For years, I eagerly anticipated Apple’s fall event and news of the latest iPhone release. Back then, my purchasing latency was limited to locating the website’s “buy” button, as my incumbent phone was often struggling to keep pace with new apps and software updates. Then, starting around 2015 (the iPhone 6S), I was able to start squeezing extra years out of my phones. This trend accelerated, and as of today, I still rely on my iPhone 11 Pro from 2019. To be fair, I always buy the top-end model with maximum storage, but four and a half years on, I haven’t crashed (at least not hard) into this phone’s silicone ceiling.

Multifunction displays perform different tasks than smartphones, but most marine-electronics manufacturers build MFDs with off-the-shelf componentry and, sometimes, software from the mobile-device market. This sourcing gives manufacturers options for high-resolution touchscreen displays, processors, connectivity and operating-system architecture, and it means that today’s MFDs can have longer working lives.

How we got here, however, requires a small rewind. After all, MFDs circa 2010 were different animals than today’s big, powerful displays.

“Back then, most displays were 4 to 7 inches,” says Dave Dunn, Garmin’s senior director of marine and RV sales. “A big display was 9 to 10 inches, and a 12-inch display was enormous.”

These MFDs were controlled via tactile buttons and knobs, or early touchscreen or hybrid-touch interfaces. They only tackled marine-facing applications such as chart-plotting.

Today’s MFDs excel at traditional marine tasks, but they also boast bigger glass, full video integration, touchscreen interfaces, high-speed data networks, and four- or six-core processors, opening the door to expanded job descriptions.

“Processing power has indeed increased over time, bringing with it the ability to drive higher-resolution screens,” says Steve Thomas, Simrad’s product director for digital systems. “[This] also lends itself to better integration by providing the responsiveness consumers expect.”

It also enables MFDs to perform nontraditional tasks, including streaming video from daylight and thermal-imaging cameras, tackling onboard security, controlling digital switching and, sometimes, providing entertainment. Today’s flagship MFDs also sport larger high-resolution displays, multisignal connectivity (with ANT, Bluetooth, Ethernet and Wi-Fi), embedded sonar modules, GPS or GNSS receivers, data backbones, and NMEA 2000 and HTML5 compatibility.

“NMEA 2000 protocol provides the basis of communication and is the linchpin connecting everything together for the MFD to display and control,” says Eric Kunz, Furuno’s senior product manager. Kunz adds that HTML5 compatibility allows MFDs to display and control third-party equipment via web-browser windows, sans any heavy lifting from the MFD.

Technology moves in step changes, and MFDs, brand depending, have experienced two major evolutions since 2010.

“The first was the transition from a completely closed-software architecture to something open source,” says Jim McGowan, Raymarine’s Americas marketing manager, referring to the company’s shift from a walled-garden operating system to Linux and then Android.

Others, including Simrad and Furuno, took similar steps. Garmin remains a holdout.

“We use Android, but not for marine,” Dunn says. “Will we eventually go to Android? Maybe.”

The second evolution involved hardware, with all MFD manufacturers now using mobile-device componentry.

“Suddenly, the requirements for shock resistance, heat resistance, water resistance, bright visibility and fast processing became available on a wide scale,” McGowan says. “Instead of us having to source expensive industrial or semicustom hardware that was proven but old, suddenly our system architects had multiple options to choose from that were all state of the art.”

Sourcing components became easier, yielding better MFDs, but it placed a higher premium on software. Case in point: Raymarine has released more than 30 updates, including new features, for its 2017-era Axiom MFDs.

Likewise, there’s the importance of supporting hardware as it ages. “We don’t like to leave customers behind,” Dunn says, noting that Garmin supports products for five years after they’re discontinued.

This opens the door to the fine art of good enough. Given that modern MFDs are robust, the same display—like my iPhone—can last for years, provided that its sensor network remains static. While this works for buy-and-hold customers, new sensors can dangle carrots.

For example, Furuno and Garmin unveiled Doppler-enabled radars in 2016. While older MFDs could often display radar imagery from these sensors, some customers had to refit their displays to access the best features. One can imagine automation and AI presenting similar incentives.

“AI will combine multiple facets of different sensors to create a more sophisticated and enhanced navigation experience,” Kunz says. “Look for MFDs to take a larger and larger part in overall vessel control and automation.”

Avikus, for instance, is developing its NeuBoat autonomous navigation system with Raymarine. As for Garmin, Dunn says: “There’s nothing coming in the near future, but there’s some cool stuff coming with lidar and cameras.” He’s referring to the light-detection and ranging sensors that help enable automotive driver-assist features and autonomous driving.

Future hardware and capabilities aside, all experts agree on the importance of regularly updating a vessel’s MFD to keep the operating system current and to access the latest software features. While updates are free, all four companies have adopted subscription models for cartography.

“In some ways, the marine-electronics business model is changing in the same way it is happening in the consumer-electronics industry,” Kunz says. “This will most likely lead to more of a subscription-based model for certain aspects of the market.”

While subscription models make sense for a dynamic media like cartography, it’s harder to envision this business practice extending throughout the sensor ecosystem.

“We don’t want to get to the point where people have to pay for software updates,” Dunn says, pointing to BMW’s belly-flopped attempt to charge customers fees to use their existing heated steering wheels.

New hardware, however, is a different story. “More than anything, we’re a sensor company,” McGowan says of Raymarine. “We keep offering new and improved sensors.”

Given the adoption rates of Doppler-enabled radar, there’s little question that the recreational marine market stands ready to embrace step-change sensors, so long as they come bundled with newfound capabilities—say, auto-docking or autonomous navigation.

As for my ancient iPhone, I’m again counting the days until Apple’s fall event. I just hope my next iPhone will last as long as today’s flagship MFDs.  

