MARINE
ELECTRONICS
INNOVATIONS
FOCUS ON DATA SHARING
E
lectronics and electrical equipment manufacturers continue to generate new and innovative products for the marine industry. A good example of these marine innovations was the electronics
category in this year’s IBEX Innovation Awards, where a record 90 entries were received, according to a Sept. 17 article written by Chris Landry for Soundings Trade Only. Many of the fast-paced tech advance-
to interface between a vessel’s NMEA 2000
uct manager of Power Products. “Of all
ments in the marine industry revolve
network and most cellular data services.
our new products, this one really reso-
around “connectivity”—technology that
nates because it solves a problem. Let’s
not only integrates marine electronics,
“It takes data from the vessel to the cloud
but also links them to the cloud and mo-
and then to devices off the boat, includ-
bile devices and computers.
ing mobile devices,” said Burke, whose
Although boaters might not see the value
business now offers Smart GPRS, which
of this product, many marine electricians
The idea of sharing data to make boat-
contains a cellular data modem and a re-
will find these nylon ties (which have a
ing easier and more enjoyable has long
movable SIM card to allow use on most
50-pound tensile strength) very useful. A
been a goal of marine manufacturers,
mobile networks, including AT&T’s new
stainless steel razor inside the tie’s re-
but it has now started to come to frui-
M2X data service, which offers a 10X re-
ceiving end plays the key role. After the
tion. IBEX’s Connected Boat Display il-
duction in monthly access charges.
tie has been pulled to its desired length
lustrated this technology. At least a dozen electronics, engine, and instrument
M2X (machine to cloud) is a product that
manufacturers participated with their
interfaces sensors directly to cloud ser-
products—an impressive demonstration
vices, such as Chetco’s HelmSmart.net
of multiple brand devices sharing data
data analytics website, with a monthly
across multiple networks.
access fee as low as $2 a device.
Simrad, Mastervolt, Honda, Faria, and
Jury-rigging gets easier
Antisense Marine Accessories were just some of the brands involved here.
One of the interesting new products at IBEX was a self-cutting cable tie from
Joe Burke, of Chetco Digital Instruments,
Ancor Marine, part of Power Products
designed the Connected Boat network for
LLC. “It makes wiring installations easier,
the second consecutive year. The big news
faster and more efficient—and requires
this year, according to Burke, is the ability
no tools,” said Matt Elsner, group prod-
32 GLB greatlakesboating.com | Ja nua r y/ Febr ua r y| 32 2016
face it, cutting cable ties is a hassle.”