AIS Class B Tracker Options and Tips?

[GHA]

Or it wouldn't surprise me if someone was selling breakout boards with both GPS and compass sensors on them already.

2 channel Ais, gps, compass & barometer >

Moitessier HAT 2 - Raspberry Pi OpenPlotter AIS receiver - Rooco Austria

Maybe a bit too easy for an academic project though..

The MPU-9150 9-Axis Accelerometer, Gyro, & Compass on it's own is considerable cheaper, openplotter already set up to connect and calibrate.
mpu 9250 | eBay

 

[prv]

Moitessier HAT 2 - Raspberry Pi OpenPlotter AIS receiver - Rooco Austria

Maybe a bit too easy for an academic project though..

Depends what the focus of the project is. If it's mostly about handling and displaying the data that comes back, rather than making the devices that send it, then off the shelf transmitters could be perfectly legit.

I wouldn't advise using that particular hardware, though. The vast majority of it is irrelevant to the task at hand, imposing cost, power consumption, and complexity for no benefit. If building the transmitters is on the cards, he needs a GPS receiver, a GSM modem, and a very simple processing environment to tie the two together. That's it, and it should all fit on one or two PCBs in a project box with a LiPo pack. Inserting a full Linux computer into the mix, not to mention a completely spurious AIS receiver, is a nonsense.

I'd start with something like the Adafruit FONA boards (GPS and GSM combined) and one of their small Arduino boards with a LiPo charger integrated. But there are lots of other options out there.

Pete

 

[laika]

Adding SOG and heading may also be useful to have. I assume SOG is possible using GPS, but is heading? Do you have any suggestions for starters?

Per Pete's reply, Course Over Ground may satisfy your needs.

If you only want to track the boats when people in your group are on board, you could presumably reduce this to "phone app" which best case is "no cost". A little googling might identify apps for your preferred phone OS which can be configured to send GPS data to a remote site. If not then it becomes an application development project. I suspect COG may be fine instead of "heading" but if not and you're going down the "custom app" route, many modern phones have a compass that an app could access in addition to GPS: you'd need to have a holder aligned front-back on each boat to keep a phone in a waterproof case. Presumably that's a little tricky if different crew may be using a different phone each time but that's only a minor engineering challenge .

The simpler option may be to make do with COG and find an off-the-shelf app. You mentioned RTI. Having personal experience of how long that took in the 2018 race in an ISC 8 boat rather bigger than 22' you may want to think about backup power if you're constantly accessing GPS.

Although maybe you want something that is attached to the boat and doesn't rely on a crewperson with the right app...

Whatever you choose do please let us know how it all turns out. I'm sure plenty of people on this thread will be happy to offer advice you need.

 

[GHA]

I'd start with something like the Adafruit FONA boards (GPS and GSM combined) and one of their small Arduino boards with a LiPo charger integrated. But there are lots of other options out there.

I'd go with Lora and a bespoke pcb from jlcpcb but each to their own

@Jack hale , if you do go a bespoke PCB route then easyeda.com & PCB Prototype & PCB Fabrication Manufacturer - JLCPCB are just great, boards for a few Euro or for a few Euro more have surface mount chips presoldered on. Then for very little cost you can add battery voltage, barometer and temperature sensors to the data sent.

 

[prv]

I did think about Lora - worth looking at, but I’m not sure their own base station could cover the area they need, and my understanding is that the public networks only support a very low number of messages per day, not enough to plot the movements of a boat. But it’s not something I’ve looked at much, so the OP certainly should. Getting away from mobile data costs would be a big help organisationally, I imagine.

Good call on the PCBs if they’re building more than a handful. Though we still don’t know if building the transmitters is even part of the plan.

Pete

 

[GHA]

Good call on the PCBs if they’re building more than a handful.

Starts a s minimum of 5 boards, if no SMD then so cheap for 100mm x 100mm boards. SMD really good deal as well.
From a check for 5 boards with no surface mount components >

 

[laika]

I'm not sure we want to befuddle the poor bloke with exotic protocols and custom PCBs until we know how much electronic engineering effort he wants to put into this. The original question was about ready-made devices.

