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digital yacht ikommunicate

iKommunicate – Universal NMEA Gateway

$ 448.95 ex GST

“iKommunicate is an intelligent and universal NMEA gateway device that allows traditional boat navigation systems to be part of the Internet of Things.”

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  • Additional information
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KEY FEATURES

iKommunicate is an intelligent NMEA gateway device so that traditional boat navigation systems can be part of the “Internet of Things”. By converting data from the “closed” industry standard NMEA networks found on most boats to Signal K  the new “open” HTML5 based internet ready data format, a whole new world of social and connected boating will now be possible.

Traditionally marine electronic systems talked to each other via the industry standard NMEA0183 and newer NMEA2000 networks. There interfaces are very reliable, well proven and fit for purpose. However, the costs for developers to become NMEA members, buy the specifications and have their software certified has severely restricted the number of marine applications that have used NMEA data. With the release of Signal K, a new open data format for boats, all of this is about to change. Consequently, this will make it very easy for developers to read and use the NMEA data. iKommunicate is driving this change, as the first NMEA to Signal K gateway product that will connect to the NMEA networks and convert all of the data in to the new Signal K format.

iKommunicate features three opto-isolated NMEA0183 Inputs, two differential NMEA0183 Outputs and an NMEA2000 Network interface. As a result, iKommunicate can handle whatever NMEA data is thrown at it. Its 120MHz Atmel processor, efficiently converts the NMEA data in to Signal K JSON data. This is the standard for the latest generation of HTML5 websites and apps, which is then output via HTTP or multiple high speed Web Sockets.

iKommunicate’s Ethernet (RJ45) connection, allows it to be connected to the boats wired/wireless network. Hence any mobile device connected to the network can display the Signal K data in its browser or compatible app. Pre-installed in iKommunicate are a couple of web apps (including the popular Instrument Panel). Therefore, you can immediately start displaying NMEA data from your network. It also features an 8GB micro SD card that can host any new Signal K web apps as they become available.

SPECIFICATIONS

  • The World’s first NMEA to Signal K Gateway
  • 12/24v DC Powered
  • NMEA2000 Certified Gateway with Integral NMEA2000 drop cable
  • Three Opto Isolated NMEA0183 Inputs and two Differential NMEA0183 Outputs
  • Supports Signal K Version 1 Http REST API and Delta Messages via Web sockets
  • Comes pre-installed with two Signal K Web Apps iKompass and Instrument Panel
  • Internal 8GB micro SD Card for hosting Web Pages and Apps
  • Also provides wireless NMEA over TCP and UDP protocols
  • Network Discovery via Bonjour (mDNS) and Windows SDDP
  • 1 x RJ45 Ethernet (10/100Mb) network connection
  • Easy setup with built-in Web Interface
  • Easy to install black box solution

IKommunicate User Manual V1 01 Eng Final Pdf

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Digital Yacht Support

Ikommunicate

Ikommunicate gateway – upgrade program.

We started developing iKommunicate back in 2015 to be the first commercial Signal K (Marine Open Data Format) on the market, as part of a successful Kickstarter Campaign. Signal K was at a very early stage of its development and had not even reached a stable V1.00. Digital Yacht were the first commercial company to support Signal K and we helped the core team of open source developers to make the final push to release Signal K V1.00, actively working on the specification, branding and website development. Unfortunately, this level of involvement was unsustainable and when one of our iKommunicate Engineers retired and another went Read More →

Add and/or change the PGN definitions in iKommunicate

Hi Paul, We started developing iKommunicate back in 2015 and it was the first commercial product to support Signal K. Digital Yacht also helped with the final push to release Signal K V1.00, actively working on the specification, branding and website development. Unfortunately, this level of involvement was unsustainable and when one of our iKommunicate Engineers retired and another went off to start his own business, we had to “freeze” further development. iKommunicate is still a good gateway product and for many people who just want a unit that works but do not want the latest cutting edge functionality, it is a good choice. It Read More →

How to factory reset an iKommunicate?

We know how much you like to tweak, change and fiddle with settings, but sometimes it can create problems and to ensure that you can recover your iKommunicate, we have devised a simple way to reset the unit back to its original factory defaults. Only the settings will be reset, any new software update will still be applied. There are two methods to factory reset an iKommunicate. Manual Factory Reset. Click here to download the instruction. Factory Reset via Telnet. Click here to download the instruction.   Read More →

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Digital Yacht iKommunicate – NMEA - Signal K Gateway

Digital Yacht iKommunicate – NMEA - Signal K Gateway - bluemarinestore.com

  • Description

iKommunicate is an intelligent NMEA gateway device for converting both NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 data to Signal K , the new open source HTML5 based internet ready data format. IKommunicate also transmits NMEA data to the network via TCP or UDP for use with many popular apps and programs.

The original universal marine interface NMEA 0183 and newer NMEA 2000 networks have proven both reliable and a great step forward for integrating marine electronics. However, their high cost for development and certification has greatly restricted the number of manufacturers and developers interested in NMEA apps and devices.

Signal K is a a free, open source universal marine data format using standard web technologies typically used by developers for networks, cell phones, tablets and the internet, a format available to anyone. Signal K is the first truly open data format for the marine industry and is set to revolutionize how we integrate marine electronics and how we interact with the data. Although still in the early stages, Signal K already has a number useful apps and applications with hundreds more in development, such as:

  • Signal K Mobile
  • SailRacer.net
  • Signal View

See the iKommunicate website for a full list of apps, software updates and the latest manuals and information.

Signal K Instrument Panel

iKommunicate features three opto-isolated NMEA 0183 Inputs, two differential NMEA 0183 outputs and an NMEA 2000 network connection. The 120MHz Atmel processor, efficiently converts NMEA data it receives to Signal K. The built -in Ethernet (RJ45) connection connects the iKommunicate to the boats network allowing any device with web/network access to display the Signal K data either directly in a browser via a compatible app. iKommunicate also transmits NMEA data directlyt to ethernet network via TCP or UDP for use with many popular apps and programs.

iKommunicate now includes a 16GB micro SD card for installing Signal K web apps and has both iKompass and the popular fully customizable Instrument Panel pre-installed so you can get started straight away and see all your network data on any mobile device webpage.

  • The World’s first NMEA to Signal K Gateway
  • 12/24v DC Powered
  • NMEA 2000 Certified Gateway with Integral NMEA 2000 drop cable
  • Three Opto Isolated NMEA0183 Inputs and two Differential NMEA0183 Outputs
  • Supports Signal K Version 1 Http REST API and Delta Messages via Web sockets
  • Comes pre-installed with two Signal K Web Apps iKompass and Instrument Panel
  • Includes 8GB micro SD Card for hosting Web Pages and Apps
  • Also provides wireless NMEA over TCP and UDP protocols
  • Network Discovery via Bonjour (mDNS) and Windows SDDP
  • 1 x RJ45 Ethernet (10/100Mb) network connection
  • Easy setup with built-in Web Interface
  • Small 135 x 120 x 50 mm black box solution

iKommunicate User Manual V1_01_Eng_Final (1,746 Kb) - Download

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iKommunicate + EMU-1 the Perfect Combination

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With many new marine engines now having integrated Engine Management Units outputting NMEA2000 or J1939 data, it is easy to forget that the vast majority of inboard marine engines have no digital engine monitoring, just the traditional analogue engine gauges.

