steve yates
Well-Known Member
I have an old nasa ais engine i bought cheaply ages ago, and am wondering if its worth installing in the wee boat , if it can send ais info to my ipad?
I have read it needs a splitter? Which I presume is a y shaped connection that the vhf ariel plugs into, and then cables run from the y to the vhf and ais engine respectively so they can share the ariel?
What else would I need? Now that navionics accepts ais data, would this old solution from 2014 I found on the forum be the best route, now being able to skip buying another app and charts set? Or is there a simpler more up to date answer nowadays?
”
As requested I have at last put together a set of instructions reflecting my setup which I can confirm continues to work well. Initially I was a little disappointed with the range, however I believe this is governed my the height of my AIS aerial. I have now had the chance to check it out in near open water conditions and am impressed at the number of targets displayed.
HOW TO DISPLAY AIS DATA ON AN IPAD
1. Purchase the iNavX app from the App Store and download onto your iPad. This is necessary because the Navionics Application for iPad/iPhone does not accept AIS data input.
2. iNavX comes with free charts covering the USA but if you are in the UK then it will be necessary to purchase the Navionics Gold Marine Charts from within the app.
3. I already owned a NASA AIS Engine 2 which receives the AIS data via a conventional VHF antenna and converts it into a serial data output (NMEA 0183). It has a 9 pin socket which is designed to input to the 9 pin serial port of a PC. Since most modern PCs only have USB ports it is necessary to use a serial to USB converter to connect the AIS Engine to a regular laptop.
4. Since the iPad has neither a 9 pin serial or USB port the AIS data has to be inputted via a WiFi network. To do this it is necessary to purchase a serial to WiFi converter. The one I used is the USR-WIFI232-602 module obtainable from a Chinese company ‘USR Technology’ for $48 either via their website:
http://en.usr.cn/Serial-to-WIFI
or via eBay for £39 @
eBay
5. With the W602 module powered by a 5v supply and connected to the AIS engine via a 9 pin connecter the ‘Power’ and ‘Ready’ lights should illuminate. Next one needs to power up the iPad and select the new WiFi network (named something like HF-A11x_AP) in the ‘Settings’ menu. When connected to the network the ‘Link’ light should illuminate on the module. Next open your web browser on the iPad and login to web page 10.10.100.254. This should bring up the login page for which the username and password are both ‘admin’. Selecting ‘Next will then take you to the ‘Working Mode Configuration’ page where ‘AP Mode’ and ‘Transparent Mode’ should be selected. No changes should be required on the ‘AP Interface Setting’ page but on the ‘Application Setting’ page ensure that the baud rate is set to 38400. All other settings should be okay (Data Bits: 8, Parity: None, Stop: 1, CTSRTS: Disable, UART Autoframe: Disable, Mode: Server, Protocol: TCP, Port: 8899, Server Address: 10.10.100.254, MAX TCP Num: 32, TCP Time out: 300).
6. Next, boot up iNavX on the iPad. At the bottom of the page with the charts listed select ‘Preferences’ and then ‘TCP/IP NMEA Client’. Enter the ‘Host’ as 10.10.100.254 and ‘Port’ 8899. Ensure ‘TCP’ is selected. The other switches are optional but I put ‘Location Services’ to ‘On’ in order to use the internal iPad GPS function. Then switch the ‘Link’ button to ‘On’ and a window will open showing the connection status and sentences of incoming data. After clicking ‘Save’ and returning to chart view the AIS targets should, after a brief pause, start to show. Note the update rate on the NASA Engine seems somewhat slow but with patience, targets within range should start to display. Touching the boat on the display will bring up a box with the boat’s name, MMSI, speed and bearing etc.
The cost was £34.99 for the iNavX app, £51 for the Navionics Gold Marine charts and £39 for the Serial to Wifi Converter, so £115 in total. I already had the NASA AIS Engine, but I believe the currrent price for these is £110 so the cost of the complete setup is £225.
