Raspberry Pi, Signal K, Actisense NGT-1, iKommunicate. etc.

P

Pat Anderson

New member
I just stumbled onto this topic because of Active Captain's Jeffrey Seigel's FB post showing his Raspberry Pi based Signal K server with an Actisense NGT-1 gateway, and explaining its capabilities. I Googled Signal K, and one article led to others, requiring me to Google yet more bleeding edge stuff. Head is kind of spinning at the moment!

Anybody actually using, or actively contemplating using, this stuff on their C-Dory?
 
I have a Raspberry Pi that I have been playing with. Plan to use it as a Dstar hotspot for Ham radio. I haven't picked which dongle I want to use yet for the Dstar.
 
Well, Pat, signal K is a wireless/internet NMEA 2000 protocol whilst raspberry pi is a processor. So, before you go any further the question is: do you want all your NMEA 2000 data on the internel via a wireless link?

Personally, I think I'll hold off on that until someone convinces me that's a needed thing. I don't like to broadcast everything I'm doing. On the other hand, look at facebook and twitter, so someone feels different. Though the raspberry pi processor is being used in many applications, such a OpenCpn.

I thought Dstar was a proprietary format used in ham radio. Ran across it when we went to Icom radios. We (Valley Center CERT) didn't use it because of the limited users.

Boris
 
There are a fair number of devices out that will let you send name a 2000 data over wifi to a iPad or a computer. I was looking at some for AIS. I ended up buying a new radio to take care of that. The gadget side of me always has an interest in this type of stuff. As for the Dstar being able to take a 5 watt handheld and talking any where in the world is pretty amazing. Pat I'm looking forward to see how you use it and how good it works.
 
my foray into this stuff was my kicker throttle app. It entails a Arduino board and Bluetooth (BLE) shield, and a servo motor. Controlled by my iOS app.
 
Active Captain's folks are just a little ahead of the curve, and it's very interesting. If it's possible to get a big-screen chartplotter, instrument cluster, GPS and AIS information, weather, music and more for the price of a tablet -- which you can take home and use for other things -- would you really consider paying what the dedicated multifunction displays or better nav systems cost? When I adjust my home thermostat from my cellphone, and when it has replaced the GPS units I used to carry in the car, can it be long before that level of convenience comes to the boat? Sure, there are security concerns to wireless systems, but it looks like younger people are much less paranoid about that then their elders even though the young would have more to lose. And we've come to expect good internet connections from every McDonald's. New cars come with the hotspots built in. Can boats be far behind?

If I can teach myself OpenCPN this winter, I expect to start using it in the spring. Even including hardware, it may replace my Garmin and Lowrance units at a fraction of the price.
 
One of the better explanations of "Signal K" was written by Bill Bishop on the Panbo Blog in Oct 2014.

Read the entire article and comments.

It is useful for NMEA 2000 and well as NMEA 0183 as well as systems you can build.

Another Panbo article by Ben Ellison.

And the The most recent on Nov 18 2016, showing some more practical applications.
Sort of like an erector set, or maybe the modern "Heathkit" for nerds...And c Dorys.

signal K web site.

I can see why Jeff Siegel has playing with it. On the other hand Jeff is so far beyond my comprehension on computer coding, and communications, that I am still in the 18th century!

I personally would not use it on my boat, but if I was 20 years younger, I would buy one of the kits,and the 37 multi sensor kit on Amazon
 
jkidd":2a5ztn1i said:
Pat I'm looking forward to see how you use it and how good it works.
Click to expand...

Whoa! Just said my head was spinning, did not say I was about to dive in! Although at some point I think I pretty well have to! Right now all my 2005 vintage Raymarine C-80 will be used for is to provide its NMEA 0183 data multiplexed with my AIS's data to my laptop running Coastal Explorer, which has a USB monitor mounted above the helm for display! Running everything on a Raspberry Pi would seem to be a logical next step, except it can't run Coastal Explorer, and I really do not see OpenCPN as quite as capable! I have OpenCPN on my MacBook as a backup should my Toshiba fail, however.

2016_10_14_12_10_47.jpg

I actually have lowered the monitor a bit so it doe snot block the center window quite so much. The laptop is on the shelf behind the center window and runs with the lid closed. I have a wireless nouse and keyboard for it, although I really only need the mouse.

I can imagine the C-80 gone, perhaps a little smaller monitor mounted where the C-80 now sits, and all the hardware behind the helm or up in the electronics shelf.

But this sure seems like the logical next step! One blackbox that reads the inputs from GPS, depth sounder, radar, whatever, and sends everything via wifi to the computer, my iPad or iPhone, where I can control everything!

Dwight - how about pics / schematic of how your Raspberry Pi controls your kicker motor throttle? I would love something lile that!
 
