iPad........AIS?

[Fascadale]

I apologise if this has been asked before, I have used the search and read through a number of iPad threads but not yet found an answer.

Simple question, can I use an iPad with Navionics to show AIS info?

Is there either a bluetooth solution or an AIS that will connect to the iPad?

 

[MoodySabre]

Yes - Digital Yacht iAIS

Cheap it ain't

 

[Fascadale]

Yes - Digital Yacht iAIS

Thanks

 

[Fascadale]

Digital yacht AIS

c.£375

I wonder if there is a cheaper solution

 

[northwind]

Digital yacht AIS

c.£375

I wonder if there is a cheaper solution

I think there is... but it depends on how happy you are with programming chips..

The nasa marine AIS engine 3 is approx £110. This outputs NMEA sentances to a serial port.

My plan was to plug this into an microprocessor board, and then have that spit the data over a wifi chip as a TCP/IP Serial connection.

Its on the list of things to try!

Total cost under £150.. possibly cheaper if you have an old VHF that can be used to reveive the AIS signals.

 

[aluijten]

Or use an (old) laptop with PolarCOM to create a NMEA server for the iPad. I'm not sure if the standard Navionics software for the iPad can handle AIS. If not you'll need to go to iNavX (at a price).

 

[Fascadale]

Has there been any developments here?

Thanks for the "workaround" suggestions but I think they are all a bit beyond me. I'm very much a "plug 'n play person", (thats why I have been using Macs for the last 25 years)

I did read on another thread, post 15, that it is possible to connect a USB to an iPad. Would a USB AIS now work with the Navionics App or am I asking too much?

 

[Otter]

Hang on until LIBS. Currently Comar have a very nice wifi AIS for £206 but it's one way - at LIBS they plan to launch a two way box so that the iPad can send to the NMEA network and supply waypoint info to the autopilot.

 

[Ric]

Is there either a bluetooth solution or an AIS that will connect to the iPad?

The Raymarine E7 can send all its data (chart plotter, sounder, radar and AIS) to iPad.

Having just spent a load of money on this solution, I am pleased to say it is a showstopper. I have an E7 (with radar, GPS, sounder and AIS input) at the chart table, and an iPad in a waterproof case as a roaming repeater. I have fixed up velcro support for iPad at helm (for when piloting), on bulkhead (for offshore), and on ceiling of berth (for most of the rest of the time!).

 

[SJF]

The latest beta version of OpenCPN has the ability to retransmit all the NMEA data sentences it receives to an iPad/iphone or for that matter any device that can receive the TCP or UDP packets it sends.

All you need is a cheap 12v wireless access point on board and any device with suitable software installed can display the information. I've tried it using Digital Yacht's free iphone app and it works very well. It should therefore also work for the iNavx app on the iPad/iPhone.

 

[laika]

Or alternatively...

In the attached picture:
Ingredients:
1 Raspberry Pi
1 usb-to-serial converter connected to raymarine AIS (silver wire underneath wireless thingy)
1 usb wifi dongle (chipset capable of master mode).
1 GPS fed via a breadboard serial interface (only because the Raymarine AIS doesn't put out its GPS data: If anyone knows how to force it to do this, let me know...)
hostapd and isc dhcpd server to turn the pi into a wireless access point
some nmea multiplexing software what I wrote
shake and serve with stiff martini and 3 olives.
Actually, forget the shaking part: those wires are only pushed into the breadboard.

ipod in the pic is wifi connected to the pi access point, free digital yacht ais app is connected to the tcp server created by the nmea multiplexing software

Bit cheaper than the commercial solutions but obviously lacking any physical robustness whatsoever in this form.

 

[Conachair]

In the attached picture:
Ingredients:
1 Raspberry Pi........

For ubercoolness, have you got a pi running opencpn with vector charts yet?

 

[laika]

For ubercoolness, have you got a pi running opencpn with vector charts yet?

The promised opencpn data routing notwistanding, that might be a bit of drift from the getting-ais-data-to-an-ipad-wirelessly theme, but no: I'm unaware of where to get uk vector charts for a reasonable price. Plus whilst I've been getting the pi to do stupid network tricks, I don't have a screen or keyboard on the boat other than the laptop.

I should have mentioned costs:
pi ~£30
802.11g wifi dongle: almost nothing second hand as people want to upgrade to 802.11n and new laptops have it built in anyway. Less than £20 new. Be careful to get a chipset hostapd supports in master mode.
serial-usb converter: ~£10
12v phone charger: ~£5

Plastic stemware in pic below metaphorically illustrates the "yes-it's cheap and cobbled together but it works" theme. Here the gps puck has been relocated to an out-of-shot laptop (also running the multiplexer software) connected to the pi access point and feeding it GPS over wireless which the pi multiplexer combines with AIS and punts out to whichever wireless devices want it.

 

[motu42]

Freeboard - open source nav

I'm currently working on an opensource solution (Freeboard) that uses arduino and raspberry pi to provide a complete nav solution to a web browser vai wifi. It can integrate existing NMEA/Seatalk gear, or simply read commodity wind sensors etc directly.

You get virtual instruments and chartplotting on anything with a decent web browser. More at http://www.42.co.nz/freeboard

Rob