With your boat’s engine probably being the most expensive and complex piece of equipment onboard, engine monitoring is understandably high on most boat owner’s priority list. Good news then when UK manufacturer Actisense released their EMU-1 engine gateway that could connect up to your engine’s analogue senders and create NMEA2000 digital data for display on compatible Multi-Function Displays (MFDs) or PCs.

Now Digital Yacht’s iKommunicate gateway can take the EMU-1 engine data and display it on an app for your Apple/Android device or even as a web app in your browser. Together the EMU-1 and iKommunicate make engine monitoring on older engines a real possibility, without having to spend lots of money on an expensive MFD.

Straight out of the box, the Signal K Instrument Panel App that we include on the iKommunicate SD Card, can be used to display the engine data from the EMU-1, as shown below.

Alternatively you can use our free OutboardView App for Android devices (see screen shot below) or for Apple iOS devices either NMEA Remote  from Zapf Software or WilhelmSK from Scott Bender will both display engine data from the EMU-1 and iKommunicate.

Installation is best performed by an experienced marine electronics dealer/installer and will require the engine’s wiring diagram or a knowledge of marine engines, but it is not beyond anyone with a technical/engineering background.

The EMU-1 should be installed close to the engine, using the same supply voltage feed that goes to the engine senders. Once connection to the engine senders is made, a single NMEA2000 drop cable links the EMU-1 to the NMEA2000 backbone. iKommunicate, with its integral drop cable, can join the backbone at any suitable location throughout the boat and will need to be wired to the boat’s wireless network using a normal RJ45 Ethernet cable.

Once iKommunicate transfers the engine data to the boat’s wireless network, any wireless device can display it, either using one of the aforementioned apps or its internet browser.

The EMU-1 has six analogue inputs, two tacho inputs and four alarm inputs, so can be used for single or dual engine installations and iKommunicate will automatically detect the number of engines and apply the suitable data conversions.

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  • DIGITAL YACHT Manuals
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DIGITAL YACHT iKommunicate Installation And Instruction Manual

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Gateway DIGITAL YACHT iAIS Technical Notes

Summary of Contents for DIGITAL YACHT iKommunicate

  • Page 1 NMEA - SignalK Gateway...

Page 2: Before You Start

  • Page 3 (SeaTalkNG/Simnet). We supply an integral 1m NMEA2000 cable and ideally you should connect this directly to a spare “T Piece” on the NMEA2000 network’s “backbone”. You can purchase and fit a 3 party NMEA2000 extension cable, but the total drop cable length between iKommunicate and the “T piece” should be 5 meters or less. ...
  • Page 4 NMEA0183  The following steps only need to be followed if you are connecting the iKommunicate to other equipment using NMEA0183 interfacing  iKommunicate has three NMEA0183 Inputs and two NMEA0183 Outputs. All of the connections are brought out on the Power/Data cable and a table showing the wire colours is shown below;...
  • Page 5  iKommunicate will also retransmit all NMEA0183 data that it receives on to the Ethernet network via TCP or UDP. The TCP or UDP connections must be enabled in the Web Interface (default is OFF) but once enabled, all sentences (not just the ones in the previous list) will be retransmitted.
  • Page 6 AIS Class B Static Data Report  iKommunicate will also convert some of the data coming in on NMEA2000 in to NMEA0183 sentences that it outputs the network as TCP and/or UDP data. Currently only the following limited number of popular sentences are output;...
  • Page 7 4. Configuring iKommunicate  Once iKommunicate has got an IP address on the network, you will need to “discover” what IP address it has. iKommunicate supports two network Discovery services; Windows SDDP and mDNS (also known as Bonjour).  If you have a Windows Laptop on the same network, simply open Windows Explorer, go to your Network and, as long as you have network discovery turned on, you will see “iKommunicate”...
  • Page 8 The “Configuration” tab allows you to configure a number of different settings including; Your boat’s MMSI and Boatname plus iKommunicate’s network Hostname Whether iKommunicate uses an automatic (DHCP) IP address or a fixed (static) one The baud rates of the three NMEA 0183 ports (also displays the sentences received)
  • Page 9 The “Administration” tab is where you can change the password for accessing the Admin Web Interface and also check for firmware updates and download them (requires the network to have internet an connection). Figure 6 Quick Start Guide for iKommunicate V1.01 TEL + 44 1179 554474 www.digitalyacht.co.uk [email protected]...
  • Page 10 NMEA data. However, to get you started, we have pre-loaded a couple of Signal K Apps that you can play with “straight out of the box”. To access these apps, type the IP address of iKommunicate in to your browser and you should see iKommunicate’s Home page again (Fig 7).
  • Page 11 Clicking the “Hosted App” button on the Home page displays the Index.Html page in the “hosted” folder on the iKommunicate’s micro SD Card – see section x.x for details of how to access the micro SD Card. It is intended that users will be able to store their favourite Signal K Web Apps on the SD Card and then use iKommunicate as a simple web server to serve up the web apps and the data they require.
  • Page 12 Instrument Panel will automatically set the correct IP address for iKommunicate, so you can just click the “Connect” button and see what data is available from iKommunicate (Fig.11). Figure 11 Each data reading is shown in a different panel and these will scroll all the way down the page. The panels are fully editable and you can decide which ones are visible, stretch and drag them around the page, set what units they are displayed in and whether they are Digital or Analogue gauges.
  • Page 13 In the top right hand corner of Instrument Panel are a Power Icon and a data indicator The Power Icon closes the websocket connection between Instrument Panel and iKommunicate, while the data indicator flashes each time a new Delta message is received.

Page 14: Document Storage

  • Page 15 Pictures sub-folder. Figure 16 Then once you click on the file you wish to look at, it will open in your browser (see Fig.17). Figure 17 Quick Start Guide for iKommunicate V1.01 TEL + 44 1179 554474 www.digitalyacht.co.uk [email protected]...

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Introduction to Signal K with iKommunicate

digitalyacht/ikommunicate

Folders and files, repository files navigation, ikommunicate.

Welcome to our iKommunicate Developer's Guide (SDK) on GitHub. This guide is intended to help developers quickly get to grips with our new iKommunicate NMEA to Signal K gateway. We hope that the ever growing set of example web apps will illustrate how to use the HTTP restAPI or Web Sockets to access the Signal K data that iKommunicate collects from the various NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 equipment on a boat.