UI Options

Recent years have seen most manufacturers adopt touchscreen-only user interfaces for their flagship multifunction displays. This technology creates user-friendly interfaces in most conditions, but some users prefer tactile buttons when the weather sours. All manufacturers build optional external keypads or hard-button remote controls.

The post Future-Proofing Multifunction Displays appeared first on Yachting.

Marine technology companies and brands continue to advance in the area of systems integration, combining features and functionalities in ways that are intended to make boating easier and safer. In just the past few weeks, Raymarine and Garmin—two of the biggest players in the marine electronics space—announced new developments around this type of integration.

Raymarine teamed up with ePropulsion to let boaters display their electric-motor engine data directly on Raymarine Axiom displays, without the need for additional gateways or add-on interface boxes. This blending of systems was accomplished by combining NMEA 2000 standards for electric engines with Raymarine’s LightHouse 4.6 operating system that supports electric motor PGN messages.

The Axiom engine dashboard now allows boaters to see the ePropulsion motor’s battery level, speed, gear and estimated range. A dynamic range ring overlays on the chartplotter display, helping boaters to visualize current cruising range and optimize energy consumption. 

“It has been incredible working alongside one of the most innovative electric engine manufacturers to bring industry-first functionality to a previously under-represented class of boater,” Grégoire Outters, general manager at Raymarine, stated in a press release. “We’re confident that those who’ve adopted electric propulsion will appreciate the forward thinking of ePropulsion and Raymarine.”

Meanwhile, Garmin used its April 2024 software release to add support for the FLIR Maritime Thermal Monitoring System.

Supported features now include live display of the video feed from the FLIR camera system; audible alarms and visual alerts on the Garmin chartplotter; thermal, visible and MSX thermal/visible blending; thermal color palette selection; and custom camera naming.

The FLIR Maritime Thermal Monitoring System can monitor machinery and equipment, identifying temperature anomalies in equipment such as gas and diesel engines, generators, bearings and electrical panels. The system can give boaters an early warning about problems that can lead to equipment failure.

FLIR’s system can be programmed to provide alerts based on high-, low- or delta-temperature factors.

“Garmin’s integration with this system allows users to deploy this solution seamlessly, without needing a separate display taking up valuable helm station real estate,” said Outters, who also serves as general manager at Teledyne FLIR Maritime. “The ease of installation and use, combined with the customizability of the system allows users to tailor it to their specific needs or mission.”

Where to learn more about Raymarine and ePropulsion: go to raymarine.com or epropulsion.com

Where to learn more about Garmin and FLIR: visit garmin.com and flir.com

The post Systems Integrations Abound appeared first on Yachting.

November 29, 2014: Team Vestus Wind was racing from Cape Town, South Africa, to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates at speeds of 16 to 21 knots. The boat slammed into the Cargados Carajos Shoals, around 235 nautical miles northeast of Mauritius. The crew survived, but the multimillion-dollar race boat was destroyed.

Human error was to blame, but postmortem reports suggest that the scale of the boat’s chart displays was a contributing factor. The boat carried two multifunction displays and two laptops, but the 6.4-inch MFD screens couldn’t provide much resolution at scale.

Navigation aside, screen space wouldn’t have been an issue if the team had been racing with Garmin’s 9000 series GPSMap displays, which have up to 27 inches of high-resolution glass. Modern MFDs combine processing power, memory, data storage, touchscreen capabilities and network connectivity. Garmin’s GPSMap 9000 series adds bigger swaths of glass, better onscreen resolution and faster processors.

While these upgrades significantly enhance the user experience, the biggest innovation within Garmin’s first new flagship MFD in eight years is its four BlueNet network ports. This hardware combination, along with Garmin’s quarterly software updates, should mean significant amounts of future-proofing.

The GPSMap 9000 is available in 19- ($9,900), 22- ($11,400), 24- ($13,400) and 27-inch ($16,900) screens with in-plane switching for sunlight readability. The displays ship with tide tables and either Garmin’s basic worldwide base map or a US version that has built-in Garmin Navionics+ cartography for the United States, Canada and the Bahamas. The touchscreen-only displays can be flush- or flat-mounted, and they’re compatible with Garmin’s external hard-key remote controls.

“Despite having large screens—up to 24 inches—with the GPSMap 8400/8600 series, the requests kept coming in for larger,” says Dave Dunn, Garmin’s senior director of marine and RV sales. “4K screens have come down in cost since the 8400/8600 were developed, so we’re able to offer a 4K-resolution screen where the cost didn’t make sense in the previous generation.”

While eye-pleasing, this resolution isn’t just about aesthetics, Dunn adds: “With the content of the cartography that we’re getting today, when you add in the relief shading, you add in contour lines, you add in your tracks, your breadcrumbs—all that stuff starts to clutter. The higher resolution you have, it’s cleaner.” And you can still see all the details for navigation.

Dunn says that better screen resolution also helps anglers. Like Garmin’s GPSMap 8400/8600 series, the GPSMap 9000 displays are built to show underkeel targets and structure. Both generations of MFDs support traditional 50/200 kHz sonar, along with Garmin’s ClearVu, SideVu, Panoptix and Livescope systems, giving users the ability to acquire a massive amount of underkeel awareness.

“If you’re just looking for the bottom, it doesn’t help you,” Dunn says. “But if you’re fishing, it could be the difference of seeing several targets that are stacked up together, where otherwise it might just have been one big target because the pixel count wouldn’t allow you to draw those targets.”

That said, navigational awareness is also well-covered because GPSMap 9000 displays have Global Navigation Satellite System receivers. This allows the MFDs to acquire position fixes from four discrete navigation systems: GPS (United States), GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (European Union) and Beidou (China). The built-in wide-area augmentation system allows for accuracy to 3.3 feet.

