Other Uses for Radar

For cruisers, this radar is more than just a convenience. There are other uses for radar that can be lifesavers.

Think of radar as a sonar fish-finder, except the transducer/antenna is spinning inside the radome—that round covering on top of your boat. By transmitting thousands of harmless microwave pulses per second, the radar determines what objects are around you and
references their position to your bow.

Invented in the early 20th century, radar is now a common accessory on boats and costs have come down. However, there are many other uses for radar that are underutilized, as many owners don’t know how to get the full value of their units aside from the safety aspect. “Most boat owners today use their radar systems as a tool for collision avoidance,” says Jim McGowan, Americas marketing manager of FLIR Maritime and Raymarine. “Typically, that means nighttime, in the rain or in the fog. If you’re out after dark or in the fog, it’s very comforting to know that you have the radar on board if you need it in those circumstances.”

Other popular uses for radar include finding seabirds that feed on small bait fish. This is a specialized usage of the technology, but many anglers find success with it. By locating
the birds at long range, it gets them on the fish sooner with less fuel burn.

“My favorite radar feature that most boat owners don’t use is the radar offset feature,” McGowan says. “This allows you to pull the center of the radar sweep, where your boat is, either one-third or two-thirds of the diameter of the screen downwards. The benefit is it gives you more lookahead visibility without having to change the radar’s range scale or making the target display smaller.” Radar offset is important because most of the time you’re going to be moving ahead at speed. It’s convenient to be able to see farther ahead on the radar scope, sacrificing some range to the rear.

Some other uses for radar include keeping tabs on what’s in your way is enhanced with MARPA (mini automatic radar plotting aid) and ARPA (automatic radar plotting aid). There are collision avoidance tools built into the radar system that enable it to track targets on the scope, calculate their course and speed and advise you of potential collisions. MARPA-equipped radars require you to manually select a target and enter it into tracking mode. ARPA-equipped radars can automatically acquire new targets that enter safety or guard zones you specify.

“Regardless of how the target is acquired, once the radar has it in track, it will determine its course and speed and display it on the scope,” explains McGowan. “Targets that
are going to pass inside of your pre-defined safety circle will be highlighted with flashing symbology and an audible alarm. It’s a great feature to use in crowded waters or if
you’re out in open water and want to keep watch of distant vessels on the horizon.”

One of the biggest improvements to radar in recent times is the addition of Digital Signal Processing (DSP). Older generations of radars used analog filters to clean up unwanted
noise and clutter. They worked okay but needed lots of manual tuning and tweaking as conditions changed. DSP radars use a computer and custom software to analyze the signals. “The radar is now intelligent and knows what rain looks like, what boats look like, what birds look like, etc.,” says McGowan. “We can teach the radar to show the things we want to see and hide the clutter, all without manual tuning and tweaking.”

McGowan highlights the importance of wireless technology. “Raymarine’s latest generation Quantum radars have Wi-Fi connectivity to link them to the boat’s multifunction displays. This eliminates the heavy and expensive inter-unit data cable while maintaining a link that is reliable and secure. Installation is simplified, and the overall cost of the system is reduced, which is a win for boat owners.” Raymarine has added several new features and technologies to its radar line in the last year. Its newest innovation is the Quantum 2 CHIRP radar complete with more uses for radar, like Doppler Target Tracking. Doppler radar makes it even easier to interpret the radar display and determine at a glance which targets are headed toward you and which are moving away. Doppler radar can specifically determine which targets are moving and which are stationary, and then color-code them for easy identification. Red targets, for example, are ones to watch as they are closing in range.

Another addition to many Raymarine systems is ARPA radar tracking. Raymarine has offered MARPA on all its radar systems for many years; offering ARPA brings its radar platform to an even higher level, automating the target acquisition and tracking process. You can draw up to two safety zones on the radar scope. They can be a simple radius
or a sector of the scope. Any radar targets that enter that zone will automatically acquire and track it with no manual intervention required.