I hope this is simple enough for all the non-techies (like me) out there. Any questions email me at mikehcarr@me.com “
Thanks.
I have read it needs a splitter? Which I presume is a y shaped connection that the vhf ariel plugs into, and then cables run from the y to the vhf and ais engine respectively so they can share the ariel?
What else would I need? Now that navionics accepts ais data, would this old solution from 2014 I found on the forum be the best route, now being able to skip buying another app and charts set? Or is there a simpler more up to date answer nowadays?
”
As requested I have at last put together a set of instructions reflecting my setup which I can confirm continues to work well. Initially I was a little disappointed with the range, however I believe this is governed my the height of my AIS aerial. I have now had the chance to check it out in near open water conditions and am impressed at the number of targets displayed.
HOW TO DISPLAY AIS DATA ON AN IPAD
1. Purchase the iNavX app from the App Store and download onto your iPad. This is necessary because the Navionics Application for iPad/iPhone does not accept AIS data input.
2. iNavX comes with free charts covering the USA but if you are in the UK then it will be necessary to purchase the Navionics Gold Marine Charts from within the app.
3. I already owned a NASA AIS Engine 2 which receives the AIS data via a conventional VHF antenna and converts it into a serial data output (NMEA 0183). It has a 9 pin socket which is designed to input to the 9 pin serial port of a PC. Since most modern PCs only have USB ports it is necessary to use a serial to USB converter to connect the AIS Engine to a regular laptop.
4. Since the iPad has neither a 9 pin serial or USB port the AIS data has to be inputted via a WiFi network. To do this it is necessary to purchase a serial to WiFi converter. The one I used is the USR-WIFI232-602 module obtainable from a Chinese company ‘USR Technology’ for $48 either via their website:
http://en.usr.cn/Serial-to-WIFI
or via eBay for £39 @
eBay
5. With the W602 module powered by a 5v supply and connected to the AIS engine via a 9 pin connecter the ‘Power’ and ‘Ready’ lights should illuminate. Next one needs to power up the iPad and select the new WiFi network (named something like HF-A11x_AP) in the ‘Settings’ menu. When connected to the network the ‘Link’ light should illuminate on the module. Next open your web browser on the iPad and login to web page 10.10.100.254. This should bring up the login page for which the username and password are both ‘admin’. Selecting ‘Next will then take you to the ‘Working Mode Configuration’ page where ‘AP Mode’ and ‘Transparent Mode’ should be selected. No changes should be required on the ‘AP Interface Setting’ page but on the ‘Application Setting’ page ensure that the baud rate is set to 38400. All other settings should be okay (Data Bits: 8, Parity: None, Stop: 1, CTSRTS: Disable, UART Autoframe: Disable, Mode: Server, Protocol: TCP, Port: 8899, Server Address: 10.10.100.254, MAX TCP Num: 32, TCP Time out: 300).
6. Next, boot up iNavX on the iPad. At the bottom of the page with the charts listed select ‘Preferences’ and then ‘TCP/IP NMEA Client’. Enter the ‘Host’ as 10.10.100.254 and ‘Port’ 8899. Ensure ‘TCP’ is selected. The other switches are optional but I put ‘Location Services’ to ‘On’ in order to use the internal iPad GPS function. Then switch the ‘Link’ button to ‘On’ and a window will open showing the connection status and sentences of incoming data. After clicking ‘Save’ and returning to chart view the AIS targets should, after a brief pause, start to show. Note the update rate on the NASA Engine seems somewhat slow but with patience, targets within range should start to display. Touching the boat on the display will bring up a box with the boat’s name, MMSI, speed and bearing etc.
The cost was £34.99 for the iNavX app, £51 for the Navionics Gold Marine charts and £39 for the Serial to Wifi Converter, so £115 in total. I already had the NASA AIS Engine, but I believe the currrent price for these is £110 so the cost of the complete setup is £225.
I hope this is simple enough for all the non-techies (like me) out there. Any questions email me at mikehcarr@me.com “
Thanks.