The "SDK-Deltas-WebSocket-Example-V1.html" webpage provides an introduction to opening a Web Socket to the iKommunicate and then reading the stream of Delta Messages (in JSON format) that iKommunicate creates each time it receives a new NMEA2000 PGN or NMEA0183 Sentence.

The "SDK-Depth-REST-Example-V1.html" webpage (and associated files in the "depthLibrary" folder) shows how you can poll specific data from iKommunicate using an Http REST API call. The returned JSON message is then parsed, to create a JSON object from which the Depth data is extracted. The example also shows how to display the depth data on a Javascript Gauge, in this case using the JustGage plugin .

The full Developer's Guide documentation is included in the associated Wiki .

For information on Signal K the Open Source data format for the "Internet of Boats" please visit http://signalk.org and for more information on iKommunicate please visit http://ikommunicate.com

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Digital Yacht iKommunicate NMEA 0183/2000-To-Signal K Gateway With iK Router

Digital Yacht iKommunicate NMEA 0183/2000-To-Signal K Gateway With iK Router

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  • Gateway device for NMEA 0183/2000 networks
  • Converts data to an Internet-ready format
  • Allows more social and interconnected boating info
  • Easy setup with built-in Web interface

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  • Communications / The future / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

iKommunicate from Digital Yacht, Signal K gets kickstarted

by Ben Ellison · October 26, 2015

iKommunicate Signal K proof of concept aPanbo.jpg

iKommunicate is the ninth Kickstarter project I’ve backed — and I just signed on to the interesting Hello Ocean campaign on Indiegogo — so I know something about how effective and enjoyable this new form of fundraising (and/or sales) can be. For instance, I enthusiastically followed the original Pebble watch Kickstarter as it raised nearly 11 million dollars from almost 70,000 backers, and then I became an evangelist for the actual resulting Pebble that had been so well developed and manufactured with all that backing. And while Pebble certainly did not need Kickstarter to develop the new Pebble Time , I was one of the many repeat backers to join the Kickstarter fun and now I’m much enjoying the second watch I got early and discounted.

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But I think that Signal K will really happen – and perhaps spectacularly. Besides from the iKommunicate Kickstarter and the Signal K site , you can learn more about the concept from my May entry about the friendly new NMEA SK relationship and from Bill Bishop’s recent musings about how SK actually fit in at the NMEA Conference . I heard concerns about Signal K data security routines that need definition, and the number of N2K PGN’s that still need to be translated into SK syntax by volunteers who have day jobs, but it’s terrific that this ambitious open source idea is now in the same room with the major and minor makers of marine electronics and software. And at least some of them are interested, as I’ll relate below.

First I want to describe my hurried though eye-opening experience with a Signal K demo given by Digital Yacht CEO Nick Heyes (who was a NMEA new guy in 2008 ). What you’re seeing in the photo above is dummy vessel Maverick’s NMEA 2000 data being gatewayed by the prototype iKommunicate and WiFi’d to an app which is turning the SK info into an instrument and mapping display. While you could say, “So what?” because this is already fairly easy to do, the missing image would show the iKommunicate SK screen where the boat user can enter a boat name like “Maverick” and a raft of other information that currently has no place to live in NMEA data standards. So Signal K adds a rich data layer to regular NMEA 0183 and 2000 (which it also translates better), and all of it can be available to app developers as you see fit.

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At any rate, AC’s Jeff Siegel was enthusiastically present at the NMEA Conference, and I suspect that iKommunicate will receive some AC love soon. Also present and grinning was Luis Soltero of RedPort and GMN , who has embraced Signal K too. He envisions how the richer, more app friendly SK protocol can help make boat data more useful over the narrow band satellite communications he specializes in. I’ve hacked up his diagram to fit the space below, but here’s a tangible example: Picture an AIS man overboard device alarming not just the MFD system on your boat but also auto sending a report ashore using a modest device like an Iridium Go!

Not much is concrete yet, but it’s encouraging to see serious marine developers like Digital Yacht, Siegel and Soltero at least tentatively get behind the already impressive Signal K crew . That’s why I’m backing iKommunicate and maybe you should consider it?

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Ben Ellison

Panbo editor, publisher & chief bottlewasher from 4/2005 until 8/2018, and now pleased to have Ben Stein as a very able publisher, webmaster, and editing colleague. Please don't regard him as an "expert"; he's getting quite old and thinks that "fadiddling fumble-putz" is a more accurate description.

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Great, Can’t wait to use it on my sunlight readable Idevice

Ben Ellison

Cool, the iKommunicate Kickstarter campaign just passed the 50% mark. But note that it won’t end when the funding goal is achieved. In fact, still left are 59 of the least expensive, earliest shipping gateways. PS. Hendrik, I’m with you in appreciating dedicated marine multifunction displays, but I do think that Signal K may encourage more 2nd tier high bright displays because it can much more than just repeating NMEA 2K and 0183 data.

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I am in, this is a no brainer.

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Great, just got a new boat so I hope to be able to test it next sailing season!

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Here is a 7″ IP67 daylight viewable tablet http://www.solcomputer.com/mobile-computer-netbook/sol-7-android-rugged.html and a 10″ tablet: http://www.solcomputer.com/sunlight-readable-tablet/sol-tablet-pc-3.html There are more.

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I’m in and hopefully this will have some legs … finally an open marine data exchange format. If SK does gain traction, I hope a certification program is intended.

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Sounds like the iKommunicate Gateway allows you to keep the “old antiquated” NMEA 2000 network and still move ahead with Signal K apps. Do I have that right? I just spent a lot of money upgrading and replacing all the mismatched drop cables and “T’s” with new high quality equipment on my network. I’m looking forward to hearing more about Signal K.

Holy Cow! ActiveCaptain showed the Signal K love… https://activecaptain.com/newsletters/2015-10-28.php …and now the iKommunicate project has exceeded its goal 3X with nearly 300 backers. There could well be over 500 before the Kickstarter campaign ends, and that means there will be a significant SK test group when the iKommunicate gateways start shipping next year. I imagine that this success is very encouraging and motivating for the volunteer Signal K development team, the Digital Yacht team, and the various developers like AC who are intend on making SK do great things for us. All good! PS Richard, SK is definitely designed to work with NMEA 2000 (and 0183). In fact, I believe it will make your new network more valuable by making all your NMEA data easier to access with mobile and Internet technology plus allowing you and/or apps to add data not available in NMEA standards.

Reading through the use cases, a suggestion for sailing … How about an application that takes boat information combined with boat performance information, allows the user to specify which sails they are current using, and pipe back into the boat a speed in knots for target boat speed that could be brought up on an instrument display that may only know how to display boat speed … but by selecting a boat speed source, meet the needs of communicate to the boat owner they are falling short or coming close to the potential of their boat as they make each sail trim adjustment. This would be a good example of the 2-way capability of signal K.