Radar technology is a great tool for collision avoidance, coastal navigation, bird detection, and much more—but practice is essential. “One thing I always encourage customers to do is to use their radar on bright, sunny days,” says McGowan. “Don’t wait until it’s dark or the weather turns bad. That is exactly the time when you want to be able to use the tool with confidence. By using radar on nice days, you’ll learn how it works, how it reacts, and you’ll be able to compare radar contacts to visible contacts you can see with your eye. Use these opportunities to practice with the ARPA and MARPA. Try changing modes,
adjusting settings, and see what happens.” You know what they say: Practice makes perfect. When it comes to radar, practice makes you confident.

raymarine.com

By Don Minikus, Southern Boating March 2018

Vesper Marine Deckwatch App

Monitor your Vesper AIS transponder right on your wrist with the free Vesper Marine Deckwatch App that repeats information about potential collisions, anchor drag or MOB on an Android Wear 2-enabled smartwatch.

The app connects directly to the WiFi network on the smartAIS and sounds alerts based on range and bearing of targets. Keep your information handy and your smart devices dry.

vespermarine.com

The Internet of Boats

The Internet of Things (IoT): By now, you’ve probably heard of it and know it’s a thing. This concept of hyper-interconnectivity and information sharing between everyday items such as washing machines, refrigerators, lamps, wearable items, engines, roads, bridges, and more is looming on the horizon. What it means is still a mystery, but one thing’s for sure: It will impact our lives in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, and that includes boating connectivity.

Always stretching the boundaries, marine electronics’ firms are developing a specific subset of the concept that could be called the Internet of Boats, and it’s all coming together in your multifunction display (MFD).

The cost of connectivity is decreasing as broadband Internet becomes widely available. Today, most devices are integrated with multiple data-gathering sensors and WiFi capabilities so they can capture and share information. It’s more than just about connecting people to people; it’s connecting things to things. Anything with an on/off switch and an Internet connection can become a part of the IoT, so think what that means on your boat. Lights, pumps, engines, security and navigation equipment can communicate with each other and also with entities off the boat. Sounds like the Internet of Boats.

Data sharing means engine and boat builders, accessory suppliers, dealers, service providers, and cruisers can have access to more information. Therefore boats, engines, and equipment can be built with less complexity so more cost effectively, and everything has the possibility of becoming more efficient, secure, social, and definitely user-friendly. For the cruiser, this may translate to increased confidence that your engines are healthy, that you have the latest navigation software and that the response time to fix problems will be shorter. That means you have a more supported adventure every time you untie the dock lines.

Yamaha partnered with Garmin to power its CL7TM multi-touch display.

Your boat can talk to you as well as to a dealer or a search-and-rescue provider. You can set geofencing boundaries so you know where your vessel is at all times. Your engines can remind you of scheduled maintenance or warn of impending problems. Digital switching systems like CZone can send reports on bilge pump cycles and battery levels. You can unlock enhanced features like Doppler radar on existing MFDs with remote software access keys without your boat needing to go in the shop or you having to purchase additional expensive hardware.

None of this is really new, but what is different is the recognition of the power of the sum and the importance it’s bringing to the MFD. The MFD is evolving as the single point of convergence and problem solving aboard. Engines, radar, charting, and digital switching for onboard accessories are now brought into the MFD for both control and diagnostics. You can turn on your lights and stereo, check the weather, view remote cameras, review alarms, get engine diagnostics, and navigate—all from the MFD. This wealth of information hasn’t gone unnoticed by electronics manufacturers like Navico (makers of Simrad, B&G, Lowrance), Garmin, Furuno, and Raymarine, who understand that he who owns the “glass” owns the data and thereby basically controls not only the boat but also the value chain and the ultimate cruiser experience.

Challenges remain. First, boating is a relatively small industry with few consumer dollars at stake, so it won’t lead the IoT revolution. But to not take notice of it would be a mistake, even in our application. Second, data is great but unless someone can monetize it, nobody will have the incentive to pursue its development. Simrad is working to share information with engine manufacturers who in turn, can build engines better and faster so they’re willing to pay Simrad for it. Charter companies are in on both sides since they can gather more data to share because of the volume of users. They can also benefit from the distilled data coming back to better predict maintenance requirements so that their boats are always ready to go out and produce revenue.

Third, onboard sensors can generate vast amounts of data, but that won’t make boating better unless someone figures out how to turn it into real information to build stronger, cheaper, cleaner, friendlier, and more efficient products. Marine electronics firms get this. Finally, although much of this happens behind the scenes, an intuitive user interface is critical so that cruisers want to get involved and enable the process. You already see MFDs mimicking the functionality of personal electronics like smartphones and tablets with pinch-to-zoom touchscreens and swipe commands. Expect to see more app-driven functionality to pop up on your chart plotter soon.