In addition to enhancing navigation, large-format 4K displays can moonlight as screens for streaming entertainment or watching stored content. GPSMap 9000 displays also have HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) distribution, allowing users to play the same content simultaneously across all networked GPSMap 9000 screens.

Garmin further designed the GPSMap 9000 to serve as computational heavy-lifters. The processors have speeds seven times faster than those in the GPSMap 8400/8600 series. “We want these to be as future-proofed as possible, so there’s way more horsepower built into them than they actually need,” Dunn says. “That also helps with integration and everything that we’re pumping into these MFDs now.”

That includes Garmin’s BlueNet network, a superhighway that hustles data at 1 gigabit per second. By comparison, NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 networks move data at 4.8 and 250 kilobits per second, respectively, and Garmin’s previous network moves data at 100 megabits per second. While 100 Mbps isn’t slow, BlueNet is 10 times faster.

The four BlueNet ports in each GPSMap 9000 display look ordinary, but they let users build data-intensive networks involving multiple displays, daylight and thermal-imaging cameras, radars, sonars and other instrumentation. The setup also reserves bandwidth for upcoming innovations, Dunn says: “When you think about BlueNet and what it opens up for the future, that’s really the key innovation here. It gives us a lot more opportunity to interact with more features and components on the boat than we ever have.”

Tea leaves are hard to read, but given that Garmin’s Surround View camera system already has some of the technologies for self-docking capabilities, it’s fair to hypothesize that some of the impetus for the GPSMap 9000’s powerful processors and BlueNet compatibility involves supporting higher levels of automated technology.

As for target audiences, given the sizes and costs involved, these MFDs are aimed at larger yachts. Dunn points to the owner of a 70-footer who purchased three 27-inch GPSMap 9000 MFDs, and installed two at his helm and one in his stateroom, plus smaller GPSMap 8600 MFDs on the flybridge and elsewhere.

At the same time, Dunn says, the owners of smaller boats, including center-consoles, have also been installing big-boat equipment. “Anything above about 30 feet is probably going to go to these 9000s,” he says, adding that another customer bought a 27-inch GPSMap 9000 MFD for his bay boat. “Instead of going with two screens, people are opting to go with one really large one.”

As for Team Vestus Wind, it’s hard to imagine the same scaling issues surfacing if they had been racing with 27 inches of 4K screen real estate supported by lightning-fast processors, GNSS receivers and 1 Gbps data networks. Careful navigation, of course, remains a different story.

Trickle-Down Tech

Big displays are visually pleasing, but not everyone has the physical space to accommodate a 19-inch screen, let alone 27 inches of glass. It’s easy to speculate that Garmin will build smaller GPSMap 9000 displays in the future. In the meantime, Garmin’s GPSMap 8600 series comes in 10, 12, 16 and 17 inches.

The post Garmin GPSMap 9000 Series MFD appeared first on Yachting.

Want more width on the screens at your boat’s helm? Simrad Yachting’s new NSX Ultrawide might be the marine display to check out at the boat shows this year.

Simrad unveiled the NSX Ultrawide in early January, saying it is up to 63 percent wider than previous NSX displays—with the goal being to have the equivalent of dual screens in one place, without all the muss and fuss that usually comes with installing multiple screens at a boat’s helm.

“With a showstopping aesthetic and enhanced functionality, the NSX Ultrawide is setting a new standard in the marketplace, and we are proud to pave the way,” Kevin Steinbraker, vice president and general manager, digital systems of Navico Group, stated in a press release. “Whether in their cars, computer monitor at work, or the TVs in their homes, consumers have grown accustomed to and love the benefits of ultra-wide screens. Now they can have those same experiences at the helm with immersive graphics and flexible viewing splits.”

The NSX Ultrawide is available in 12- and 15-inch screen sizes. Simrad says it’s versatile enough for small to midsize center consoles, surf and wake boats, and cruisers. Multiple NSX Ultrawide displays can be combined at a single helm station, for boaters who want to see even more data and information all in one location.

The latest C-Map Discover X charts are optimized for NSX, which includes this new Ultrawide display. The high-pixel density of the Ultrawide display shows super–sharp resolution, according to Simrad, giving users unprecedented levels of detail. For avid anglers, extra detail can be added with an upgrade to Reveal X, which has shaded relief and satellite imagery.

The X-Gen charts also have features such as the new C-Map Safety Alerts, which are built to automatically alert users to hazards up ahead, ranging from shallow waters to buoys.

Additionally, in what Simrad says is an industry first, the C-Map X-Chart Manager lets users manage C-Map chart updates and upgrades directly from their device, with the ability to choose custom areas for a near-instant download.

Do most people prefer bigger displays? The National Institutes of Health sure thinks so. It cites a study on its website that says the answer is yes, at least when it comes to screen sizes on smartphones. Researchers found that a large screen, compared to a small screen, promotes perceived ease of use.

Take the next step: visit simrad-yachting.com

The post Simrad Unveils NSX Ultrawide appeared first on Yachting.

The skies darkened fast. Capt. Art Sapp was runnng home to Lighthouse Point, Florida, from the Bahamas aboard Native Son, his SeaVeei 39, when he saw the storm wall. “I ran 30 miles to get around the thunder and lightning,” he said, adding that he used dual 16-inch Raymarine Axiom 2 XL multifunction displays, and networked radar and satellite weather, to pick a less-awful route. “It’s got a fluidlike feeling on the screens. It’s wild,” Sapp said of the Axiom 2 XL. “It makes it so accurate, there’s no missed touch.”

While screen-tap accuracy matters, there’s more going on with Raymarine’s latest displays than screen coatings. And it’s been developing for years.

