Vessel monitoring, Krill style
If graphing, say, wind speed or depth data on a little Garmin GMI 10 is useful — which it is — how about visualizing every desired vessel sensor trend on a big monitor? Krill Systems has been showing off demo screens like the one captured above and intends to include the feature in a coming update of its SoftDisplay. And Krill has kept past promises…
Panbo’s last Krill entry was all about its black box processor and NMEA 2000 adoption plans. The former is a done deal, and the latter is apparently even better than so far claimed. I recently asked Krill’s Casey Cox if his system could, say, support Maretron’s various new N2K system sensors (ultrasonic tank monitoring being the latest). He replied: “Since we can read all NMEA 2000 devices, the customer may freely mix & match our sensor pods and Maretron sensors without any problems.” I like that. Cox argues that Krill sensor pods are more economical and practical on many vessels because they each collect a lot more data, but some users might prefer to have that data travelling around the vessel in a format that can be understood by multiple devices.
Krill also plans to adopt its Soft Display for touch screen use, and to add the ability to import vessel plans for nifty mimic screens like the one below (and the ones coming to N2KView). Meanwhile I talked at length this morning with a principal at TTA Marine, developers of a vessel monitoring system that sounds similar to Krill and N2KView in some ways, different in others. It’s called Rex, more details are appearing on the TTA site weekly, and the system is scheduled to roll out in May.
My condolences, I think the patient coded at the blue line.
On a more serious note, what is the size of the market for the Krill System? Looks like mega yacht stuff to me — not exactly what I would put in a coastal sailboat. Personally, I’m more interested in seeing manufacturers integrate a crossover of data between N2K and old NMEA 0183 so the average boater can make a gradual transition from the old to new systems. Right now, you either have to install two data systems or buy a converter, or dump perfectly good instruments for new ones to take advantage of new N2K devices. In other words, why can’t a Garmin 4212 convert incoming NMEA 0183 into N2K (and/or N2K to 0183) and send it out on the data bus? For me, this is more important then the beautiful and sophisticated Krill System.