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That’s a cool idea for an app you have there, Dan! Why don’t you suggest this on https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/signalk

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I would love to see an auto-polars iPad/android app that would display the polar graph and plot the boat position on it. This could integrate the theoretical polars for your boat class, real “this boat” polars as well as current boat performance. Since a huge amount of data can be logged in 4GB, and even more in the SD card, there is no reason to discard instrument data for the entire sailing season…

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I imagine the unit will use their new packaging and look like the AIT2000 ( http://www.digitalyachtamerica.com/index.php/en/products/ais-systems/ais-transponders/product/32-ait2000-class-b-transponder )… at least I hope it does, this is a very nice case. I am looking forward to testing this unit. Jason, you could always write the app that you want… or at least suggest it in detail on the above mentioned link by Kees.

400 backers and climbing. Already far exceeded the goal for funding. Impressive. This seems a pretty strong statement that the user base wants an open data exchange format.

Lots more iKommunicate gateways still available at $70 off retail price, but Kickstarter campaign ends on Dec. 15 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1689846268/ikommunicate-gateway-enabling-the-internet-of-thin

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Congratulations to DigitalYacht for a successful Kickstarter! I’m looking forward to trying out my device!

Very cool! A smart (and funny) guy named Adam Hyde has started a blog about Signal K and already he can’t help but write about other neat marine tech: http://www.signalkool.com/

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vyacht released new firmware at the end of January implementing a Signal K server on the vyacht router so when iKommunictae is delivered we’ll have at least two commercial Signal K options. 2016 might be a very good year for Signal K. http://stripydog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/vyacht-router-now-with-signal-k.html http://vyacht.net

Hi Keith, I appreciate your enthusiasm but I just heard about vYacht and I feel a little skeptical about the claims being made. “The {vYacht} NMEA 2000 Gateway will translate all known NMEA 2000 sentences to NMEA 0183” jumps out at me, for instance. There are many known N2K PGN’s that have no corresponding NMEA 0183 message so that statement seems doubtful. Moreover, I’m not sure that any developer should be making an N2K gateway unless they are at least a member of NMEA and hopefully willing and able to get the gateway certified. vYacht doesn’t seem to even be a member. (I guess it’s ethically OK to use N2K if you reverse engineer it, but that’s a whole lot of work that I doubt vYacht did on its own.) Also, I first heard of vYacht from a Panbo reader complaining about a lack of technical support: https://panbo.com/forum/2016/02/vyacht-wifi-help.html I’d be happy to learn different, but as it stands I don’t see how vYacht compares to iKommunicate, where a known team of NMEA experienced developers are working with the Signal K team to make all of NMEA 2000 accessible via SK coming out of a certified gateway.

Ben, For clarity, I’m not personally connected with vyacht but was interested in the product which seems to have positive reviews from people on cruisersforum and the ybw forums: Like others I’ve been following Signal K development and talking to some of the people developing products about their offerings and more specifically their views on Signal K. In the first link above you’ll see that I asked vyacht about NMEA certification and you’re right: public / reverse engineered documentation has been used, but then that’s the case for the majority of mobile marine data apps available today as well as a few hardware multiplexers (though not obviously those from actisense/digital yacht/shipmodul who are all NMEA members). “Grotty Yachty”‘s problem which he also posted on cruisersforum is the only negative I’ve seen about vyacht, and that’s not actually a fault with the product: it’s an unrelated networking issue. It’d be interesting to hear the experiences of other pan readers who’ve purchased a vyacht.

Thanks, Keith. I admit to not having read your interview with “Bernd from vYacht” thoroughly but now I have. Nicely done! I think that Bernd is confused about proprietary standards, conflating open standards (available to any company) with open and free standards (that are generally financed by public institutions and/or very large corporations). NMEA 0183 and 2000 are open standards, but not free, and the same is true of many similar industrial standards, especially CANbus based. He’s right that a fair number of NMEA 2000 devices from larger marine electronics companies are not yet certified (which is odd), but those companies all contribute to the NMEA standards-making process with volunteered employee time on committees, corporate membership fees, advertising in the Marine Electronics Journal, etc. And, incidentally, don’t the margins on retail marine electronics have to include those sorts of expenses, as well as the high cost of technical support? I still think that vYacht and iKommunicate are apples and oranges.

Thanks Ben I don’t think there’s confusion about “open” vs. “free” there. Neither NMEA-0183 nor N2K are “open”: NMEA-0183 has been widely publicised, to a large extent by gpsd author and open source advocate Eric Raymond, but it’s still a “closed” protocol and its use in OpenCPN, the reference Signal K servers and many commercial marine apps where the authors haven’t purchased the official standard is still regarded (as I understand it: correct me if I’m wrong) as dubious. “free” is of course a nuanced word and for those who get passionate about the subject (as I’m sure you’ve seen happen), “free-as-in-speech” is the important angle rather than “free-as-in-beer”. Personally I see the value of a controlled whole-stack standard and certification process where safety and reliability are primary concerns. I also see how open standards stimulate innovation and give people the freedom to tailor their environment to their needs. It’s nice that we now have choices with Signal K, with options from the DIY of the reference servers to the NMEA-certified iKommunicate, options which can be chosen between according to technical ability, depth of pockets, software freedom concerns or the security of backup from an established and well-known company. It’s a shame we don’t have to-the-transducer open networking options yet but it’ll be interesting to see if anything falls out of the current IoT bunfights that will be relevant in our marine world.

Well, at least we agree that using an open standard without also honoring attached documentation or licensing fees is a dubious practice 😉 Seriously, I don’t think it takes much research to determine that proprietary, open, open and free, and open source are all distinctly different ways of establishing standards and that there are many valid examples of each. CANbus and its many higher level implementations is a great place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus Seatalk is a proprietary standard (though “closed” seems to be the term you’re using now and I’m not sure Raymarine cares any more). NMEA 0183 is an open standard with documentation fees (but not licensing fees), NMEA 2000 is the same plus certification requirements, and Signal K is open source. I believe that USB and Bluetooth are examples of open and free standards we use around boats. Of course open and free is great when possible, and open source seems the ultimate in innovative possibilities, but I also care a lot about accurate terminology, which in this case has nothing to do with free speech or beer.