In 2017, Raymarine unveiled its Axiom displays with quad-core processors, RealVision 3D sonar and the Android-based Lighthouse 3 operating system. Lighthouse 3 was Raymarine’s all-new operating-system architecture, and it made the company an early Android adopter within the marine space. Raymarine’s Axiom 2 displays come in three models with screen sizes ranging from 9 to 24 inc hes. All of them have six-core processors, global navigation satellite system receivers, 64 gigabytes of solid-state storage, the latest version of Raymarine’s Lighthouse 4 operating system and next-generation screen coatings. The resulting displays, which include angling- and cruising-specific versions, can give boaters better speed, power and improved user interfaces.

The Axiom 2 family starts with Axiom 2 Pro S (from $3,050), which is available in 9-, 12- and 16-inch screens. It comes with a single-channel, chirp-enabled sonar.

“The Axiom 2 Pro S is targeted at cruising boats,” says Jim McGowan, Raymarine’s Americas marketing manager. “It’s got our HydroTough coating on the glass. It’s a nano coating that bonds with the glass on a molecular level. Your fingers just glide smoothly over it, which enhances the functionality.”

In addition, the Axiom 2 Pro S, along with the fishing-specific Axiom 2 Pro RVM, uses Raymarine’s HybridTouch user interface, which employs a touchscreen as well as hard-button-and-knob keypads. Those can be helpful when the seaway starts sloshing the coffee.

RVM stands for RealVision Max sonar. Axiom 2 Pro RVM displays are identical to the Axiom 2 Pro S, save for their sonars. While the Axiom 2 Pro S has a conical chirp-enabled sonar, RVM models (from $2,750) are built with a 10 kW, dual-channel chirp sounder and a 600-watt RealVision Max high multibeam chirp sonar.

“It’s definitely targeted at the hard-core fishermen,” McGowan says, adding that RVM displays deliver chirp DownVision, SideVision, RealVision 3D and high-chirp-sonar perspectives, plus the traditional dual-channel 1 kW chirp sonar.

Given that there are three bands of chirp—low, medium and high—anglers can cover all three bands with an Axiom 2 Pro RVM that’s networked to a Raymarine RVM transducer and to an Airmar low- and medium-frequency chirp transducer.

Axiom 2 displays employ different transducers (sold separately) than previous-generation Axiom offerings. These transducers have piezoceramic elements inside that are larger, McGowan says. Larger ceramic elements equate to greater acoustic sensitivity and better beam-shaping capability. While those features are beneficial, the reality is that boaters need to add the new transducers in order to realize the system’s full acoustic capabilities.

Axiom 2 XL is the most recent addition to Raymarine’s display family. As the name portends, the premium-level XL models (from $7,800) are designed for use in an all-glass bridge aboard large yachts or high-end center-consoles. The touchscreen displays are available in 16-, 19-, 22- and 24-inch glass. While they don’t include an embedded sonar or hard-button controls (owners can add a Raymarine RMK-10 keyboard), they do have HDMI input and output capabilities.

“They have a pretty robust video input and output,” McGowan says. “It’s unique to that level of Axiom. The standard Axioms don’t have it.”

This functionality allows Axiom 2 XL owners to add a Raymarine RVM1600 black-box sonar ($2,000), creating a setup that gives Axiom 2 XLs the same fish-stalking capabilities as Axiom 2 Pro RVMs, just with more-spacious glass.

These HDMI capabilities also allow Axiom 2 XL owners to network a touchscreen-compatible personal computer to their display via a USB connection, and to drive their computer using Axiom 2 XL’s touchscreen pass-through interface. Additionally, the HDMI input and XL-size glass can be used to stream satellite TV or other content.

While each Axiom 2 model has its sweet spot of capabilities, all three models share important DNA. “Because of the six-core processors, the ability to pan across a chart or to zoom in or zoom out, it is very, very snappy,” McGowan says. “The pinch-to-zoom feature is immediate. You’re never waiting for anything to load.”

And the latest version of Raymarine’s Android-based Lighthouse 4 operating system lets third-party software developers create vetted apps that run on Axiom 2 displays.

“We curate the apps that we allow. They have to be largely navigation-focused,” McGowan says, adding that some apps are validated by Raymarine, while others are developed with a partner agreement. “The Android platform gives us the flexibility to do that because there are so many marine devices that are built on or around Android.”

Another benefit of Lighthouse 4’s Android-based architecture, McGowan says, is that navigation software isn’t a heavy lift for the processors: “You’re not really pushing the limits of the hardware out of the box, so that gives us the ability to keep developing new features and new innovations and adding more stuff into the code. We still haven’t even begun to stress the limits of the processor and memory.”

As far as Axiom 2’s pros and cons, the positives are plural, while the drawbacks are largely limited to costs (including installing the larger transducers) and the fact that Raymarine no longer allows owners to pilot DJI Mavic drones from Axiom displays.

But if you’re more concerned with cruising, fishing or creating a premium-level all-glass bridge, then Axiom 2 could be the logical next addition to your yacht’s helm.

Pro Moves

Raymarine’s RVM1600 sonar module can be networked with an Axiom 2 XL to yield the same sonic capabilities as an Axiom 2 Pro RVM.

Sky-Talker

Axiom 2s are agnostic about satellite-communications connections. They play nicely with mazu’s M2500 ($1,100), which uses Iridium’s global, short-burst data service to provide weather, email, SMS messaging and an optional sport-fishing app. It appears as an app, so users can see it on Axiom’s sunlight-readable screen.

The post Raymarine’s Axiom 2 Multifunction Displays Explained appeared first on Yachting.

Zipwake, which is a dynamic trim-control system for added comfort aboard, is now available with a Zipwake Integrator Module that can help keep dashboards cleaner, even when incorporating large displays at the helm.

Imtra says the Zipwake Integrator Module connects the Zipwake system to eight brands of multifunction displays and comes with a wireless interface that lets boaters configure, operate, monitor and update the system via the Zipwake app on smartphones or tablets.

