At METS next week, Vesper Marine will be previewing two very interesting additions to its line of AIS products. At left above is the black box (well, blue green actually) AIS XB-8000 Class B transponder and at right is the WatchMate Vision Class B with its sunlight-viewable color touchscreen display. When added to Vesper's existing WatchMate series of monochrome devices -- which includes the plain AIS target display 670, the receive-only model 750, and the full Class B 850 -- it seems like the company will have a model for every taste. But the two new units have some pretty special attributes...
Yes that's an Accu-Steer reversing hydraulic pump meant to push a rudder around, but that block on top is a patent-pending sensor co-developed with FurunoUSA, and the whole package leads to the very interesting "Safe Helm" and "Power Steer" features coming to the latter's NavPilot 700 (which explains why the pilot came out elsewhere earlier). Safe Helm sounds a lot like the "Shadow Drive" feature so far only seen on the Garmin GHP 10 pilot for hydraulic steering systems; instead of poking a StandBy button, you simply turn the wheel to disengage the pilot and steer around an issue, then let the boat settle on a course again to re-engage. It's elegantly simple (I've tried the Garmin version), and it's potentially great that it's is no longer exclusive to one manufacturer. And apparently Furuno's unique method also means that the pump can be used to power assist a steering system, with numerous controls for how that's done -- like variable assist at different speeds -- built into the NavPilot 700...
Yesterday Raymarine issued a press release announcing replacements for its existing AIS receiver and Class B transponder, which I'll link to when possible. But, in fact, some online dealers are already offering the AIS650 Class B transponder, as well as the AIS350 receiver, and they also bear a family resemblance to the new generation SRT OEM gear discussed in June, which is not a bad thing (and no big surprise given that SRT announced a strategic agreement with one of "the world's top three marine electronics companies" last February). Let's see if we can figure out what's new and different...
Em Trak -- or Em-Trak or em-trak (why do brands defy grammar conventions when it often leads to misspellings elsewhere?) -- is a completely unfamiliar name to me, but it's pretty darn obvious that the interesting array of new AIS gear displayed on their web site is closely related to the new AIS modules SRT debuted yesterday. The cases may be different (and jazzier) in some cases, but I'm seeing some of the same new features along with ones apparently added by Em Trak...
The AIS Summit began today in Hamburg, Germany, and SRT took the occasion to announce a boat load of newly available OEM AIS modules (download PDF here). Of course that means that other companies have to brand and sell the gear above -- or build their own devices based the same internal technology -- but I have reason to believe that in at least one interesting case that will happen soon, and, in fact, several of the items above seem like they will be interesting products eventually...
A gold star to Raymarine for the E140W's response to an AIS SART test! This seems like exactly the proper plotting behavior described by the USCG AIS expert Jorge Arroyo in a comment to the entry about the easyRescue SART tested. Not only did the E Wide put up an alarm noting the SART TEST message but it also plotted the SART's location with the correct distinctive icon (see inset above). And, as a bonus, it's giving the operator quick soft key or touch shortcuts to setting up a go-to-SART route or dismiss the alarm. But so far the E140W is the only MFD that's so SART friendly and it wasn't until I updated its software this weekend...
After the Miami show this year I wrote about the introduction of Kannad and McMurdo personal-size AIS SARTs meant for crew overboard rescues and/or to help you get found in a liferaft. The idea is that these 1 watt AIS transmitters can be seen and homed-in to from at least a few miles away by any vessel -- including your own -- with an AIS plotting device. (Antenna height can increase that range a good deal, and that even includes satellites!) The first AIS SART I've gotten to test is the easyRescue A040 developed by the German company Weatherdock. It's a brick-shaped device about 5 x 3 x 1 inches and it includes an optional back plate/belt clip and even a reel of thin line so you can leash it to your life jacket...
I remember a few years ago when some boaters worried about "Big Brother" style AIS surveillance while the IMO fretted about hobbyists using shore receivers to display real time coastal AIS info on the Web. But all that seemed to go away, because -- I think -- people realized that AIS is indeed a public information network and that there is nothing especially threatening about its use by agencies or amateurs. But today I was struck by a "fatcat1111" comment stating that "I absolutely do not want to update the Fed with my location every 30 seconds" and that he or she hadn't felt that way until they read the Practical Sailor article above by marine safety expert Ralph Naranjo. Well, maybe I'm completely blind about "personal freedom" but I've read Ralph's article a few times now, and I just don't get it...
While exciting things are happening on the frontiers of AIS, there's still some tragic ignorance about what the technology can do right now for marine safety, even from folks who should know better. But let's start with the good stuff, right? After a recent entry about using compact AIS SARTS as crew overboard devices, USCG analyst Jorge Arroyo bombed me with documents about this and other AIS developments. I was aware that AIS SARTS have done well in testing with ships, planes, and helicopters, and I also knew that certain satellites were able to receive AIS signals, but -- Holy Sardine, Batman! -- who knew that there were "microsatellites" that can pick up a 1 Watt SART attached to a floating life vest from 1,100 miles away?...
New in Miami were both the Kannad brand and its interesting AIS-based SafeLink R10 "survivor recovery system." And more sorting out was in order when your realized that McMurdo was showing the very similar SmartFind S10 in the very same booth. Note too how the Kannad SafeLink PLB in the background looks a heck of lot like the popular McMurdo FastFind. What's going on is that Kannad, a longtime French distress beacon company, became a sibling to McMurdo when Orolia bought both of them, and now they're working as partners in a somewhat overlapped fashion...
