Router for boat

[Heckler]

Skipper Stu..

A quick read of this thread seems to show that you already have a laptop (or netbook) connected to the NMEA bus and are happy seeing the data on hyperterminal.

Something like the NavMonPC software (free download) will display all the NMEA information as dials or scrolling displays on the screen.

NavMonPC also has the ability to read in data from up to four serial ports so you could have NMEA in at 4800 from GPS, NMEA in from your Seatalk converter (for depth, speed through water and wind etc.) and AIS in at 38400 leaving you one spare input still.

It will also allow for the re-transmission into virtual serial ports for use in other software on the same laptop such as OpenCPN (or AutoPolaire for creating polars).

Now - Back to the original question - If you already have this laptop connected then you could just re-transmit the NMEA information out of its wireless port and receive it on your iPad, Android or any other wireless device. No other hardware needed.

I use iRegattaPro on Android for a great repeater display and Sail Tracker Polar NMEA for a play with polars.

Hope this helps - PS - To re-transmit on WiFi it is just a couple of DOS commands that are needed (and a bit of background reading on Microsoft Virtual Miniport). The commands create a new SSID that is broadcast from the laptop and re-transmits the NMEA information over this network! (Any questions on setup, just ask).

This is what the forum is about, many thanks for this. OK, I should have said, at the mo I have a netbook running xp, I have a serial to usb connector connected to my RO4800 showing AIS in Open Cpn. It is a bit clunky so I started down this route of wifi to the Ipad. I could display AIS using DY app and instruments using their paid for app. Too tight to pay £200 + for their wifi
and like fiddling plus this thread is a proper PBO thing!
So, I really want to get rid of the netbook and go for a discreet black box to transmit wifi ais and nmea instruments. This is where we are at. keep it coming please!
Stu

 

[nigelmercier]

I seem to remember that I set up OpenCPN to start the 'TCP/IP server' on a specific TCP port (within OpenCPN), to listen on all four COM ports and to re-transmit on a Virtual COM port...

A stand-alone program would not have access to the incoming data, as the port is locked; unless it went through something like GPSGate. So no good if you don't have plotter software that does this. I will have to check if SeaPro does ...

So back to my suggestions in #17, for which you intercept the data before it gets to the PC.

 

[Martin_J]

Nigel
OpenCPN is set to read the COM ports so it in effect 'locks' them... It is that OpenCPN software than then does the retransmission into other 'virtual' COM ports just as GPSGate can do.

 

[Martin_J]

Oops... Sorry for the confusion.

In my posts above I meant to say that it is NavMonPC that I start first.. and it is NavMonPC that does the TCP/IP server part.. and it is NavMonPC that creates the 'Virtual Ports' to enable OpenCPN and other laptop software to read the data.

 

[laika]

I don't know much about much but I know a bit about this: it started with this question on PBO a couple of years ago:
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?332555-NMEA-over-802-format

..was followed up by a fair bit of research and coding, and resulted in some free (as in beer/speech) software for unix-like systems (incl. linux, MacOS X and FreeBSD) which "does stuff" with nmea-0183-styley data:
http://www.stripydog.com/kplex

Firstly to skipper_stu's original question. Yes you can do what you want on a router but it usually relies on replacing the firmware with one of the open source ones and for most people that restricts it to only certain routers and fate will probably decree that you don't have the right one. RobbieW has done it with his carefully selected asus router (see here: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?371525-Wireless-NMEA). I know of others who have compiled kplex on OpenWRT for various routers. The hardest part is probably setting up the toolchain for cross-compiling. Not quite building an aeroplane from a car with no engine or wheels, but maybe a bit like replacing the engine of your new ford focus with a custom V6: Perhaps not for the novice and will certainly void your warranty.

Assuming replacing firmware is not an option, skipper_stu's last post suggests that ditching the router for a single box solution is preferred, but keeping the router in the picture does (a) simplify your alternatives (b) give you wired switch ports should you wish to connect plotter etc. and (c) give you a nice GUI for configuring the router which may not be so good with home-brew wifi.

To the pi solution. BruceDanforth already put up a link. Here's the precursor to that in a PBO discussion:
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?308983-iPad-AIS/page2
I stress that no programming is necessary here. There are kplex debs for raspbian. The hard part is probably configuring all the gubbins needed to create the access point which you wouldn't need if you kept the router. What you end up with is (and I'm happy to debate this technically superior to any commercial solution I'm aware of, let down mainly by lack of user friendliness: there's no GUI, but configuration is a one-time text edit of a config file.

Serial to wifi/ethernet converters. curtius described his experience with a serial-to-wifi gamble from ebay in this thread:
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?376686-IPAD-AIS. It ended up doing what he wanted for an excellent price but not all these devices do the same things. It does pay to know exactly what you're doing, and the manufacturer may not understand the end you're trying to achieve so may not be much help, but this is a demonstrated budget option.

If I could say this in the nicest possible way, it might be helpful if those posting links to products could state whether they have experience of the actual products linked to and, for the purpose of transparency, any financial gain they may personally make from purchases through those links. Not for a minute suggesting that such gain is the primary motivation for posting, but transparency is good.

Finally, if you're happy to keep a laptop on, Martin_J's solutions are obviously an option. I don't do windows but NavMonPC seems highly regarded and you can always just use OpenCPN on its own to re-broadcast input from serial ports.