The term “open standard” is defined differently by different bodies and many of those definitions, including the legal definitions in some countries would not include standards like NMEA-0183 which are not available to read without payment of a fee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_standard I believe that the NMEA deem use of their standards by those that have purchased them in open source software to be unacceptable as it constitutes “reproduction”, but I have been unable to get a reply on this from their legal department (any up-to-date info on that appreciated) Other definitions of “open standard” do include standards available to all on payment of a fee and with restrictions on use. This is in no way a criticism of the NMEA’s business model or an attempt to make any value judgements of what kind of model is “better”, I’m simply arguing that the term “open” is subject to cultural variation. NMEA protocols might be classed as “open standards” in the electronics engineering world, but you might not find many software engineers who would describe them as such. We’re in interesting times where those two worlds are coming together…

The problem with lumping together “Open” with “Open and Free” seems obvious to me. It also lumps together “Proprietary” — a standard that no one can use unless allowed to by a certain company or institution — with “Open” to anyone though including reasonable fees needed to maintain and grow the standard. I don’t think I’m biased about this either, except toward Free and Open Source as previously stated, but I suspect that fudging what seem like meaningful and useful categories by some bodies and nations smacks of motive. Some of the Panbo readership and I have been at this rodeo before… https://panbo.com/archives/2012/03/the_n2k_wifi_gateway_issue_is_nmea_stifling_innovation.html …and it may be time for me to move on. The good news is that NMEA fees have gone down since then and, maybe more important, the gap between NMEA standards and the open source world seems about to be properly bridged with Signal K. Maybe you should ask the SK team what they think about the ethical issues?

My iKommunicate Signal K Gateway just arrived at my door and is looking good! Delivery was later than originally planned — common for Kickstarter projects! — but it also seems like communications got a little spotty. At any rate, Digital Yacht now has a Twitter account for iKommunicate: https://twitter.com/IKommunicate and also a forum: http://ikommunicate.com/forum/ Personally I won’t be able to test it much in the next few weeks (Gizmo launch is horribly delayed) but here’s hoping we hear from others. As T Kurki just noted in the Panbo Forum where SignalK sort of got its start: “Well, here we are, a few years later. Now that Digital Yacht’s IKommunicate is shipping we have an off the shelf, NMEA 2000 and 0183 certified solution for getting all the NMEA data onto an IP network… So let the applications be built!” https://panbo.com/forum/2010/09/nmea-open-source-project.html#comment-415947

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Also received mine. I was hoping to get it set up for the Annapolis Bermuda race, but there were higher priorities. I don’t like that the LEDs and cables are on opposite ends of the box.It needs to be mounted so you can access the cables and see the LEDs. No OpenCPN support for SignalK in the foreseeable future and limited time for an ethernet cable run. Being an early adopter is not always a good thing.

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I’m a little late to the discussion, but to me, N2K is a proprietary standard in every way. Even using Ben’s definition in the following supports this notion: Ben said “The problem with lumping together “Open” with “Open and Free” seems obvious to me. It also lumps together “Proprietary” — a standard that no one can use unless allowed to by a certain company or institution — with “Open” to anyone though including reasonable fees needed to maintain and grow the standard.” N2K is “owned” by a single entity, NMEA N2K is confidential and not accessible to anyone who does not hold a license. Anyone wanting to see the standard has to purchase a license. But then the licensee of N2K is obliged to hold the standard and all associated documentation confidential. That’s about as proprietary as proprietary gets. Heck, even patents, which are all owned and licensed, are published for anyone to read. NMEA is non-discriminatory about who they will license to, but there is nothing open about contents of the standard. It’s not like any of the IP protocols, all of which are published and accessible to anyone without a fee. And all the 802 standards are similarly accessible to anyone, though one needs to purchase the book(s).

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Hi Joel, The external LEDs and cables are at the same end of the iKommunicate enclosure, so I was a little surprised at your comment. Sorry we did not get it to you in time for the A to B Race, but hopefully you will be able to use it for the rest of the summer. I have been in contact with some of the OpenCPN developers and I know that they have been doing some initial implementation work and are keen to support Signal K in the next major release. Now that iKommunicate is released and Signal K is “almost” at Version 1.0.0 release, hopefully this will be the catalyst for them to finish their work. If there were no early adopters, there would be no products, so please keep adopting 😉

Wow, that’s some twisted logic, Mr. Twistedtree! By your analysis, ABYC, CE, SAE, AIS, GMDSS and many other standards are all “as proprietary as proprietary gets.” That will come as a big surprise to many boat, marine electronics, and engine manufacturers. And a published patent showing them intellectual property they can NOT use is somehow more “open”? How in the world would you characterize the Mercury Smartcraft engine control and monitoring standard? And, finally, do you realize that you’re making your twisted comment on a thread discussing SignalK, an open and free standard that’s somehow worked with NMEA to make N2K available developers quite like the IP standards that were financed by large corporations, universities, and governments?

Hi Joel, The finished iKommunicate box design is quite different than the “Proof of Concept” design shown in the entry above, but I think you misunderstood it. That’s a wire color identity list for the NMEA 0183/Power cable at one end, not LEDs: http://ikommunicate.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/iKommunicate-Top-Angle-HR.jpg Meanwhile the working end has four data comms LEDs, the Ethernet port, and two 2.4 foot pigtail cables. One is for the NMEA 2000 port and the other holds those NMEA 1083/power wires. Here’s a photo, though the cables aren’t shown: http://ikommunicate.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/iKommunicate-Bottom-Angle-HR.jpg Personally, I’d prefer having the LEDs on one end and the cables/ports on the other, but in practise I don’t think it will be important either way.

Wow, here we go again with different views of what’s “twisted” thinking. As one of N2K’s proprietary characteristics, I noted that N2K is owned by a single entity (NMEA) and only accessible to people who have licensed it. Back in Feb you characterized “proprietary” as “….’Proprietary’ — a standard that no one can use unless allowed to by a certain company or institution…”. So we seem to agree that this aspect of N2K is proprietary. This is very different from ABYC, CE, SAE, IEC, NEC, UL, IETF, ISO, etc. None of those organizations license their standards. They are published and anyone is free to practice it, and the contents of the standard are not a secret held by licensees. Anyone can purchase the publications with no strings attached, practice their content. And patents require a license to use, just as N2K requires a license to gain access to the standard. So in practice you can’t implement an N2K product without a license. But a patent is published for all to see, not just licensees. In contrast, N2K is not published for all to see, and anyone who acquires a license to gain access also agrees to maintain secrecy of the contents. So I stand by what I said and don’t see what’s twisted about it.

All those standards are owned by a single entity, the standards making body, and all those standards documents are copyrighted, which is a license. NMEA claims that N2K is an open standard by which they mean that any person or company can buy it and use it. Twistedtree, do know of any person or company who has not been allowed to buy and use NMEA 2000? And why couldn’t you answer my question about Mercury Smartcraft, which really is a proprietary marine standard? There’s nothing wrong with that, but do you think that you can buy and use it for control and monitoring of a new engine brand? But please continue this discussion in a more appropriate entry like: https://panbo.com/archives/2014/01/nmea_2000_certification_in_the_panbo_crossfire.html This entry is about the iKommunicate SignalK Gateway, which just materialized and deserves a conversation free of this bickering. Thanks in advance for moving.