It was Leading Edge and now it's Bleeding edge; Wow! I have a 12" Garmin multifunction chart plotter to display fuel use age and gallons left on board, Radar, sonar, and a backup nav chart for redundancy. The boat came with a complete Garmin suit of electronics. I too use Coastal Explorer on a laptop for nav duties. I like the idea of bigger screens. I keep our AIS as a separate unit with it's own screen. We carry a Verizon Hot Spot for our internet use if we can't get it for free. To each their own, but for what we do, I see no need for any more electronics. I for one, am over the never ending search for the hot set up.
D.D.
 
Pat,

The setup of your 25 is about the same as the one I sold. What I did different was moving the C-80 to where it was just to the left of a radio mounted on the underside of the shelf over the helm. That let me put the monitor right where your C-80 is now by using a RAM mount. I used a wireless track ball that mounted with velcro where your mouse is. The S100 remote was in the same place. That way nothing blocked the view out the front.

Tom
 
I've set up a backup touchscreen chart plotter using the following components:

Raspberry Pi 3 @ $40
Raspberry Pi 7" Touchscreen Display @ $60
Smarticase for the touchscreen display @ $25
GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver @ $30
OpenCPN vector graphics charting software @ $00

Getting the software to run was a bit of a challenge, but there is a lot of online info to help you through the install.

The GPS puck was plug and play. OpenCPN recognized it right away.

I’m hoping to incorporate AIS and radar overlays with input from my Standard Horizon VHF, and my Garmin radar.


rpi.jpg

jd
 
Nimrod, looks good! I will be interested in seeing it up close and personal one of these days!

My need for Coastal Explorer and the computer and monitor was not driven by having "the latest hot electronics" but by the obsolescence of my original 2005 C-80 and lack of CF cartography for it for any of the waters on the Loop. The ease of multiplexing the C-80 NMEA 0813 data and getting AIS data to the computer with the Digital Yacht USBPro AIS receiver turned out to be frosting on the cake (Brad from Rose Point Software steered me right here).

I am not smart enough to figure out how to get the input from the sounder into the computer, the C-80 still has the only radar, and the Navman fuel flow gauge still gets its its GPS input from the external GPS antenna, so I think I will keep the C-80 right where it is for now and run both systems in parallel.


nimrod":1aclxq1q said:
I've set up a backup touchscreen chart plotter using the following components:

Raspberry Pi 3 @ $40
Raspberry Pi 7" Touchscreen Display @ $60
Smarticase for the touchscreen display @ $25
GlobalSat BU-353-S4 USB GPS Receiver @ $30
OpenCPN vector graphics charting software @ $00

Getting the software to run was a bit of a challenge, but there is a lot of online info to help you through the install.

The GPS puck was plug and play. OpenCPN recognized it right away.

I’m hoping to incorporate AIS and radar overlays with input from my Standard Horizon VHF, and my Garmin radar.


rpi.jpg

jd
Click to expand...
 
One concern I have with using something like the Raspberry Pi system on a boat is how well it is designed for the shock that electronics experience from a bumpy ride in the boat. I did some electronics construction at the Jet Propulsion Lab back in my postdoc years and they built everything there to space flight specs (because some of their electronics did fly in space). The construction methods and the specific choices of components were different to deal with bumpy rides. I would imagine that the same is true of marine electronics built by experienced marine vendors (Lowrance, Garmin etc.) but perhaps not for the Raspberry Pi. It might be useful to google around "ruggedized Raspberry Pi" or similar to see what kind of shock testing has been done. Might be an issue, might not.
 
Good point. But if you're looking for a low-cost, low-dashboard-clutter option for a backup to your primary C/P this is something to consider. And if your R-pi goes t.u., you can swap it out in about 5 minutes.

And with the Smarticase, you can even hang the unit from the overhead shelf.

jd
 
rogerbum":2cak4j2s said:
One concern I have with using something like the Raspberry Pi system on a boat is how well it is designed for the shock that electronics experience from a bumpy ride in the boat. I did some electronics construction at the Jet Propulsion Lab back in my postdoc years and they built everything there to space flight specs (because some of their electronics did fly in space). The construction methods and the specific choices of components were different to deal with bumpy rides. I would imagine that the same is true of marine electronics built by experienced marine vendors (Lowrance, Garmin etc.) but perhaps not for the Raspberry Pi. It might be useful to google around "ruggedized Raspberry Pi" or similar to see what kind of shock testing has been done. Might be an issue, might not.
Click to expand...

You could dip the Pi board in epoxy or encase the electronics in a RTV block.
 
nimrod":wckj49dd said:
Good point. But if you're looking for a low-cost, low-dashboard-clutter option for a backup to your primary C/P this is something to consider. And if your R-pi goes t.u., you can swap it out in about 5 minutes.

And with the Smarticase, you can even hang the unit from the overhead shelf.

jd
Click to expand...
My only concern is that if it goes t.u. due to vibration, it's likely I'm in rough water and perhaps in a situation where my electronics are more critical than normal such as going over the Columbia River bar or shooting through the "hole in the wall" between Tatoosh and Cape Flattery. I do both of those things many times a year and it's fairly often a bit rough in both locations (but nice once I get past). So for me, I like the redundancy of two Lowrance units (+ my phone).
 
Back
Top