts out relevant key technologies and existing bottleneck technical problems.

Conclusions The proposed integrated communication network architecture can furnish a theoretical paradigm for optimizing the communication of remotely-controlled ships sailing under different network conditions.