The Zipwake Integrator Module is waterproof to IP67 standards and comes with an ethernet connector collar for sealing ethernet cables. A single cable connects the unit to a multifunction display.

“With larger displays becoming more and more popular, we understand that helm space is limited,” Jamie Simmons, Zipwake product manager at Imtra, stated in a press release. “The new Integrator Module is a streamlined and elegant solution that lets boaters take full advantage of the Zipwake system without the need for a separate controller.”

Will the Zipwake Integrator Module be on display at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show? Indeed, it will be shown by Imtra, at booth number 785.

Take the next step: You can also learn more by clicking over to imtra.com

The post Zipwake Module for Cleaner Dashboards appeared first on Yachting.

Raymarine has unveiled new products, including the Axiom 2 Pro and Axiom 2 XL multifunction displays, a new suite of sonar products and an advanced marine camera system.

The Axiom 2 Pro is the most powerful all-in-one Axiom system ever developed, according to Raymarine. It has a fast six-core processor and an intuitive LightHouse 4 operating system. It’s available in 9-, 12- and 16-inch sizes in two variations.

The Axiom 2 Pro S includes embedded high-chirp sonar for premium cruising and sailing vessels, while the Axiom 2 Pro RVM is engineered for anglers.

Axiom 2 Pro RVM models come standard with new RealVision MAX 3D sonar, which combines chirp DownVision, SideVision and RealVision MAX 3D channels. The high-frequency chirp sonar channel also has 600 watts of output power, significantly expanding the depth range to 1,200 feet and greatly improving the clarity of fish targets detected throughout the water column.

The flagship Axiom 2 XL is designed for sportfishing yachts, offshore battlewagons and luxury cruisers, and is available in 16-, 19-, 22- and 24-inch sizes, with enhanced networking and extended multimedia capabilities. Features include HDMI input and output, and touchscreen pass-through. Axiom 2 XL screens are also built on the new six-core platform with LightHouse 4 operating system.

“Whether you are a professional offshore angler or a long-distance cruiser, Axiom 2 Pro promises the clearest sonar pictures at the greatest ranges in a display that is built to withstand the harshest conditions thrown at you,” Grégoire Outters, general manager of Raymarine, stated in a press release.

What else is new at Raymarine? The company also added the new CAM300 Marine Camera, which is slightly larger than a golf ball, with high-definition resolution and a 160-degree field of view.

Where to learn more: go to raymarine.com

The post New Product Lines from Raymarine appeared first on Yachting.

Predicting the future of marine electronics isn’t easy, but these four men are paid to do exactly that. Here’s a look at trends that are likely to be influential during the next five years, from the minds of Dave Dunn, Garmin’s director of sales and marketing for marine; Knut Frostad, CEO of Navico; Eric Kunz, Furuno’s senior product manager; and Jim McGowan, Raymarine’s Americas marketing manager. (Their words have been slightly edited for space and clarity.)

Q: Which consumer electronics trends are likely to affect marine electronics?

A: Dunn: Connectivity and integration. There’s more desire for third-party companies integrating with multifunction displays, and there’s more expectation from customers. I think there will be more boats without buttons and switches, as well as more digital-switching systems.

A: Frostad: Consumer electronics are starting to have a good learning experience. 2020 has been an amazing year for attracting new boaters, but it requires the user experience to be more educational. Voice assistance is becoming big on land. I think there will be more integration with phones and watches. On land, everything has a low-power mode to lower consumption—I think that’s where we’re going with marine.

A: Kunz: I think we’re going to see more control of the vessel and its onboard systems through multifunction displays. We’re going to see new sensors that produce more-accurate information at lower costs. For example, GPS III. I also think there will be more automation between handheld devices and the boat.

A: McGowan: The No. 1 thing I see is connectivity. Everything is connected in a house—temperature, music and security—and the demand is there to do that on boats. Getting to a mass-market solution is going to be key. All levels of vessel monitoring and niceties—turning on lights, engines, and AC and climate control—will be done through mobile devices.

Q: How important will artificial intelligence be?

A: Dunn: We’re seeing more and more augmented reality, and I think that will become more prominent. With AI, it’s hard to say; there are so many variables at sea. I don’t think it will be a prominent feature in the next five years. With 5G networks, you’ll be able to get better weather services from your phone, so maybe there will be better predictive routes with autoguidance, for example, if you go to the same places every weekend.

A: Frostad: Boats are suited to AI because there are a lot of variables that are hard to follow manually. For example, intelligent radar, where the system interprets the image: AI could separate the echoes and create an optimal route, in combination with the autopilot. Finding fish is another possibility. We’re going to use AI to improve the boating experience. For example, we could use machine learning to see how customers use their boats, so when they switch on the battery, the system turns on the boat the way they normally use it.

A: Kunz: I don’t see AI playing a big role in the next five years. But augmented reality, which combines different technologies to improve and automate situational awareness—say, by combining the functions of video, GPS and other sensors in ways that we weren’t able to do before—we’ll do that in the next five years.

A: McGowan: I think it will explode. We’re seeing the beginning with machine vision and advanced processing. It’s not quite AI, but the next logical step is for cameras to identify objects. It’s fair to call machine vision a learning system—it’s got a built-up knowledge base. We’re seeing it in automotive with pedestrian and animal detection and collision avoidance. The marine environment is a good place to develop that kind of technology; there’s a lot of water and not much else.

Q: Will the next breakthroughs be software-driven? Or will hardware and software development remain hand in hand?

A: Dunn: We’ll see faster multifunction-display processors, but the glass will look pretty much the same. Maybe there will be larger screens, but I think the major changes will be software-driven. Everything that we’re developing now for the next five years can run on today’s multifunction displays.

