Depth Sounder with NMEA 0183 output

[bats]

Transducers with only NMEA output (no display) are available but seem expensive. Talked recently with Alan Mulley, director at NASA Marine Limited.
About - Nasa Marine Instruments

This company developed a prototype of a transducer/connection box setup but did not put it into production. The unit had NMEA 0183 output, no display, with just a sensitivity control on the connection unit. This could be used to feed OpenCPN with depth data, where plugins can also use depth for alarms.

NASA Marine have a low cost wind instrument in production that follows the same principle.

Just wondering if there is any interest in such a depth sounder. Perhaps this thread or the poll could be used for noting expressions of interest (or not). I will pass the results to Alan to determine if taking the product to market is a viable proposition.

Mike

p.s. I have no personal connection with this company

 

[pvb]

Isn't the industry moving away from NMEA0183? The genuine plug'n'play appeal of NMEA2000 has won.

 

[laika]

Had to do a double take there as I just went from reading your exact same post on cruisersforum to here.

I'm guessing "not much". An instrument with no display's use is when it's networked and you can display the data on arbitrary devices. But NMEA-0183 isn't a "network" protocol as such, it's point to point. No-one wants *just* depth info into their laptop: you want wind and log data too. So you'd need a multiplexer which is extra cost and messy wiring.

 

[GHA]

Got one already, though yet to see it in action.
Electromagnetic Log 2 (transducer and data box) - Nasa Marine Instruments

Raspberry Pi Zero takes the data and creates display/sends it everywhere.

 

[bats]

@GHA: That's a log, not a depth sounder.

 

[GHA]

@GHA: That's a log, not a depth sounder.

ah, must read harder Depth might be one of the few I'd prefer standalone.

 

[ianj99]

Transducers with only NMEA output (no display) are available but seem expensive. Talked recently with Alan Mulley, director at NASA Marine Limited.
About - Nasa Marine Instruments

This company developed a prototype of a transducer/connection box setup but did not put it into production. The unit had NMEA 0183 output, no display, with just a sensitivity control on the connection unit. This could be used to feed OpenCPN with depth data, where plugins can also use depth for alarms.

NASA Marine have a low cost wind instrument in production that follows the same principle.

Just wondering if there is any interest in such a depth sounder. Perhaps this thread or the poll could be used for noting expressions of interest (or not). I will pass the results to Alan to determine if taking the product to market is a viable proposition.

Mike

p.s. I have no personal connection with this company

Sensors with N2k output would have a market. Airmar seem to be the main manufacturer of these and it's about time they had some competition.

 

[MikeCC]

You may as well buy a NASA Clipper Depth package and take NMEA0183 off that. You can hide the display if you don't like it but still there for reference.

NASA have done an NMEA2000 converter for their wind, so depth and speed shouldn't be tricky. If you're a purist, might be worth knowing the conversion lag.