Comar, AIS crazy
Comar Systems introduced no less than five new AIS products at METS, most of them seen in the photo above, bigger here. Together with Comar’s existing receiver and Class B transponder, they represent about every AIS possibility there is…except for one-channel-at-a-time receivers which Comar doesn’t believe in. Neither does SeaCas. I agree, and think they’ll go away fairly fast once navigators see how slow one-channel-at-a-time Class B plotting is, and also as Class B hardware becomes less expensive. At any rate, here’s a page of new Comar gear, including a lower cost ($440 retail) true dual channel receiver, an Etherneted IP-talking receiver (the more shore stations the better!), and a $3,000 Class A transponder that might possibly be fit on non mandatory vessels without the need for the separate $1,150 display. Meanwhile, Panbo reader Kurt Schwer, blogging from the eNavigation 2007 conference in Seattle, reported that the USCG’s Jorge Arroyo predicted that U.S. Class B sales will start in December. A thank you to Kurt, and let’s hope.
Ben .. your disparaging comments about single channel receivers may well have some validity as regards plotting Class B targets BUT my concern has always been for those 'biggie' Class A targets, recognizing that in the future there will be more Class B's. My experience with the Nasa AIS-Engine, using the Yacht-AIS Pro software, is that from the time of start up until I begin to get targets is less than one minute. And it appears that the closest ones are detected first. Sure, these targets only have their MMSI and GPS data at first but it's enough for the software to begin calculating collision potentials and 'safe passage' areas. Once a target is detected, the position data is received every 20 seconds versus 10 seconds for a dual-channel receiver. I have a capture file available for anyone that is interested to see this happening in real time. It shows 23 targets in the first 30 seconds. My contact details are on my website.
The budget minded cruiser should think twice about paying more than twice as much for a receiver that only gives the same data in 10 seconds instead of 20 seconds.
Terry