Twistedtree, this is an exercise in semantics that has been well thrashed here and many other places for a long time. Few things in life are free, and organizations like ABYC, NMEA and the other similar standards organizations you listed and despite the large amount of volunteer help they get all need income from some source, and there are lots of ways to do it. They need phone lines, office space, employees, printing and so on. Even Signal K has need for some modest income. You want a copy of ABYC’s standard? You pay for for them. They are copyrighted so you can’t disseminate them. They are for your personal use. How is this different from buying NMEA’s standards? One is a copyright, the other a licence. Although there are some legal differences, from the users viewpoint they both take you to the same place, and neither organization will let you see the materials before you pay for them. If you let people read them first, the income disappears, and then the organizations follow.

Last time I brought up something critical of N2K I got chastised and told to take it somewhere else. I see this time is no different even though my comments directly relate to the discussion in this thread, although they are a bit delayed as I acknowledged in my original comments. Yes, anyone can license N2K. I said that in my very first post as well. And I never voiced an objection to paying for standards publications or even licenses per se. But that doesn’t change the constraints imposed by the N2K license which are fundamentally different from the constraints imposed by a copyright standards spec like ABYC or any of the others discussed so far. It’s not semantics, it’s fundamental differences in what’s allowed and disallowed. Call it open, closed, proprietary, good, bad, or Fred. It doesn’t change the licensing terms. But per your request, I’ll take it up elsewhere.

So instead of taking his N2K issues to a more appropriate Panbo thread, “twistedtree” (who I forgot is Peter Hayden) went to his own site: http://www.mvtanglewood.com/2016/06/now-proprietary-is-nmea-2000.html I still don’t understand what he’s gotten so worked up about, but his post is an opportunity for Ben bashing 😉

What’s really interesting, I think, is the interplay of NMEA companies like Digital Yacht and Signal K. This week I had email with Paul Sumpner (who heads up the iKommunicate project) and he told me: “​I have published an iKommunicate Developers Guide at https://github.com/digitalyacht/ikommunicate which includes some simple Apps (with source code) that I wrote. Bearing in mind I have no previous knowledge of writing web apps and I am a hardware designer, not a software developer, it proved to be surprisingly simple and if someone knows what they are doing with HTML5 web design, then the skies the limit.” He also said that DY is “aiming for a fortnightly firmware update on iKommunicate, at least to start with as we get feedback on features, conversions, bugs, etc.” and that they’re hungry for NMEA2000 log files. Logging is built into iKommunicate, though it’s currently cumbersome (as in using Telnet Terminal Client to enable and disable it). But Paul said that one of first new features planned for iKommunicate is logging control from the Web interface. Who’s got their iKommunicate running?

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Ben, Thanks. I’ll take another look at it. Joel

Steve Mitchell

Mine is up and running and I love it! I wrote up a short article on unboxing and installing, along with lots of photos and some screen shots at https://www.sailbits.com/blog/2016/07/ikommunicate-unboxing-install/ This is definitely the future of marine electronics interconnectivity, and I’m so happy to see it in a commercial product.

Have all of these shipped? I was backer #48, have not received.

Steven Dubnoff

Dan, you should definitely drop them a line. I believe they all shipped out in June.

Hi Dan, no need to drop us a line, I will investigate this immediately as I thought we had shipped everything, except a few units where people were out sailing and wanted us to delay shipment. We will get this sorted ASAP. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Hi Dan, Nick has emailed you again this morning as we need the shipping address to send your unit to, and then you will get your iKommunicate later this week. Now that all of our Kickstarter Backers have received their units, iKommunicate is part of our normal product catalogue and available through all of our normal sales channels, priced at $299 USD.

Paul, please feel free to brag! The latest news is that Digital Yacht has developed an iKommunicate instrument app that runs on inexpensive, sunlight viewable Kindle tablets: https://digitalyacht.net/2016/09/28/read-anything-good-lately/ The app is open source so any developer can mess with it, and a working version is included in the latest iKommunicate SD card image (V1.60 dated 28th September): http://ikommunicate.com/firmware/ I don’t know much about Kindles but I think that a 6″ 5th Gen with E Ink display and WiFi, available used from Amazon for $30, would work fine: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B007HCCNJU/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Thanks Ben, for the Kindle App mention. You are right any of the latest Kindles can run the app and it is pretty straight forward to take the source code and modify what data you want to display. Now that iKommunicate is released, I am trying to create a few simple but interesting reference designs to show what is possible now with Signal K and perhaps fire the imagination of other developers out there that want to take the source code and expand on it. It is amazing what HTML5 allows a web app to do and when developed, web apps can be copied to the iKommunicate SD Card, allowing them to be run by anyone onboard with a mobile device. Watch this space !!

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I’d like to hear why SignalK is “better” compared to NMEA 0183. To transfer the position of a ship, I need one NMEA sentence of 77 characters. To transfer the position of any ship, add a TAG block of 15 characters to add its IMO number. To do the same in SignalK, I need over 650 bytes (!) requiring a lot more parsing of field names and opening/closing tags of fields and groups. Even from a software engineers point of view, I’d rather parse an NMEA sentence than a SignalK info block. If the only advantage is that you don’t need to pay for the SignalK definition, than you’re not making the right business decision. The time spent on writing a SignalK parser is easily exceeding the cost of the NMEA 0183 Document. I’d love to hear other views though 🙂

The verbosity of Signal K and inappropriateness for constrained devices has been discussed in plenty of places. Its target market is enabling app programmers in high level languages on 802.11 or ethernet networks. It’s model which seems to have been adopted in quite a few commercial home automation products. Why might we not use NMEA-0183? Partly because it’s a point to point protocol and not defined for use over IP networks (even if people are using it that way now, and thanks for at least standardising the port, if not the transport for us :-). Of course Signal K doesn’t solve that problem either: it’s a data format without a defined transport. You mention TAG blocks: they’re not well documented in non-NMEA documentation as that was largely written before V4. So you’d have to buy the standard. But if you buy the standard you’re bound by non-disclosure and can’t use the information you just bought in open source software: so you couldn’t use a purchased version of the official NMEA-0183 standard in OpenCPN for example. People will also point you at the extensibility of Signal-K. If you don’t think of Signal K as an alternative to the NMEA protocols you’ll find less to dislike about it. Of course that means that we still need a free (as in speech) direct alternative to the NMEA protocols for constrained devices and networks…

Meindert, your right, to a point. NMEA 0183 is very easy to parse. It’s just an ASCII string with commas used as deliminators. It’s also a 4800 baud point to point comm system that appeared 36 years ago (1980) in the days of the Comodore Pet computer. That being said it’s a durable protocol that is still supported by most manufacturers, although at a lessor level each passing year. As an installer I still interface to it but mostly to communicate with legacy boat gear such as autopilots. So if your data needs don’t require speed, and the number of interfaces are few NMEA 0183 works very well. In the real world I install more WiFi access points and routers on boats than NMEA 0183 interfaces nowadays. Signal K was specifically designed to be app developer and cloud based applications friendly. It had several goals. Making data easily accessible to mobile devices was the first. Via a gateway the data is already parsed into individual JSON strings meaning no licences needed for the data use. Beyond that Signal K’s easily extendable data model not only contains NMEA data, but also data never contemplated by either NMEA 0183 or 2000 such as performance racing data, vessel related data like sail inventories, GPS offsets, and owner data. Signal K has become the defacto open source standard for moving data off your boat and into the cloud. NMEA 2000 has some additional benefits, it’s 50 times faster than 0183, can connect to far more vessel devices, it’s plug and play, and supports more vessel data than NMEA 0183. So it’s really about your needs and both approaches work well. A bicycle is simple and easy to use, but it’s not as practical as a car if you have to travel far, or need to go faster.

