The Raymarine AIS250 and AIS500 specs indicate that they can send AIS target details and overlay them onto the radar screen of Raymarine MFD's. I am wondering whether this is a Raymarine specific function, built into their devices or if this something that can be done, using other AIS equipment? In other words, could I use a Vespermarine Watchmate and use the output to overlay the same onto a Raymarine radar screen?
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The Raymarine AIS250 says it connects to the Raymarine MFD by NMEA 0183
http://www.raymarine.com/productdetail.aspx?page=1718&product_id=4004§ion=2
So yes there is the potential for you to be able to interop, but the following would need to be true:
1) The AIS unit would need to be sending out properly formatted NMEA 0183 messages for AIS data (Is there even such a thing?)
2) Your 3rd party MFD would need to support understanding those messages or if the AIS puts out a non-standard NMEA 0183 message it would need to know how to understand those.
Finally cabling might also be difficult and you might need to splice your AIS to a cable that works with your MFD.
MY SUGGESTION (which is much like an opinion) would be to find an AIS solution that outputs NMEA 2000 and hook it to an NMEA backbone and then hook that to your NMEA 2000 compatible MFD. I think you'll end up with less issues that way.
Note this phrase from the AIS500 page
http://www.raymarine.com/ProductDetail.aspx?SITE=1&SECTION=2&PAGE=1718&PRODUCT=4293
"NMEA 0183 - Compatibility with Raymarine A, C Wide, E and G Series, as well as other manufacturers’ units that display AIS targets"
They don't mention which ones, but it sounds like they've tried. Maybe if you contact their support folks they have a list of what they've tested.
-p
Thanks, Patrick!
I did not really want to ask Raymarine support and disappoint them with such a question ... :-) ... But, there is a reason for my madness. I do have a Raymarine AIS500 transponder and now, due to a lucky circumstance, I also own a Class A transponder. I only need one, of course, and would much rather keep the Class A. That is why I posted this interfacing question, assuming, justifiably so, that an expert would come to my rescue. Thanks!
Rays plotter uses standard AIS messages to display the targets , it will work with basically everything. You will looose some ray specific features as in control of the AIS500 , but this can be done via a PC anyway
Dave
note that Rays AIS500 is n2k/SEATALKNG enabled. But there are software issues with AIS over seatalkng that ray are sorting out via software updates for C-wide, E and E-W series
Dave
Why on earth would any AIS unit output non-standard 0183 msgs? I understand the problem with N2k, but the AIS msgs for 0183 have been standardised for almost a decade!
Some AIS units may output additional 0183 info which is in a proprietary format, but that shouldn't interfere with the standard output, otherwise they wouldn't be able to interface to anything, which would make them virtually useless - or am I missing something?
Del, I don't think any AIS unit is outputting non-standard 0183. There's just some uncertainty being expressed here that maybe you and I can clear up.
The truth is that NMEA 0183 is the base data protocol for AIS. Every AIS receiver and transponder outputs standard AIS msgs, and every AIS plotter can receive those 0183 messages. Transmitting and receiving AIS data via NMEA 2000 and/or Ethernet is a useful extra, but always an extra.
Isn't that your understanding, Del?
Ben:
Indeed it is, hence why I was wondering why Patrick was so concerned:
quote: "1) The AIS unit would need to be sending out properly formatted NMEA 0183 messages for AIS data (Is there even such a thing?)" un-quote....
Read nothing more into that than exactly what is written. I did not know if there was such a thing as standard AIS messages for NMEA 0183.
-p