If you think all this will make boating efficient, fun and more like the rest of our lives, you’re probably right. If you think future boating will become more complex, interdependent and possibly invasive, you’re probably right. Either way, it’s all most likely to happen right on your MFD, so upgrading electronics in the future will get you more than just new charts. The waters are still murky, but whatever it means, it’s coming. Boating will not be the same, and neither will your MFD.

— By Zuzana Prochazka, Southern Boating Magazine April 2017

Global Fishing Watch

Private citizens now have the means to take action against illegal fishing.

Our oceans are under siege from a variety of threats, including the excessive extraction of wild fish. Most fisheries in the world are fished beyond their limits— indiscriminate bycatch is decimating populations of marine wildlife, and bottom trawling and other destructive practices are destroying nursery and spawning habitat. This results in rapidly declining fish stocks and population crashes that ripple throughout the ocean food web.

The good news is that oceans are resilient and can regain their former abundance, but for that to happen we must manage our fisheries responsibly. More and more countries are putting in place catch limits and habitat protections that are necessary to rebuild ocean resources. But for these efforts to be successful, the rules set to protect our most precious ocean resources must be vigorously enforced.

Sailors understand what is at stake. And more than others, they are in a position to help monitor the conduct of the global fishing fleet to hold it accountable. Global Fishing Watch is the first technology platform that allows anyone with an Internet connection to see global fishing activity in near real-time, for free. Global Fishing Watch—built by a partnership between Oceana, the search engine giant Google and the technology nonprofit SkyTruth—is free, easy to use, global in scale, and open source, which means as more users access the technology and create additional applications over time, the tool will become even more powerful.

Global Fishing Watch uses the Automatic Identification System (AIS), a tracking system employed by more than 200,000 vessels around the world for safety purposes. Large fishing vessels, including the ones that catch the most fish globally, are required to utilize AIS to prevent collisions at sea. Global Fishing Watch can access AIS data, which typically includes vessel identification information, and plug it into algorithms built to use vessel movement and location to identify apparent fishing activity. It then makes information on where fishing is occurring available.

This map depicts the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA). These historically productive fishing grounds were severely depleted, leading Kiribati’s President Tong to ban all commercial fishing within the reserve starting in January 2015. Oceana discovered through Global Fishing Watch that the government’s ban was effective and gave fish stocks a chance to recover.

This is where sailors come in. Imagine being out on the water and you see a passing fishing vessel. Perhaps it seems suspicious indicate whether the ship has been fishing, where and when it fished, whether it fished in a protected area, and where and when it returned to port.

Your “eyes on the ocean” might also identify odd behavior like a vessel meeting up with another ship at sea for a potential transshipment or a vessel that does not have its AIS activated. If you are sailing in or near a marine protected area and see a vessel fishing, you may be able to determine whether that ship was fishing in a “no-take” area. In all cases, reports can be made through Global Fishing Watch, and your report will be sent to the relevant enforcement agency.

When citizens show governments that laws are not being enforced, it will put pressure on those governments to act. Global Fishing Watch will help sailors, fishermen and everyday citizens hold governments accountable to enforce fishery laws.

Global Fishing Watch is especially powerful in the hands of sailors around the world, who can match eyewitness accounts with recorded satellite data. Imagine if every sailor in the world could give evidence to authorities enabling them to determine which fishing vessels are following the law and those that are not.

Global Fishing Watch can also be used by seafood retailers to identify the source of the seafood they purchase for sale, by seafood certifiers to strengthen the certification process, by companies that insure fishing vessels to track their policy-holders, and by honest fishermen who want to ensure the rules are enforced so that they can compete on an even playing field. The project is brand new and will reap the benefits of combining technology with illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in an effort to curb those practices.

Global Fishing Watch uses the Automatic Identification System (AIS), a tracking system employed by more than 200,000 vessels around the world for safety purposes.

– Jacqueline Savitz

Most importantly, Global Fishing Watch allows fishing vessel operators to show the world they are fishing legally. By consistently using an AIS transponder, they might be able to fetch a higher price for their catch or get access to markets that in the future could be closed to any fishing vessel that doesn’t meet this basic transparency standard. In the meantime, it will put the bad actors on notice, essentially telling them, “We’ve got our eyes on you.”