A: Frostad: They’re linked. The more you want to do, the more processor speed you need. We need to innovate quicker, but we can’t launch hardware like iPhones—we don’t have the scale. We’re still in the phase of bigger screens and super-wide format, which has great benefits. Higher-resolution screens mean more details, and details matter. The hardware will improve the user experience, but the software makes the experience better.

A: Kunz: I think it will be hand in hand. Today’s multifunction displays have the power that personal computers had just a few years ago. They’ve got gigabytes of memory, they’re robust, and they’re a dedicated and isolated platform, so they’re hard to hack. I think we’ll see things such as integrating different sensors, say, for personal bathymetric generation.

A: McGowan: I think they’ll remain hand in hand. Memory and processing have gotten cheap, but the software keeps getting more complicated. Companies will need to add processing power to keep it fast. No one likes waiting for a screen to populate—it’s got to be snappy. And when you add AI and internet connectivity, you’ll need horsepower.

Q: Will autonomous vessel operations become important? If so, will electronics or engine manufacturers supply the technology?

A: Dunn: It will absolutely be a big part of the marine-electronics market, likely sooner than later. For example, you’ll see more autodocking capabilities.

A: Frostad: I think marine-electronics manufacturers will provide the user interface through the multifunction display. With autonomous boats, the first step is to assist and not take over. On land, Tesla parks the car on a flat surface. Docking a boat, there are so many types of docks; there can be waves, tide, current and wind. So, we want to complement the user. And it’s not going to be cheap. There are 3,000 boat models, so we’ll need algorithms for each boat.

A: Kunz: Marine-electronics manufacturers will make the sensors, while other companies will make things like thermal and visual cameras and integrate them. There’s a push for engine manufacturers to produce systems that allow marine-electronics companies to control the vessel, but I think it will be a combination of companies.

A: McGowan: Five years from now, I expect a high level of integration between engine manufacturers and anyone they allow to control their engines. This won’t be a DIY kit—engine manufacturers are meticulous about testing third-party electronics on their engines. Engine manufacturers probably don’t have all the expertise; they’re looking for technology partners. Whose name is on it will likely be a business negotiation. Engine manufacturers make great products, but sensing and controls will likely come from the electronics and adjacent markets.

Q: How important will 5G cellular and low- and medium-Earth-orbit satellite networks be?

A: Dunn: It’s hard to say. I don’t think there will be any negative impacts. There’s been a lot written on 5G blocking GPS, but we don’t think it will have any adverse impact. I think there will be more real-time weather streaming and live fuel prices without dedicated communication antennas. There are a lot of green-pasture ideas. I think 5G will give us a lot more options and tools.

A: Frostad: My expectation is that few 5G providers will turn their antennas to the sea, and I expect even shorter ranges with 5G than with 4G. Will medium- and low-Earth-orbit satellites be the answer? Maybe. I haven’t seen Starlink’s prices, but they’ll have the capacity to provide speed and bandwidth offshore. 5G will have an impact, but if a boater is only in range 90 percent of the time, we can’t provide an always-on service. Starlink is interesting because it’s always on.

A: Kunz: These technologies will revolutionize connected boats. Current satellite-communications systems are expensive and bulky. Starlink antennas are 18 inches. I think it will change the way boats interact. Bandwidth will suddenly be available to do things that we haven’t thought of yet. For example, open-ocean AIS and real-time weather that’s sent directly to the multifunction display.

A: McGowan: It’s going to be key to have cheap, fast connectivity everywhere. That’s the biggest shortcoming right now. In a bay, 4G is pretty good, but in coastal waters, you can’t depend on it. Also, if you want to stream, there are data caps and slowdowns, so 5G could be the answer. When low-Earth-orbit satellite networks come online, they’ll be a game-changer. Satcom on low-Earth-orbit networks will be low cost compared to current solutions.

Q: Anything else?

A: Dunn: We’ll see the gap between consumer electronics and marine electronics close faster than ever before, and that’s extremely exciting.

A: Frostad: Twenty years ago, the attitude was, “Don’t touch the nav system,” but now kids see a touchscreen and want to play. Instead of just making electronics more advanced, we want to make them more inclusive. Think of modern TVs: They’re easy to navigate, and we want that user experience on the boat.

A: Kunz: I could see the rise of disruptive technologies—for example, Starlink. I think there will be streamlined navigation systems and increased safety, and I think multifunction displays as glass bridges will continue to evolve. I think there will also be predictive failure analysis, monitored through the multifunction display, where, for example, engines are connected to the internet.

A: McGowan: Connectivity is key to a lot of these questions, but with machine vision and AI, we’re only scratching the surface.

The post How Technology Will Drive Marine Electronics for Yachts appeared first on Yachting.

Few technologies have played a greater role in preventing at-sea collisions during the past 18 years than AIS transceivers, which broadcast a vessel’s navigation data—including digital selective calling information and real-time GPS—over VHF radio frequencies. Receiving vessels within VHF range display this information onscreen as icons that can be overlaid atop electronic cartography or a radar display.

Ten years ago, mariners could choose between two kinds of AIS transceivers. Class A transceivers have a dedicated display and broadcast their position information every two to 10 seconds (vessel speed depending) at 12.5 watts using the Self-Organized Time Division Multiple Access scheme. Class B units, which are aimed at recreational users, “politely” broadcast every 30 seconds at 2 watts using the Carrier-Sense Time Division Multiple Access scheme. While the latter is effective in wide-open waters aboard slower-moving vessels such as sailboats or long-range cruisers, Class B/CSTDMA transmissions regularly get trampled by Class A communications, meaning they can go unheard in crowded waters. Moreover, fast-moving Class B targets can outrun their displayed AIS icons, leading to confusion.