Hi Meindert, Not sure where you’re getting 650 bytes from. Yes, JSON is verbose, but it is self-describing and compresses very well. A well formed transfer contains many parts that are either optional or shared with other data coming from the same source. Whether a Signal K parser is difficult depends on your point of view. A JavaScript developer will love Signal K since JSON is just valid JavaScript, and the parser is already written (= it is the interpreter/compiler itself). Other languages that allow dynamic class construction such as PHP, Ruby or Python have built-in parsers as well. There are public free implementations of JSON parsers for every computer language worth its salt out there. Is it the most suited format for a tiny microcontroller with a few KB of RAM that would need to *parse* it? No. Solution: get a bigger CPU that can handle this. For instance, the new Simrad IS42/B&G Triton2 instruments run Linux(!) so that they don’t have to rewrite AIS handling in a too-small-system. Would it be possible for a small sensor mc to *generate* it? Sure. The Signal K team hasn’t focused on that, but they are getting requests from various developers that would like to build sensors, so this is an area of further expansion. For apps developers making small software applications, the cost of doing business in the NMEA world -is- a consideration. The biggest problem however is that once they buy the standard they cannot make their software open source, as that would violate the IP. SK gets around that by having hardware vendors that are NMEA members read NMEA data and generate Signal K. Digital Yacht has seen a market, apparently, and I don’t think they regret it. If you are interested in discussing Signal K, maybe a better place to have this discussion would be https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/signalk or http://slack-invite.signalk.org

I think there are a number of forces at play here, but fundamentally Signal K exists because it solves three problems that NMEA does not. It’s easy to program to, has a defined transport over IP networks, and is open in a way that N2K is not. First, SignalK is a more convenient format/structure for app developers. Making it easy to program means more apps. That’s good. Second, there needs to be a way to get nav data on an IP network in some standard way. Signal K does this, but it’s by no means the only way. In fact, OneNet is NMEA’s effort to standardize the transport of N2K (and maybe 0183?) over IP. Once that is complete and stable, it will create a competing data transport mechanism to Signal K. And there already is a defacto standard for transporting 0183 and N2K over IP used by most of the products out there today. Who knows which will win, but I think Signal K has the advantage since app developers will favor whichever is easiest, and I think that will be Signal K. Third, as Keith pointed out, and has been discussed before, the N2K specification is accompanied by a mandatory non-disclosure agreement. So anyone who gets the specs and sees how N2K actually works, is also obliged to keep it a secret. That means they can’t discuss it in a technical forum, can’t release open source code that implements it, can’t correct open source implementations that are incorrect, etc. It’s a rather unique set of terms that I have never seen in any other standard specification, resulting in a closed spec (it’s contents are confidential), yet open to anyone who wants to joint the group who know the secret and become part of the secret. Signal K solves this problem by recasting all the NMEA data in an open format that can be viewed, discussed, critiqued, and evolved by anyone. One could easily create an open source parser for NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 (in fact some exist today), but because of the non-disclosure that accompanies the official N2K spec, any open source implementation is the result of reverse engineering rather than following a spec, so its validity and correctness will always carry some uncertainty. I N2K were not encumbered by a non-disclosure agreement, and if OneNet had happened in a more timely manner, it’s entirely possible that Signal K would never have emerged, but nature abhors a vacuum, and Signal K stepped right in.

Who decided it was a horse race with a winner and a loser? I don’t see it that way at all. I think it’s great that Signal K was created and that NMEA tacitly approved the bridging of N2K data to SK, and vice versa. I’m just testing some SK apps now and I think the future is promising. But most boaters use marine hardware/software systems, not just apps, and it’s primarily those developers who are creating OneNet. We haven’t even seen what OneNet can do on boats, and it will take a while, but I think it’s quite possible that both it and SK will progress quite a ways and may in many situations be complimentary.

OneNet is a adaptation of N2K over IPv6/UDP/Ethernet. It should be a simple technical matter to support OneNet translation with SignalK. Its the same N2K message decoding.

@twistedtree: perhaps just our differing terminology, or maybe things have changed recently but Signal K specifically doesn’t define a transport. This was a subject of some debate on the Signal K google group last year and the Signal K team wanted the format to remain transport neutral. In practice a reliable transport is assumed with websockets and http the de-facto standards. Someone is welcome to correct me on that if incorrect.

I agree with you Ben, the existing NMEA formats do a very fine job and will be around for many, many years to come. Signal K provides a new, interesting and accessible layer of information and technology that will compliment and enhance the NMEA systems found on every boat.

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Editors' Blog

David Burch wants to educate us about Electronic Navigation Charts (ENC)

David Burch wants to educate us about Electronic Navigation Charts (ENC)

Panbo(at) gets more stable: Seakeeper 1 install in progress

Panbo(at) gets more stable: Seakeeper 1 install in progress

Epoch’s new 460 amp-hour, external communicating battery arrives and testing begins

Epoch’s new 460 amp-hour, external communicating battery arrives and testing begins

METS 2023: EPT Technologies solid-state battery destruction demo

METS 2023: EPT Technologies solid-state battery destruction demo

Gizmo’s new (though previously owned) compass, thanks to Max Marine Electronics

Gizmo’s new (though previously owned) compass, thanks to Max Marine Electronics

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IMAGES

  1. Digital Yacht iKommunicate

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  2. Digital Yacht iKommunicate NMEA 0183/2000 to Signal K Gateway

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  3. Digital Yacht iKommunicate Gateway Adds Full Coastal Explorer

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  4. iKommunicate

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  5. Digital Yacht®

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  6. Digital Yacht iKommunicate Universal-Schnittstelle [ZIDIGIK]

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VIDEO

  1. Digital Yacht

  2. 세계에서 가장 편안한 요트

  3. Can You Name This Explorer Yacht? #boat #boats

  4. SUPERYACHTS VIDEO PRODUCTION Corporate director's cut by Luxury Vision Production

  5. How to display documents stored on iKommunicate

  6. The Yacht That Will Change Travel Forever

COMMENTS

  1. iKommunicate

    iKommunicate is also the first NMEA to Signal K gateway, allowing you to be part of the "Internet of Things". By taking data from the NMEA "closed" industry networks found on most boats and converting it to an "open" HTML5 based internet ready data format, a whole new world of social and connected boating will now be possible.