I'm not sure this is an appropriate LoRa use case. It needs a base station which then still has to get the data to the Interweb and given RTI has been mentioned, how will it be received on the dark side of the island? Besides, after the project is over, a GPS tracker which works over the mobile network is going to be a handy to have in a way a LoRa-based tracker won't.

 

[LadyInBed]

I assume SOG is possible using GPS, but is heading? Do you have any suggestions for starters?

If you Google tracker features you will see what different brands offer. Some will give you more info in the history than others.

 

[GHA]

I'm not sure we want to befuddle the poor bloke with ........ and custom PCBs

Very much disagree actually, if microprocessors & gsm modules are involved then a PCB is an excellent addition to a project, not circuit design but more play happy families with the pins which need to talk to each other and add some terminals. Still need to solder in the through hole bits but that's not that hard, with a few spareboards Then click auto route. Cheap, tidy and not really difficult , and exceptionally satisfying

 

[Jack Hales]

Hi Jack
A neat solution would be if you could find a sponsor to help fund your devices ? Maybe in return for some stickers on the Etchells someone like Digital yacht would help with a solution ? Looks to me be educational it would be a charitable donation for a suitable corporate and lots of scope for utube opportunities in terms of advertising with you sailing in Solent.

I’d have to speak to the school about that, as it’s a great idea, especially since funding is an unsolved issue right now.

 

[Jack Hales]

Jack, As it happens I have a bit of experience of managing IT projects, and one thing I discovered is that it helps to start with a list of all the ducks in the pond before starting to get them in a row.

It would be useful to know:

The boats:
Where are these keelboats? What sort of boats are they? How many of them do you want to track? What sort of sailing do they do? Do they have engines? or batteries? How long will they be away from shore facilities? Where could you mount an aerial ? Is there a watertight locker?

Then for your tracker:
What do you want to do? Just know where the boats are ? Include data on speed, course? Just create pertty pictures on the website ? Do the boats need to display data from each other?

The project:
Just you or is there help? Are there any programming skills? Hardware skills? Is there a budget for buying hardware ?

The EPQ:
Are you serious about actually installing hardware in boats? or is this going to be a paper exercise?

AIS may not be the way to go for the reasons mentioned in previous posts. You might like to have a look at: Particle IOT - they will sell you a very inexpensive, low power, easy to program processor that can communicate via the mobile 'phone system. They also sell a 'tracker' but it would be more fun to connect the processor to a GPS module and write your own software. There are many other options; I only mention Particle as I have some experience of using their kit.

As I’ve said above, they’re Etchells 22s, and I’d be tracking either 1 or 2. Probably 1. They sail around Lymington and Yarmouth, sometimes more recreationally than others - depends who is sailing each time. They just have a small outboard on the back. Usually they’re only out for an hour or two. Yes there is a watertight locker.

I’d like to know their speed and course, which will be displayed live (even if it’s updated once a minute or something) on a website, along with a map showing where it’s sailed. The boats don’t need to interact with each other.

It’s an individual project, but I can get help from people who run sailing at school, and other people if required. Yes I have some programming skills and basic hardware skills too. Budget hasn’t been worked out yet, I was seeing what options are available first. This is a serious exercise and will be permanent.

From previous posts, I am now leaning away from AIS and leaning towards a GPS tracker or similar. Thank you for your suggestions.

 

[Jack Hales]

You'll get COG (provided the boat's moving) and SOG from the GPS, but if you want actual heading you'll need a compass. Doesn't have to be an expensive marine device, you should be able to get a sensor module for comfortably under a tenner which would connect directly to an Arduino. Or it wouldn't surprise me if someone was selling breakout boards with both GPS and compass sensors on them already.

Before going any further I guess we need to establish whether building the transmitters is in the scope of your project, or if you just want to buy something off the shelf and the main focus is in handling the data that comes in. Because there are quite a few GPS / GSM tracker devices out there already, but assembling one (most likely in the Arduino ecosystem, being the most accessible for beginners) is also not all that hard.