Today, Class A AIS is mandated equipment aboard passenger vessels and internationally bound commercial vessels over 300 gross tons, while Class B AIS is largely unregulated.

In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission approved the use of Class B/SOTDMA (“Class B-SO”) transceivers, which broadcast their position information at 5 watts every five, 15 or 30 seconds, depending on vessel speed. “As soon as the regulations for Class B-SO products [were] published, all [manufacturers] started working on them because they’re a great balance of the technical benefits of Class A but much closer to the price point of a Class B,” says Greig Keesing, Simrad’s product manager.

This balance makes Class B-SO a powerful option. “I think Class B-SO should probably be strongly preferred by customers over everything else,” says Eric Kunz, Furuno’s senior product manager. “The extra power and faster transmissions [are] a lot better.”

Others agree. “There’s more reliability,” says David Dunn, Garmin’s director of sales and marketing for marine, about Class B-SO systems. “I could see it becoming a requirement for recreational boaters.”

While regulations have played a big role in the evolution of AIS, so too have hardware and software developments. Ten years ago, “Class B AIS was yet another [downstream] black box, but now it’s a lot smaller,” says Jim McGowan, Raymarine’s Americas marketing manager, adding that first-generation AIS used NMEA 0183 connectivity, whereas today’s AIS uses higher-speed and easier-to-install NMEA 2000 connectors. Additionally, some Class B AIS transceivers now have dedicated monitors.

While faster connectivity and dedicated screens are important developments, “the biggest changes have been on the presentation side,” McGowan adds. “Back then, AIS was a little triangle on an MFD with a vessel’s name, [closest point of approach] and speed. Now, the system is a lot smarter.”

For example, some AIS transceivers scale AIS targets to physically represent their real-world vessels, while some systems display danger zones.

Carl Omundsen, Vesper Marine’s co-founder and chief technical officer, agrees. “Much of the signal processing required to encode and decode the AIS messages can now be defined in software that can replace a large portion of the more traditional hardware-intensive analog implementation,” he says.

Like McGowan, Omundsen points to the recent trend of bundling miniaturized AIS technology into DSC-capable VHF radios—or into Vesper’s revolutionary Cortex safety-and-communications platform—as other game-changers.

“I think [AIS] integration into VHF systems is a natural one. AIS, VHF and DSC tightly integrated into one user experience makes for a powerful communications system,” says Omundsen, adding that he also expects to see greater integration between AIS and MFDs in the future.

Moving forward, all experts agree that AIS is likely to play an increasingly large onboard role, but Kunz cautions that AIS is designed to supplement—not replace—radar.

“AIS only tells you who’s out there with an AIS system, but nothing [about] boats that don’t [carry an AIS transceiver],” he says. Because of this, Kunz strongly recommends using radar to fact-check AIS targets, a task that is especially important if the target is a fast boat fitted with a Class B/CSTDMA transceiver.

Modern MFDs combine the processing power and app-driven, multitouch user interfaces of fast wireless devices with the onscreen pop of modern TVs, and they come bundled in marinized packages that can withstand everything from high-latitude cold to equatorial heat. To accomplish this, MFD manufacturers leverage the far bigger consumer-electronics market for faster processors, more memory and bigger, more eye-pleasing displays.

Multitouch-enabled MFDs are the norm today, but the market was appreciably different in 2010. A decade ago, Simrad’s Keesing says, the company’s high-end MFDs employed rotary dials, hard buttons and alphanumeric keypads to tackle user-interface commands. “[It] came with an 8- or 12-inch color screen, [and] it was the first Simrad MFD with LED backlighting,” he says.

Today, users have the benefit of advances in LCD-screen technology such as in-plane switching, which delivers better off-angle viewing, and optical bonding, which mitigates fogging.

“Everything we make today is optically bonded,” says Garmin’s Dunn, adding that other crucial evolutions include embedding GPS antennas and basic sonars into MFDs, and adding HD video inputs, Ethernet ports and Wi-Fi connectivity. These evolutions matter because Ethernet allows networked MFDs to display sonar or radar feeds on multiple screens (or at multiple helms); HDMI video inputs facilitate higher-definition onscreen imagery; and Wi-Fi connectivity allows users to access an MFD’s navigational information (and sometimes even system controls) from networked wireless devices, use cellular-enabled devices as portals for delivering updates and cloud connectivity, and back up hard-won intellectual property.

“For fishermen, fear of losing their waypoints can be overwhelming,” Dunn says. “But if the system backs itself up, it’s peace of mind.”

Some 2010-generation MFDs offered a touchscreen user interface—however, pinch-to-zoom capabilities didn’t arrive until 2012-13. Today, customers have a choice of MFD interfaces ranging from touch-only to hybridized touchscreens and buttons to hard-button-only options.

While customers naturally gravitate toward cutting-edge features, Furuno’s Kunz points to the underlying operating-system architecture as a significant evolution. “Most manufacturers adopted an Android or Windows platform, so there’s a lot of scalability,” he says, adding that OS familiarity allows manufacturers to create new hardware without expecting customers to study manuals.

As with computers, it’s impossible to discuss MFDs without delving into processing power and speed. Today’s MFDs are “at least three to four times faster and more powerful,” Kunz says.

McGowan agrees, adding that, 10 years ago, Raymarine offered a single-core processor. “Now, we use a quad-core processor with a huge amount of memory,” he says, pointing to miniaturization and better heat-sinking technologies as other important MFD advances. “The architecture is built for speed, so it fills in immediately. There’s no waiting. … It runs circles around [a 2010 MFD] right out of the box.”

Improved horsepower and speed have also allowed manufacturers to get rid of some downstream black boxes in favor of embedded componentry, and to create tighter synergy between MFDs and third-party digital switching systems.