Currently, sailors traveling to more remote areas of the ocean will be able to provide the most beneficial information to Global Fishing Watch because they are more likely to be traveling through no-take marine-protected areas and regions that are managed by small countries and have limited resources. Additionally, sailors may be able to help identify types of gear that are not allowed in certain places. For example, some areas of the Mediterranean have banned drift nets since they create a large amount of bycatch.

Both Oceana and Sailors for the Sea strive to preserve the richness and biodiversity of the ocean for future generations. Now, with Global Fishing Watch, we all have a powerful new tool to deter illegal fishing.

Article courtesy of Sailors for the Sea

Lithium Ion Batteries

There are very few people in the industrial world who have not had some experience with lithium ion battery technology. Lithium ion batteries power almost all modern electronic calculators, electronic watches and cell phones. The advent of rechargeable lithium ion technology in the early 1990s led to such widespread acceptance of the technology that in Japan in 2011, two-thirds of all portable secondary battery sales were lithiums.

Lithium technology has a number of properties that make these rechargeable batteries so attractive. Most important—especially for those used in cell phones—is that they don’t acquire a memory. They can therefore be recharged from any state of charge without adversely affecting their capacity. The second helpful feature is that lithium ion batteries can be recharged very rapidly. A NiCad battery that used to power early cell phones took almost four hours to charge. The Lithium ion battery that charges a new similar cell phone takes about 45 minutes and lasts almost three times longer.

Lithium ion batteries have been making their way into the marine market due to the features noted above for the smaller batteries. In addition, two other lithium battery features are finding great favor with boat owners.

The first is a relatively light weight. Lithium is one of the lightest elements in the periodic table that is not a gas. It floats on water, and a cubic foot of it weighs 62.4 pounds. By comparison, a cubic foot of lead tips the scales at about 710 pounds. A lithium-based battery of about 61 pounds will have approximately the same capacity as a lead-based battery of 168 pounds. This gives marine designers, builders and decorators much more flexibility.

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The other feature mariners like about lithium technology is the fact that the batteries can be charged very rapidly without adverse effect. One builder of aluminum yachts reports that the lithium house battery system he installs requires only one hour of generator time a day to keep the house bank fully charged, compared with four hours for the more traditional lead-based house system he used to install.

The improvements in lithium technology in the past two years have led to the development of a couple of all-electric outboards. Torqeedo has produced an 80-hp unit and a Canadian boat builder, Campion of Kelowna, B.C., has produced a 180-hp all-electric outboard—currently the most powerful in the world. More manufacturers have plans to produce all-electric outboards. This year, in fact, a megayacht builder announced the development of a 12-passenger shore boat for running guests from the anchored megayacht to shore—at 45 knots powered by a pair of 300-hp all-electric outboards.

With the advent of all-electric outboards of meaningful horsepower—as opposed to trolling motors—and the success of the Tesla all-electric sports car, lithium battery manufacturers have had to step up their game considerably, not only with respect to the amount of power that can be stored but also with respect to their battery management systems (BMS). In the short two years since Campion’s 180-hp—which required thousands of small cells to be hand “assembled” to produce the 400 VDC required to power the unit—the company’s Florida consultant began manufacturing in China an 88-pound, 51-volt battery that stores 7 kilowatts of power. The internal battery cells are fitted into in an almost traditional looking, dust-proof and water-resistant case. Each battery has its own battery management system on board and is about 26″x11″x7″.

These types of batteries are still relatively expensive, but major development in the electric car field may soon start to flow into the marine field. In Europe, Renault produces an all-electric car that is sold without the battery pack. Packs are leased to car buyers for the equivalent of $100 per month. Gas costs the buyer almost $300 per month, whereas the cost of battery lease and charging is about $110 per month, and if there’s a battery problem the builder supplies a new one at no cost. This battery lease/rental business model is now being examined by businesses in the marine field.

There will be continued development in battery technology, but these batteries have now reached the point where they are viable for many uses.They are still a bit pricey, but when one considers they have about three times the life of regular lead-based batteries the cost over time is not that much more.

By Roger McAfee, Southern Boating September 2014