Ocean Navigator Communications Newsletter #15

The Wireless Boat: No More Spaghetti

Imagine if you will pulling back the panel behind your navstation to find not a tangle of multi-colored wires, but rather a big empty space. You first thought might be, "Oh no - how will my instruments talk to each other?" Without boatspeed being passed to your wind indicator, how will it be able to calculate true wind direction? Without the transducer being connected to the readout, how will you be able to read your depth?

This is the peak of the age of interconnected boat devices. Transitioning to a new standard (NMEA 2000) will certainly help, but let's consider what could happen beyond that. What if we use commonly available computer network parts and create wireless connections between our boat's devices? If we can connect an office full of computers and printers to each other without wires, why haven't we wirelessly connnected 40 feet worth of electronics yet?

The vision I have is to insert a transducer, hook it up to the vessel's DC power supply (admittedly with two wires). And that's it -- you're done. No snaking cables behind bunks to get it to the navstation's display or lying on the cabin sole with your head under the galley sink, and your arm behind the bulkhead hoping that your fingertips are just long enough to reach opening to the panel for the cockpit display.

Two technologies that hold considerable promise are Bluetooth and WiFi (802.11b). Bluetooth was designed to connect computers to their peripherals. A collaboration between most of the big names in the computer business (IBM, Intel, Microsoft, 3Com, Nokia, Toshiba, . . . ), Bluetooth is being used to synchronize contact information between a PC and a cell phone, or to connect to a printer without the hassle of cables, or to transfer files between two laptops. Typically used for devices on the same desktop, the effective range is relatively short - typically 30 feet and sometimes up to 100 feet. The frequency, in the 2.4 GHz range will work fairly well in non-line-of-sight conditions. With a speed of one megabit per second (1 Mbps), it should be plenty fast enough to transmit boat data between instruments.

Another promising technology is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE's) 802.11b standard, sometimes referred to as WiFi. This was designed to connect several computers to each other. Operating in a similar frequency range of 2.4 GHz, the effective distance covered can be up to 300 meters with common transceivers, and even further with specialized equipment. The parts are cheap -- a common WiFi access point can be had for around $150. Each radio transmitter costs about $80 for a complete set.

The only missing link is the fact that there are no manufacturers incorporating this technology into their marine electronics. We've worked with clients on several boats designing wireless networks for their computers, but to do the same for their instruments is a little trickier. It is possible to have some wireless instrumentation, but it requires add-on products and isn't trivial.

Consider the thoroughbred race boat with headband mounted wireless displays for each crew member. They can instantly see how trimming a sail might add a few fractions of a knot of boatspeed.

Consider a cruising boat in the Bahamas with the helmsman firmly implanted at the spreaders up on the mast, watching the color of the water looking for the channels through the ever changing coral. A little to port -- no problem, just dial it in on your wireless autopilot control.

Consider the used boat undergoing a re-fit. A secondary display might be a nice idea up in the cockpit, but there are not wiring conduits in place, and the whole steering pedestal would have to come out in order to get wires up inside of it. The situation is easily resolved by clamping a wireless repeater display to the pedestal.

The possibilities are intriguing, and the hard part of the technology design is already done and available in mass quantity at reasonable cost. It's almost surprising that no one has already thought of this and brought it to market. In fact, if I wasn't so busy writing newsletters and helping clients with their boats, I'd probably be writing a business plan for this idea myself. Who knows -- maybe someone at Furuno is reading this and is having similar thoughts. I've got my fingers crossed.

- Dan Piltch
dpiltch@MarineComputer.com