The blog
Networking equipment on board, WiFi, Bluetooth, Wiring…
20 years after NMEA 2000 and more than 40 years after NMEA0183, OneNet® is the third-generation NMEA standard for interfacing and networking marine data.
In development since 2010 by NMEA members (1), to be published in late 2021, the OneNet standard is based on the IP Internet Protocol (2) version 6 (IPv6) and runs on IEEE Ethernet LAN 802.3. This new standard is intended to combine the three NMEA data standards — OneNet, NMEA 2000, NMEA0183 — on a single local area network (LAN). Read more …
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) (Global Navigation Satellite System), have become the primary source of Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT1) for ships and marine operations. GNSS is also used for the automatic identification system (AIS2). Unfortunately, GNSS is recognized to be vulnerable to jamming and spoofing, intentional or not, that may result in the loss of positioning information, or, still worse, inaccurate positioning information. Read more …
From iOS / iPadOS version 14.5, a new setting has appeared proposing to allow application access to the Local network. This option is offered when installing a new application, but is not necessarily activated if the application is already installed when updating the OS.
Since then, many of you can no longer connect certain applications (Weather4D, iNavX, aso.) to devices connected via Wi-Fi : Iridium GO!®, multiplexers, various NMEA gateways. To do this, you must activate this "Local network" option for the application concerned. Read more …
(First published on 8 December 2010)
Dear Friends macusers, the approach of Christmas, we need to be charitable, particularly towards users of Windows PC. Indeed, before the influx of requests on how to control a Windows application from an iPad, not having provided a tutorial (*) for Mac users, I feel indebted to a small tutorial for windowsusers.
[Updated 22/08/2020]
Iridium GO! cruising
Since it was introduced to the market in September 2014 (Eh, yes, 5 years ago !) this device, with its indisputable ergonomics and excellent quality/price ratio, has become a must-have for offshore sailors. Easy to implement, without the need for an external antenna (except metal build) it can be used inside the boat.
A test run of several weeks, conducted in October and November 2016 during a transatlantic delivery, had already demonstrated its ability to download GRIB weather files and weather maps despite the low rate (about 10 KB / mn). With the new Iridium NEXT constellation (¹) we notice since 2019 a real improvement in the global coverage without satellite disconnection.
Many AIS tracking networks broadcast over the Internet are available. Among the best known : Marine Traffic, Vessel Finder, SiiTech, LocalizaTodo, and many others. One of these networks especially stands out, AISHub, an AIS NMEA data sharing center, which provides developers with an API for integration of its network in applications, and therefore display of AIS targets received over the Internet directly into the application. Featured from the beginning in Weather4D Routing & Navigation, this system has made it possible to envisage new and particularly innovative services. Read more …
You will soon hear about Signal K, a marine data communication standard, developed in open source, which aims to replace the standard NMEA (0183 up to 2000) technically overwhelmed by the exponential development of connected objects. Designers intend to make an open and free protocol developers and industrial customers, allowing to get over the constraints linked to the NMEA : cost of licenses, flow limits, limit the number and type of devices, failure to adapt to complex environments, wireless communications, therefore incompatible with the Internet of Things and the Internet itself.
Iridium has just published an update of its Iridium GO device firmware! to correct a number of dysfunctions, including the slowness of data transfers (Messaging, GRIB files, aso.) but also recurrent problems of voice connection with the network. Read more …
Since the release of Iridium GO! (¹) There were two different pages of subscription (for free) to messaging service, and two applications (iOS/Android) to connect to the Iridium devices. Now there is only one application : Iridium Mail & Web app to connect to the router Optimizer, either Iridium GO! Read more …
Since its announcement last February, the GO! is expected to come from dealers at the beginning of this month. Company E SAT gave me one to conduct some tests. Although too late to perform these tests at sea, the Quai des Antilles on the Ile de Nantes offers a wide sky clearance also than the deck of a boat, enough to connect satellites of all-round. Two types of test were conducted : requests and receipts of GRIB weather files from an iPad featured with Weather4D PRO app, functions related to the telephony from an iPhone.
Iridium GO! in the Buren Rings on the Quay of Antilles. An invitation to travel ?