Pete

I’m undecided on this currently. I’d aim to get a lot of the project done by Christmas - what would you recommend I do?

 

[Jack Hales]

Per Pete's reply, Course Over Ground may satisfy your needs.

If you only want to track the boats when people in your group are on board, you could presumably reduce this to "phone app" which best case is "no cost". A little googling might identify apps for your preferred phone OS which can be configured to send GPS data to a remote site. If not then it becomes an application development project. I suspect COG may be fine instead of "heading" but if not and you're going down the "custom app" route, many modern phones have a compass that an app could access in addition to GPS: you'd need to have a holder aligned front-back on each boat to keep a phone in a waterproof case. Presumably that's a little tricky if different crew may be using a different phone each time but that's only a minor engineering challenge .

The simpler option may be to make do with COG and find an off-the-shelf app. You mentioned RTI. Having personal experience of how long that took in the 2018 race in an ISC 8 boat rather bigger than 22' you may want to think about backup power if you're constantly accessing GPS.

Although maybe you want something that is attached to the boat and doesn't rely on a crewperson with the right app...

Whatever you choose do please let us know how it all turns out. I'm sure plenty of people on this thread will be happy to offer advice you need.

COG should be fine! I don’t think running it off a phone is viable as different people from different age groups sail each day. So something on the boat would be better than an app. I’ll let everyone know how it goes.

 

[Jack Hales]

I did think about Lora - worth looking at, but I’m not sure their own base station could cover the area they need, and my understanding is that the public networks only support a very low number of messages per day, not enough to plot the movements of a boat. But it’s not something I’ve looked at much, so the OP certainly should. Getting away from mobile data costs would be a big help organisationally, I imagine.

Good call on the PCBs if they’re building more than a handful. Though we still don’t know if building the transmitters is even part of the plan.

Pete

Only one or two will be built. With regards to building them at all, that’ll come down to how long it would take, as well as what the steps for building them would be - undecided currently.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

You could just buy a garmin in Reach+ . Global coverage and text message communications to boot.

 

[prv]

I’m undecided on this currently. I’d aim to get a lot of the project done by Christmas - what would you recommend I do?

Depends why you’re doing it. If I just wanted to track a dayboat sailing around the Solent, I’d spend £40 on something like this and call it job done. If the goal is to learn about building electronics and writing firmware, I’d look into some of the parts already mentioned, and if it’s more about the web side then I’d buy a tracker (like the previous link) but make sure I picked one that exposes an API I could pull into my site.

Pete

 

[prv]

COG should be fine! I don’t think running it off a phone is viable as different people from different age groups sail each day. So something on the boat would be better than an app.

If you wanted to tilt the project in the direction of learning mobile app development, you could put a cheap Android phone permanently in each boat, with an external battery (and maybe a solar panel?) to keep it running longer.

There‘s so many ways of doing this when you have mobile signal available (as you will throughout the area you mentioned) that you need to make a choice of what sort of project you want to make it.

Pete

 

[Jack Hales]

Just thought I’d let you all know what I’ve gone for since some people asked. In the end I went for this GPS tracker from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Standby-An...ML86/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1

I won’t be able to test it on a boat until the spring, but some preliminary tests in a car seem to show it working as intended and it satisfies my needs.

Thank you everyone for your input and help in this.

 

[tudorsailor]

This might be too late but a neat way to show your position is to use OnCourse from Marine Traffic. Your boat does need an MMSI number
It is an app that sends your phone's position to Marine Traffic and it integrates with the Marine Traffic map. Its free!
I find it useful to make sure people at home who are tracking my course can see me even when AIS coverage is poor

TS

 

[Jack Hales]

This might be too late but a neat way to show your position is to use OnCourse from Marine Traffic. Your boat does need an MMSI number
It is an app that sends your phone's position to Marine Traffic and it integrates with the Marine Traffic map. Its free!
I find it useful to make sure people at home who are tracking my course can see me even when AIS coverage is poor

TS

Hi, unfortunately this is a bit too late, as I’ve already purchased and am testing a GPS tracker - see my previous post on this thread. Thanks for the suggestion though!