“Ten years ago, large-scale integration didn’t exist,” Kunz says. “It’s allowed us to slowly and steadily build a glass bridge and control the whole boat.”

This improved integration and connectivity is collectively encouraging a push to use the vessel’s MFD to control third-party systems. “Customers are using their MFD to watch Netflix and to connect to other systems—for example, their Seakeeper gyrostabilizers and Lumishore lighting,” McGowan says, adding that MFDs have become “a portal through which we can talk to things.”

Finally, there’s glass. “Nobody ever complains that their MFD is too big,” McGowan says, adding that customers have been amazed as high-end MFDs have steadily expanded to today’s 24-inch monsters.

Dunn agrees. “Most people want the biggest TV that they can fit and afford in their house,” he says, adding that screen-size preferences typically follow customers aboard.

Moving forward, customers can expect greater connectivity between their MFD and onboard systems, more app-based control of onboard systems from afar, and more-refined software and user-interface capabilities. “Today’s technology allows us to get creative and come up with innovative ways to make customers’ boating lives better,” Dunn says, “and we want their time on the water to be as joyful as possible.”

The post Advances in AIS appeared first on Yachting.

Multifunction displays and marinized computers are fast at first, but layers of software and firmware updates can deposit speed-sucking e-sediment, and newly networked equipment can further tax aging processors. Eventually, the best option for this technology involves hitting the refresh button.

If this sounds like your helm, and if you have Simrad equipment, then the NSO Evo3S is worth a look.

Simrad’s NSO Evo3S display (read: a marinized display with a built-in black-box processor) shares a familiar moniker that adds a significantly faster, six-core processor to its predecessor model. The updates make the NSO Evo3S operating system, application-specific software and networked hardware perform better, while delivering future-proofing for upcoming software updates and hardware.

Simrad’s older-generation NSO Evo3 display and the new flagship NSO Evo3S display share identical platforms, operating systems and touchscreen-only user interfaces. Both systems also have the same screen technology, which includes optical bonding to combat fogging, as well as in-plane switching to deliver wide-angle viewing. Both units further share identical networking capabilities. The NSO Evo3S display is available in 16- ($6,999), 19- ($8,799) and 24-inch ($10,999) screen sizes.

The differences between these two displays reside under the bonnet. “The NSO Evo3S has a next-generation processor,” says Stephen Thomas, Simrad’s executive vice president. “It’s taken the [NSO Evo3′s] display and made it a lot faster.”

Thomas and Greig Keesing, Simrad’s product manager of displays, say the NSO Evo3S upgrades are thanks to the i.MX 8 processor, which is the successor to the i.MX 6 chipset that served as the NSO Evo3′s muscle.

“The i.MX 6 is a four-core processor, while the i.MX 8 is a six-core chip,” Keesing says. “The i.MX 8 has four standard-speed cores and two really fast cores. It’s two to three times faster than the i.MX 6, depending on what you’re doing.”

The system deploys its standard-speed cores first because they consume less power and generate less heat. The system reserves its high-speed cores for graphically intensive applications, such as rendering data from a downstream Simrad StructureScan 3D sonar. “It’s a tangible difference in speed,” Keesing says.

For example, Keesing says, the i.MX 8-equipped NSO Evo3S is significantly faster at commanding a yacht’s digital-switching system, and it’s twice as fast at facilitating page transitions. Additionally, switching between panels is smoother.

“The idea is that you can run the entire boat off of one display,” Keesing says. “The NSO Evo3S improves a user’s experience with the overall ecosystem” of networked marine electronics, including thermal-imaging cameras, radar, sonar and digital-switching systems.

NSO Evo3S displays are bereft of hard buttons and knobs, so Simrad sells OP50 remote controls—either separately or as part of a system pack that includes an MI10 dual-payload micro-SD card reader. The system packs also include external GPS antennas because NSO Evo3S displays, and the NSO Evo3S marine processors, ship without an embedded GPS receiver (they’re typically installed in areas that yield poor reception).

In addition to the NSO Evo3S, Simrad also released its black-box NSO Evo3S Marine Processor (starting at $4,499), which has dual i.MX 8 processors.

“MPUs are like having two MFDs in one box,” Keesing says. “A customer could install two NSO Evo3Ss or one NSO Evo3S MPU and two monitors.”

Based on Simrad’s pricing, customers can buy a single 24-inch NSO Evo3S display for the same price as an NSO Evo3S MPU that comes bundled with dual 19-inch Simrad-branded touchscreen displays.

“Some owners run three displays on their helm—two that connect to an NSO evo3S MPU and a third that connects to a separate [PC-based] system,” Keesing says, noting that this setup allows the NSO Evo3 MPU to be physically installed with other onboard black boxes.

As for how many NSO Evo3S displays or NSO Evo3 MPU-powered monitors can be installed aboard a single yacht, Keesing and Thomas say there’s no real limitation, aside from the physical size of the yacht’s helm. An owner of a 70-footer might spec two 19-inch displays at the helm and another one or two 16-inch screens on the flybridge, while the owner of a 90-footer might opt for three displays at the helm and two screens on the flybridge.

Redundancy is another consideration. While a single NSO Evo3S MPU can drive two monitors, the whole boat could go dark should this lone black-box computer fail. On the other hand, if an NSO Evo3S display fails, then the operator can just switch to using a different unit.

“If there are no financial restraints, MFDs would be the option that I’d go for,” Keesing says.

So if you’re running legacy Simrad MFDs or black-box-driven displays—or if you have NSO Evo3 displays and want a speed boost—NSO Evo3S displays and/or NSO Evo3S MPUs could be a great upgrade. Neither system flinches at fast page transitions, nor will they balk at managing a busy digital-switching system or graphically rendering complex sonar data that can help you hook a pelagic prize.

The post Review: Simrad NSO EVO3S appeared first on Yachting.