 

[laika]

Should probably make a note on the protocol for those with better things to do than wade through all the nonsense I tend to write.
There's no standard for this stuff. Well there kind of is (IEC-61162 part 4) but it's not what is used by the devices and programs we're talking about. What people mostly do is use the application-layer of NMEA-0183 (largely the version publicised by Eric Raymond: http://www.catb.org/gpsd/NMEA.html), i.e. the ascii strings starting with !/$ and simply write them to a network socket. No additional protocol wrapping, nothing. There's a UDP and TCP port (10110) defined for this by the IETF (actually registered by the NMEA) but you won't find every device using them. The two common methods used for data distribution are TCP (unicast, obviously) and UDP broadcast.

Not every device/implementation supports two way traffic. caveat emptor. Many devices (incl. the digital yacht products I've looked at and most of the serial to network converters) implement an iterative rather than concurrent tcp server, meaning that it only supports one connection at a time. Given some of the braindead coding which is apparent on some of these products I would imagine that finer points of tcp tuning for the application are not even considered.

 

[nigelmercier]

You need one of these:
http://amzn.to/1v0FHze
http://amzn.to/1q3PTJu

If I could say this in the nicest possible way, it might be helpful if those posting links to products could state whether they have experience of the actual products linked to and, for the purpose of transparency, any financial gain they may personally make from purchases through those links. Not for a minute suggesting that such gain is the primary motivation for posting, but transparency is good...

For transparency: I often post links to Amazon, as I buy a lot of stuff from them. I normally have experience of the items, but in this case I don't personally own either of them, although I'm sure they will do the job well. If someone buys one using this link, I earn enough for a cup of tea in a cafe. Perhaps.

 

[laika]

No offence intended and your posts are very informative and it should also be said that such links don't increase the price to the end purchaser so I would be happy to buy through a link which gave a packet of crisps to someone who had helpfully provided it. In the case of these types of devices though the devil is in the detail so it helps to know if someone has success with the particular one concerned (as in the curtius thread) or if it's a case (as here) of "this type of thing is worth looking at".

 

[Heckler]

Should probably make a note on the protocol for those with better things to do than wade through all the nonsense I tend to write.
There's no standard for this stuff. Well there kind of is (IEC-61162 part 4) but it's not what is used by the devices and programs we're talking about. What people mostly do is use the application-layer of NMEA-0183 (largely the version publicised by Eric Raymond: http://www.catb.org/gpsd/NMEA.html), i.e. the ascii strings starting with !/$ and simply write them to a network socket. No additional protocol wrapping, nothing. There's a UDP and TCP port (10110) defined for this by the IETF (actually registered by the NMEA) but you won't find every device using them. The two common methods used for data distribution are TCP (unicast, obviously) and UDP broadcast.

Not every device/implementation supports two way traffic. caveat emptor. Many devices (incl. the digital yacht products I've looked at and most of the serial to network converters) implement an iterative rather than concurrent tcp server, meaning that it only supports one connection at a time. Given some of the braindead coding which is apparent on some of these products I would imagine that finer points of tcp tuning for the application are not even considered.

Thank you all for this info. Just as an aside almost, the orange box is a brightbox, see here http://ee.co.uk/help/phones-and-dev...des/bright-box-router-set-up-usb-file-sharing
I also found out that it has a samba server inside, see pic View attachment 43537
so if there is a samba server, and it is sharing the usb files from the usb port could it be possible to put a serial to usb converter, with my ais data in here and get the samba to wifi distribute it?
Stu

 

[laika]

so if there is a samba server, and it is sharing the usb files from the usb port could it be possible to put a serial to usb converter, with my ais data in here and get the samba to wifi distribute it?

Not unless it's a static data file. See post #2. Samba is about file sharing, not data streaming. On the upside, a bit of googling suggests that if it's a re-branded Arcadyan AR7516 it might run OpenWRT sans the DSL bit which you won't be needing anyway on the boat. That's straying outside of my experience though.

 

[Heckler]

Not unless it's a static data file. See post #2. Samba is about file sharing, not data streaming. On the upside, a bit of googling suggests that if it's a re-branded Arcadyan AR7516 it might run OpenWRT sans the DSL bit which you won't be needing anyway on the boat. That's straying outside of my experience though.

Thanks again for your expertise. I will put the router back in the cupboard!
S

 

[laika]

Sorry...bit of a coda. Just noticed that on p.37 of the "Summer" Yachting Monthly they recommend the £538.80 mailasail redbox (20% discount to YM readers) as a wireless router that will distribute NMEA-0183 over IP and that you can connect an iridium 9505 satphone to. I don't own a satphone but skinflint PBO types using a pi access point might be interested in this link on using said satphone attached to a Linux box.
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mcba/iridiumLinux.html

Note that I'm not knocking the mailasail product: It is doubtless physically more robust than a pi with a cheap dongle shoved into it and usb to serial converters hanging out, mailasail have excellent support and their head honcho has frequently provided some good input on these forums.

 

[Heckler]

My, not used now, relatively new Orange router is powered by a mains to 12v transformer. So, with some tweaking, it should be useable on board as a wireless provider of data? This idea is driven by the thought of squirting NMEA data wirelessly around the boat. I notice that digital yacht are doing something similar using TCP/IP.
Question for our IT geeks, this router has a USB port on it for sharing files, how could I feed NMEA in so that I could squirt it wirelessly?
Stu

I bit the bullet and bought a vYacht wifi nmea router, its superb! Just 112 euros. I fired it up, plugged my old Garmin in and bishbosh nmea data to the Ipad! All we need now is a Navionics update for the Samsung so we can see AIS on it!

View attachment 47137

 

[Kerenza]

http://www.holdentechnology.com/component/content/article/69-wifi-nmea-server-with-nook-display

I've use this as a basis and rewritten the HTML pages. Needs a compatible router and a lot of patience.

Ignore the nook part of the project.