The London Boat Show opened today and so far I've learned of two products being introduced there. It's somewhat odd that while both say "AIS" on the box neither is an AIS receiver or transponder. Certainly the Comar NMEA-2-WiFi box might be used to send AIS target info to apps like iNavX running on an iPad -- and given that Comar is all about AIS, it's likely -- but in fact its two NMEA 0183 inputs could be used for any data a user wants. Having two 0183 inputs, incidentally, is what seems to distinguish Comar's product from Digital Yacht's single input WLN boxes (though worth noting that the Brookhouse iMux has 4 inputs). Meanwhile DY came up with an entirely novel AIS-related data appliance...
I'll venture a guess that Vesper Marine won't commit to giving Christmas "prezzies" to their AIS WatchMate customers every year, but the company is following up on its terrific 2010 anchor watch software gift with another free update feature that lets users place direct DSC calls to AIS targets if their WatchMate model 670, 750, or 850 is set up to output NMEA 0183 to a compatible VHF radio. But I fear "compatible" is the key word here, and I caution WatchMate owners not to set their expectations high, though I think that this is a very worthwhile experiment...
Today I {Kees Verruijt} did a one day tour of the 2011 Marine Equipment Trade Show in Amsterdam. I knew before I started that it would be a hopeless task to cover everything so this is just my own take on things... This year is the first year that Ben had introduced me as the official Panbo representative and I was surprised at how much 'clout' I was carrying. This turned out to be both positive (people take you seriously) and a negative -- some manufacturers clearly stated that some things were under embargo and they did not care for publication just yet...
Today I {Kees Verrujit} did a one day tour of the 2011 Marine Equipment Trade Show in Amsterdam. I knew before I started that it would be a hopeless task to cover everything so this is just my own take on things... This year is the first year that Ben had introduced me as the official Panbo representative and I was surprised at how much 'clout' I was carrying. This turned out to be both positive (people take you seriously) and a negative -- some manufacturers clearly stated that some things were under embargo and they did not care for publication just yet...
So this morning Digital Yacht's iAIS won the DAME award in the electronics category, but the thing I noticed is that four out of the six nominees chosen by the judges involve the integration of normal boat electronics with mobile apps devices. And frankly -- as handy as the iAIS looks to be -- I think a couple of the other nominees better illustrate where this phenomenon is headed. Heck, the RayView app on an iPhone or iPad will not only stream AIS and everything else on a Raymarine e7 screen, but is planned to eventually serve as second station, and the e7 can also easily sync routes with Navionics Mobile (and that integration may also expand). And what about the Fusion 700 Series with its trifecta of app device, NMEA 2000, and Ethernet-to-MFD control possibilities?...
At METS next week, Vesper Marine will be previewing two very interesting additions to its line of AIS products. At left above is the black box (well, blue green actually) AIS XB-8000 Class B transponder and at right is the WatchMate Vision Class B with its sunlight-viewable color touchscreen display. When added to Vesper's existing WatchMate series of monochrome devices -- which includes the plain AIS target display 670, the receive-only model 750, and the full Class B 850 -- it seems like the company will have a model for every taste. But the two new units have some pretty special attributes...
Yes that's an Accu-Steer reversing hydraulic pump meant to push a rudder around, but that block on top is a patent-pending sensor co-developed with FurunoUSA, and the whole package leads to the very interesting "Safe Helm" and "Power Steer" features coming to the latter's NavPilot 700 (which explains why the pilot came out elsewhere earlier). Safe Helm sounds a lot like the "Shadow Drive" feature so far only seen on the Garmin GHP 10 pilot for hydraulic steering systems; instead of poking a StandBy button, you simply turn the wheel to disengage the pilot and steer around an issue, then let the boat settle on a course again to re-engage. It's elegantly simple (I've tried the Garmin version), and it's potentially great that it's is no longer exclusive to one manufacturer. And apparently Furuno's unique method also means that the pump can be used to power assist a steering system, with numerous controls for how that's done -- like variable assist at different speeds -- built into the NavPilot 700...
Yesterday Raymarine issued a press release announcing replacements for its existing AIS receiver and Class B transponder, which I'll link to when possible. But, in fact, some online dealers are already offering the AIS650 Class B transponder, as well as the AIS350 receiver, and they also bear a family resemblance to the new generation SRT OEM gear discussed in June, which is not a bad thing (and no big surprise given that SRT announced a strategic agreement with one of "the world's top three marine electronics companies" last February). Let's see if we can figure out what's new and different...
Em Trak -- or Em-Trak or em-trak (why do brands defy grammar conventions when it often leads to misspellings elsewhere?) -- is a completely unfamiliar name to me, but it's pretty darn obvious that the interesting array of new AIS gear displayed on their web site is closely related to the new AIS modules SRT debuted yesterday. The cases may be different (and jazzier) in some cases, but I'm seeing some of the same new features along with ones apparently added by Em Trak...
The AIS Summit began today in Hamburg, Germany, and SRT took the occasion to announce a boat load of newly available OEM AIS modules (download PDF here). Of course that means that other companies have to brand and sell the gear above -- or build their own devices based the same internal technology -- but I have reason to believe that in at least one interesting case that will happen soon, and, in fact, several of the items above seem like they will be interesting products eventually...
A gold star to Raymarine for the E140W's response to an AIS SART test! This seems like exactly the proper plotting behavior described by the USCG AIS expert Jorge Arroyo in a comment to the entry about the easyRescue SART tested. Not only did the E Wide put up an alarm noting the SART TEST message but it also plotted the SART's location with the correct distinctive icon (see inset above). And, as a bonus, it's giving the operator quick soft key or touch shortcuts to setting up a go-to-SART route or dismiss the alarm. But so far the E140W is the only MFD that's so SART friendly and it wasn't until I updated its software this weekend...
