IPAD AIS

[curtius]

I'm looking at ways to get AIS data on to my iPad cheaply. I realise that Navionics will not accept AIS and as a starting point I will therefore have to purchase the iNavX app. I have a NASA AIS Engine 2 with serial data output so assume I will need either a serial to Bluetooth or serial to wifi convertor in order to get this data onto my iPad. Are these viable options? Has anyone already trodden this path?

 

[2copplane]

I've just installed an nmea to wifi bridge made by vyacht. (£90). It is currently wired to accept the ais from a NASA device, plus any nmea my raymarine chartplotter outputs. Works great. I primarily want it to repeat my instruments, but it works okay on inavx. One great feature is the vessels are scaled on the chart.
This was the cheapest solution I could find. However rs232 to wifi bridges can be picked up for about £30.00, plus you'll need a stable power supply.

 

[curtius]

However rs232 to wifi bridges can be picked up for about £30.00, plus you'll need a stable power supply.

Thanks for the information. Is this item advertised on eBay what you mean by a RS232 to WiFi bridge?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121192414563?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

If so, can you advise your cheaper source?

 

[Bodach na mara]

I'm looking at ways to get AIS data on to my iPad cheaply. I realise that Navionics will not accept AIS and as a starting point I will therefore have to purchase the iNavX app. I have a NASA AIS Engine 2 with serial data output so assume I will need either a serial to Bluetooth or serial to wifi convertor in order to get this data onto my iPad. Are these viable options? Has anyone already trodden this path?

On a cruise ship, a guy at our table was testing a NASA AIS engine with a usb satnav dongle on a laptop. It was fascinating seing all the ships nearby with the information provided by the AIS system overlaid on a blank screen in their relative positions. The screen could have had a chart overlay such as Memory Map, but that software was not installed. I suggest talking to NASA as they probably know the solution.

 

[2copplane]

Thanks for the information. Is this item advertised on eBay what you mean by a RS232 to WiFi bridge?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121192414563?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

If so, can you advise your cheaper source?

Yes that's he kind of thing I was thinking of, or even cheaper
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Embe...833?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2324eee311

No guarantees it would be suitable.

 

[whipper_snapper]

I've just installed an nmea to wifi bridge made by vyacht. (£90). It is currently wired to accept the ais from a NASA device, plus any nmea my raymarine chartplotter outputs. Works great. I primarily want it to repeat my instruments, but it works okay on inavx. One great feature is the vessels are scaled on the chart.
This was the cheapest solution I could find. However rs232 to wifi bridges can be picked up for about £30.00, plus you'll need a stable power supply.

Plotting software like Maxsea expects nmea data through a serial port, is there a way for it to use data streamed over wifi?

 

[laika]

I've just installed an nmea to wifi bridge made by vyacht. (£90).

Good find: The pre-assembled version sounds like a bargain but the interesting thing here is that they've open sourced the hardware in case anyone fancies building one themselves:
https://github.com/vyacht/nmea
Seems to be running openwrt and gpsd

 

[laika]

Plotting software like Maxsea expects nmea data through a serial port, is there a way for it to use data streamed over wifi?

Presumably this is for Windows? Essentially you want some software that will take data from the network then create a virtual COM port which your other program connects to as it would a normal serial port. Same thing on linux or mac (pseudo ttys). I know rather a lot about doing this on linux (and, theoretically, on mac) but rather less on windows, but take a look at NavMonPC:
http://www.navmonpc.com/
It might do what you need.

 

[gerry99]

Good find: The pre-assembled version sounds like a bargain but the interesting thing here is that they've open sourced the hardware in case anyone fancies building one themselves:
https://github.com/vyacht/nmea
Seems to be running openwrt and gpsd

If Angus McDoom is reading this could it be another YAPP project?

 

[Mrnotming]

you may have dismissed the DMK box due to the cost factor.However it seems very future upgradeable and users report that its the bees knees for iPad and iPhone.Kevin Dolan is helpful if emailed.no connection except my son bought this unit and it serves him well being IP wireless.Its on my wish list! Because I want to get away from Windows Com port troubles!

 

[laika]

you may have dismissed the DMK box due to the cost factor.

Just taken a look at the info on this:
http://www.dmkyacht.com
My thoughts (which could be wrong) are:
- It *is* hugely expensive (399USD, presumably plus VAT, duty and shipping)
- No mention (which doesn't mean lack of) opto isolation on the nmea 0183 input. The fact that they clearly haven't bought the N2K spec suggests that the device isn't "NMEA certified": Not necessarily important but that would have required opto isolation
- The N2K and seatalk transmission is not very useful unless it is converted: Most apps will only take NMEA 0183 over wireless
- it doesn't work as an access point: you either have to have your (max 3) connected devices in ad hoc mode or I think you can use it as a station in infrastructure mode
- What is up with their networking??? No TCP server. All clients (max 3) have to be assigned a particular IP address to receive unicast UDP. That is..."unusual". I suggest this was designed by an electronic engineer with on experience of IP network programming.

