The Marine Electronics Hub
Over the years, I’ve gotten the impression that the FCC can be a capricious, even frightening, regulatory agency. For instance this is the only prototype Class B AIS that was actually shown to the public in Miami (I...
Yeah, man, that’s an Ethernet port on the new Furuno FA30 AIS receiver, meaning that it can plug right into a NavNet vx2 network. It also has standard NMEA 0183 38.4k AIS output, and comes...
So while I’m wondering if anything is happening Class B AIS wise, the U.S.C.G. was type-approving its first Class B device! Not surprisingly it is SRT’s OEM transponder, also first in Europe, which means finished units branded by...
In a week or two, yet another ECS, Tiki Navigator, will add AIS targeting and it looks well done. Note in the screen shot (bigger here) how the red target is being DR’d, its last...
I’m pleased to report—at least in part because of discussions here—that EasyAIS has rewritten its Web pages to clearly explain how its multiplexing receiver functions within the Class A and B System, particularly in relationship to more...
My attempt at a fancy illustration may be sketchy, and the language unfamiliar, but the color coded AIS targets and the full-on data screen behind them suggests that Northstar’s new plotting implementation is exceptionally thorough. The photos above, bigger...
When Class B AIS finally gets going, there’ll be yet another issue to deal with: not all existing AIS plotting systems are going to fully understand the Class B messages. Apparently separate messages were anticipated...
You really need the full screen above to see what’s going on, but that’s the “tow builder” feature in Jeppesen Marine’s new ECS product, which previewed at the WorkBoat Show. A tug captain can graphically build a...
Well, whereas I stirred up a bit of a Class B AIS hornet’s nest yesterday, I may as well keep at it! It seems to me that another repercussion of Class B’s 30 second (at...
This diagram—borrowed from Dr. Andy Norris’s valuable AIS/06 conference presentation—illustrates various possible target presentations for a vessel doing 30 knots over a one minute time period. The green dots roughly represent both radar paints and Class A...