  2. iKommunicate

    iKommunicate is an intelligent NMEA gateway device so that traditional boat navigation systems can be part of the "Internet of Things". By converting data from the "closed" industry standard NMEA networks found on most boats to Signal K the new "open" HTML5 based internet ready data format, a whole new world of social and connected boating will now be possible.

  3. iKommunicate

    Hi Paul, We started developing iKommunicate back in 2015 and it was the first commercial product to support Signal K. Digital Yacht also helped with the final push to release Signal K V1.00, actively working on the specification, branding and website development.. Unfortunately, this level of involvement was unsustainable and when one of our iKommunicate Engineers retired and another went off ...

  4. iKommunicate

    iKommunicate is Digital Yacht's NMEA to Signal K gateway which brings the internet of things to anything afloat and will introduce a new generation of interfacing and applications to the marine electronic's world. Things are changing in the world of marine electronic interfacing with the introduction of a new open source platform called ...

  5. ikommunicate

    iKommunicate gets SD Card Upgrade. Digital Yacht's popular iKommunicate Universal Gateway will be receiving a number of upgrades during 2019,…. February 20, 2019. 1 min read.

  6. iKommunicate from Digital Yacht brings the "Internet of Things" to

    The new iKommunicate gateway from Digital Yacht acts as a gateway from traditional NMEA based systems to the new Signal K platform allowing existing boat electronics to integrate with the next generation of connectivity. Signal K is an HTML5 "web ready" JSON based data format, that makes web and mobile app development really simple - even for ...

  7. PDF iKommunicate NMEA

    Quick Start Guide for iKommunicate V1.00 TEL + 44 1179 554474 www.digitalyacht.co.uk [email protected] 4. Configuring iKommunicate Once iKommunicate has got an IP address on the network, you will need to "discover" what IP address it has. iKommunicate supports two network Discovery services; Windows SDDP and mDNS (also known as Bonjour).

  8. Ikommunicate Archives

    Hi Paul, We started developing iKommunicate back in 2015 and it was the first commercial product to support Signal K. Digital Yacht also helped with the final push to release Signal K V1.00, actively working on the specification, branding and website development. Unfortunately, this level of involvement was unsustainable and when one of our ...

  9. Digital Yacht iKommunicate

    1 x RJ45 Ethernet (10/100Mb) network connection. Easy setup with built-in Web Interface. Small 135 x 120 x 50 mm black box solution. Product Details. Downloads. Reviews. iKommunicate is an intelligent NMEA gateway device for converting both NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 data to Signal K, the new open source HTML5 based internet ready data format.

  10. iKommunicate

    It's called Signal K and Digital Yacht are proud to introduce our new iKommunicate NMEA to Signal K gateway and server. iKommunicate was developed following a successful Kickstarter campaign which shows t. DIGITAL YACHT 2022 IS ALL ABOUT NEXT GENERATION NAVIGATION, COMMUNICATION AND ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS FOR YOUR BOAT. ...

  11. OpenCPN and iKommunicate on Autopilot

    Digital Yacht's iKommunicate is the perfect device to take your NMEA0183 or NMEA2000 data and pass it through to OpenCPN via either a wired or wireless Ethernet network connection. In OpenCPNs Connections menu, you need to setup either a TCP or UDP network connection on Port 2000…

  12. IKommunicate User Manual V1 01 Eng Final Pdf

    NEXT GENERATION MARINE ELECTRONICS. Contact us. United States

  13. iKommunicate and the Smart Transducers

    Recently we have seen a trend in customers asking about using smart transducers with our iKommunicate, rather than installing the more traditional; Log, Depth, Wind and navigation instruments.. If you are re-fitting an older boat or doing an install on a new boat, then it is worth considering the cost benefits and simplicity of design that this approach provides.

  14. iKommunicate From Digital Yacht, Signal K Gets Kickstarted (BLOG)

    iKommunicate From Digital Yacht, Signal K Gets Kickstarted (BLOG) Digital Yacht was understandably hesitant about developing a gateway for Signal K apps and services that hardly exist yet, but the Signal K universal boat data concept -- open source, entirely free, and created by unfunded volunteers -- needs a commercial level NMEA gateway. Panbo.

  15. iKommunicate + EMU-1 the Perfect Combination

    Now Digital Yacht's iKommunicate gateway can take the EMU-1 engine data and display it on an app for your Apple/Android device or even as a web app in your browser. Together the EMU-1 and iKommunicate make engine monitoring on older engines a real possibility, without having to spend lots of money on an expensive MFD. ...

  16. DIGITAL YACHT iKommunicate Installation And Instruction Manual

    To access these apps, type the IP address of iKommunicate in to your browser and you should see iKommunicate's Home page again (Fig 7). Page 11 Clicking the "Hosted App" button on the Home page displays the Index.Html page in the "hosted" folder on the iKommunicate's micro SD Card - see section x.x for details of how to access the ...

  17. 4G Connect

    Digital Yacht's booster WiFi antenna can also be connected to the WAN port for a choice between hotspot WiFi and 4G connectivity. iKommunicate can also connect to the LAN port providing boat NMEA data on the WiFi network for use with navigation apps. SPECIFICATIONS.

  18. GitHub

    Welcome to our iKommunicate Developer's Guide (SDK) on GitHub. This guide is intended to help developers quickly get to grips with our new iKommunicate NMEA to Signal K gateway. We hope that the ever growing set of example web apps will illustrate how to use the HTTP restAPI or Web Sockets to access the Signal K data that iKommunicate collects ...

  19. Digital Yacht iKommunicate NMEA 0183/2000-To-Signal K Gateway With iK

    The link to Digital Yacht iKommunicate NMEA 0183/2000-To-Signal K Gateway With iK Router has been copied Features iKommunicate is an intelligent gateway device that allows traditional boat navigation systems to become part of the Internet-connected data that enhances boating today. By converting data from the closed industry standard NMEA ...

  20. iKommunicate from Digital Yacht, Signal K gets kickstarted

    Digital Yacht was understandably hesitant about developing a gateway for Signal K apps and services that hardly exist yet, but the Signal K universal boat data concept — open source, entirely free, and created by unfunded volunteers ... Now that Digital Yacht's IKommunicate is shipping we have an off the shelf, NMEA 2000 and 0183 certified ...

  21. Digital Yacht

    Digital Yacht is all about next generation navigation, communication and entertainment systems for your boat. Boating should be fun, safe and easy and our products integrate into existing and new boat networks to bring a powerful dimension to your on-board electronics. Our design team has 100's years combined experience in marine electronic ...