If your son likes it and it suits his purposes that's great and buying a product that someone you know is familiar with is always good, but when shopping for yourself do also consider alternatives from the likes of shipmodul and brookhouse which purport to do similar things but in a way which I would find more conventional:
http://www.shipmodul.com/en/index.html
http://brookhouseonline.com/imux.htm

 

[curtius]

Hi guys, thanks for your input. Although the vYacht kit seems to be a risk-free option the gambler in me is suggesting I try the " http://bit.ly/1aGW3WE " route. I'll let you know how I get on in a couple of weeks (delivery from Hong Kong).

 

[jakeroyd]

IIRC Apple bluetooth does not connect with a lot of devices.
A limited protocol.
I think there are only 2 GPS senders that will make a bluetooth connection (Bad Elf and one other)

Might be a factor ?

 

[Graham_Wright]

May be relevant -

"Dear Graham

Alas we have only PC software. If you google Mac wefax you will find 'Black cat systems' among others, never tried it though.

Regards,

--
NASA MARINE
Boulton Road
Stevenage
Herts
SG1 4QG
www.nasamarine.com



Good afternoon,

I bought your SSB receiver some time ago and found it very interesting.

I would like to hook up my Applemac powerbook in order to download weather fax information. I note you supply software for PCs.

Is that true for the Powerbook also?

Regards

Graham Wright"

 

[whipper_snapper]

Hi guys, thanks for your input. Although the vYacht kit seems to be a risk-free option the gambler in me is suggesting I try the " http://bit.ly/1aGW3WE " route. I'll let you know how I get on in a couple of weeks (delivery from Hong Kong).

How will you convert NMEA to RS232?

 

[whipper_snapper]

I've just installed an nmea to wifi bridge made by vyacht. (£90). It is currently wired to accept the ais from a NASA device, plus any nmea my raymarine chartplotter outputs. Works great. I primarily want it to repeat my instruments, but it works okay on inavx. One great feature is the vessels are scaled on the chart.
This was the cheapest solution I could find. However rs232 to wifi bridges can be picked up for about £30.00, plus you'll need a stable power supply.

I am seriously considering this, given the layout of my boat wifi would be really helpful to get data from instruments in the cockpit to the PC below. But I just realized that the power consumption is not trivial. The specs say: The FCC certified wireless module consumes the vast amount of power. If used for heavy duty downloads it will consume max. 1.5W.. I take that to mean that constantly streaming NMEA data will pull around 125mA, not a vast amount, but all these little devices do add up to a significant power drain.

 

[laika]

How will you convert NMEA to RS232?

If I understand the question correctly, that's the easy part. Usual RS422 vs RS232 caveats apply and that device's serial port probably won't be opto isolated as an "NMEA certified" device should be but that wouldn't stop it working. There's nothing magical about NMEA-0183-over-IP: The application level data (ie NMEA ascii sentences) are just taken from the serial transport and sent out over IP. The question is what transport layer is being used on the network side of this device? Is it a tcp server that you can connect to and if so does it accept more than one simultaneous connection? ebay advert doesn't seem to say. Interested to know how things turn out.

There was a discussion which touched on using terminal servers / generic serial to ethernet devices on cruisersforum a couple of months ago:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/nmea-into-router-101914.html

 

[curtius]

How will you convert NMEA to RS232?

As a non too techie individual I hoped that you experts would provide the answer, and i believe Iaika has done so in a later post. My simplistic view is to treat the bridge as if it were a simple Serial to USB converter which works in this application irrespective of the input data being in NMEA format. All this seems to very "suck it and see" i.e. there seem to be no definitive answer as to whether or not it will work, however it am willing to give it a try!

 

[Andrew G]

Curtius (et al). It's been a couple of months now. How did the " http://bit.ly/1aGW3WE " route work out?
(I am playing with my iNavX (on an iPad) and a cheap NMEA to WiFi would be interesting if it can show AIS and chart anywhere on the boat . . .)
Is it time to arouse Angus McDoon?
Cheers, Andrew

 

[laika]

(I am playing with my iNavX (on an iPad) and a cheap NMEA to WiFi would be interesting if it can show AIS and chart anywhere on the boat . . .)

If you also run a laptop with wireless on the boat, you can feed the AIS into it, run some kind of a program which will create a data server and connect your ipad to it with an ad hoc network. Opencpn or (I believe) NavMonPC might be appropriate software and I think nigelmercier has posted a few times about windows wireless connectivity.

If you have an existing wireless network on the boat of course it becomes much easier. You can dispense with the ad hoc connections. If you don't want to run a laptop but want to try something a bit homebrew with a raspberry pi I jotted down some notes on how to use the pi to multiplex between (for example) AIS over a serial connection and a network here:
http://www.stripydog.com/kplex/examples/nmeaserver.html
You can also use the pi as a wireless access point but it's more work and can be a bit hit-or-miss depending on which wireless dongle you use:
http://www.stripydog.com/kplex/examples/piap.html

EDIT: Of course other small board computers would do the same job as a pi: possibly better. On my "to do" list is to investigate building a network AIS server using a cheap software defined radio (ie £10 TV receiver dongle) although I gather from posts I've seen by others (not acquired the hardware myself yet) that cpu required for signal processing may be pushing what the pi is capable of.