Useful Technology Ideas

[Foswick]

@Tiffany recently started a thread about the "good old days" to discuss technology in sailing. This got me thinking ...

I am a (semi?) retired software engineer and general tech-nerd. I am always looking for ways to solve problems with technology or to create technology in search of a problem. I just like the process. (Admittedly, when it comes to sailing, I am pretty hypocritical. On one hand, I shun attempts to bring technology aboard. On the other hand, I spend a fair amount of energy thinking about or developing technology for exactly that purpose.)

Over the years, I have looked for a project that marries up my love of sailing with my penchant for developing hardware and software. Invariably, I find that the ideas I come up with sound like good ideas but aren't especially useful in reality. For example, one pet project is a system that allows folks to file float plans and have automated actions if a person becomes overdue. It sounds like a good idea but, in reality, few people would actually use it. Even I wouldn't.

I have another couple of projects involving man-overboard situations (MOB detection and retrieval). Again, I find that they may be useful in a very narrow context for a handful of people, most are quite happy with current solutions. (Tangentially, I think that most people are blissfully ignorant of the utter inadequacy of current MOB solutions, but it isn't in my wheelhouse to convince people of this.)

So, I thought I would put it out there to the community. What are problems that you find actually need solving?

 

[Davidasailor26]

I’ve done a lot for boat monitoring with a Raspberry Pi, Pico, and Arduino. It ties in nicely with my NMEA network and as a hobby it gives me my fix of hardware and software tinkering. It’s given the chance to work with everything from hardware sensors and microcontrollers to Python to InfluxDB and Grafana.

In case it can provide any inspiration my write-up for what I built is at GitHub - davidasailor/PiForBoat

I’ve been looking for useful ways to expand on what I did so I’m curious what others suggest for your question too.

 

[Foswick]

I’ve done a lot for boat monitoring with a Raspberry Pi, Pico, and Arduino.

Cool stuff! That is kind of related to a project I started building for our previous boat. Basically, I wanted the ability to check systems on the boat from the comfort of my living room. So, wondering if I remembered to pump out the holding tank? I could just check from my phone on the way home. The project kind of lost steam when I was working on remotely controlled cameras. It stalled because I got distracted implementing this pan/zoom solution on a remote-controlled sheep for my dog to herd (aka "Sheepbot").

Anyway, I never really got back to finishing the project. Been thinking about returning to it because I am building a custom DC panel that will allow me to remotely control all DC circuits, monitor fuses, etc., but also operate manually, completely bypassing the automation circuitry.

Honestly, one of the projects that most excites me is a wearable beacon that ties into a MOB detection system. Each person on board would wear a tiny beacon. When a beacon went out of range (about 30m), the system would set a MOB waypoint and automatically drop a MOB pole. I had a prototype built, but then I discovered that Raymarine made something very similar (LifeTags), though my solution was about 1/4 the size and, I think, probably more reliable. But, that's one of those things that sounds really cool, but almost no one would actually use it. I think it might have a limited market with parents of small children or people with dogs.

 

[jssailem]

Foswick, what you describe sounds like an Apple AirTag. Been using them for several years now. They rely on the Apple network to locate and track the coin sized tag that slips into a pocket.

The Idea of the MOB sounds great. There are physical challenges. Transmission when submerged. Auto activated. Distance of transmission. Dealing with intermittent transmission in heavy seas (i.e. both sender and receiver are in wave troughs). Signal Band availability. These are a few that come to mind.

 

[thinwater]

...Transmission when submerged....

In fact, some of the engine cut-off systems work on this principle. Signal loss cuts the engine. You wear them on your waist.

 

[Foswick]

Foswick, what you describe sounds like an Apple AirTag. Been using them for several years now. They rely on the Apple network to locate and track the coin sized tag that slips into a pocket.

The Idea of the MOB sounds great. There are physical challenges. Transmission when submerged. Auto activated. Distance of transmission. Dealing with intermittent transmission in heavy seas (i.e. both sender and receiver are in wave troughs). Signal Band availability. These are a few that come to mind.

Sort of like an AirTag, just not proprietary. The physical challenges are pretty simple to overcome. The solution does not rely on signal integrity. The boat has a receiver that is contact with all fobs. Each fob "pings" the receiver intermittently (probably 1-3 seconds ... subject to experimentation ... to balance battery use with speed of response). When a fob fails to "check in", the receiver recognizes this as a MOB. Probably it will allow one or two missed pings to minimize false activations ... subject to experimentation. The speed of response might self-adjust proportionate to GPS speed ... don't know yet. A few other features help minimize false activations, but experimentation will dictate what works best.

Since the system isn't meant to be a PLB, it doesn't have to transmit from the MOB. It is absence of a signal that is the trigger. I expect the end solution to be built into a little water-activated strobe light - something I have on my PFD anyway.

 

[Foswick]

In fact, some of the engine cut-off systems work on this principle. Signal loss cuts the engine. You wear them on your waist.

Yeah ... exactly like that.

I actually briefly toyed with the idea of having solo mode for a MOB when single-handing. The system would use the existing auto-pilot to motor back to the MOB waypoint and slowly circle it at some safe distance. I pretty quickly gave up on that idea. Might be feasible on a powerboat with electronic throttle control, but the challenges on a sailboat are too many.

 

[Foswick]

A related MOB-related solution I prototyped was a little LED ring. When a MOB waypoint is set (regardless of how it was set), the LED ring would indicate the direction of the waypoint. This is just a simple way to help the skipper get back to the person. We sail frequently enough in conditions where a MOB is out of sight due to waves/swell within just a few seconds. I teach crews to use a spotter whose job it is to just point at the MOB or at least the direction they last saw them. But, most boats don't have crew available for this. On our boat, we almost always have exactly two people and, if one is the MOB ... doesn't leave a lot of crew left on board.

This is a bit redundant with most chartplotters. But, chartplotters aren't always easy to read or fiddle with in emergencies. This is just a dead-simple pointer that is clearly visible - without my reading glasses.

I made a prototype which worked great, but I never got around to making a nice and rugged device. However, now I find myself wanting a rudder angle indicator that works similarly. So, I might revisit this by making the LED ring that has multiple functions (MOB, rudder angle, wind angle, whatever), but which automatically goes to MOB mode when a MOB marker is set.

 

[dlochner]

As we add more Blue Tooth devices a non-proprietary app or device that could display data from multiple different devices from different companies would be very helpful.

Just for example on my boat, I have BT devices that work great and have good apps, but they don't integrate.

• Victron PV controllers and chargers
• Ruuvi Temp sensors
• Balmar Battery and Alternator monitor
• Kilovault Battery BMS
• GobiusC tank sensor

Victron's Cerbo is becoming the default standard, another option with user configurable options for non Victon compliant apps would be nice. I doubt Balmar will ever be Victron compliant. Another option would be a translator in to N2K sentences (PGNs?) and eventual compliance to the new NMEA OneNet standard.

You can whip this up over the weekend, right? I'll Alpha test.

 

[BarryL]

check this out

ACR OLAS Crew Tag

<i>Model #: 2980 </i> OLAS - Overboard Location Alert System: The ACR OLAS Crew Tag worn by a crewmember and connected to the ACR OLAS app on a smart phone or tablet detects crew falling overboard. The phone stores the GPS location, sounds a loud alarm

www.landfallnavigation.com

 

[Foswick]

As we add more Blue Tooth devices a non-proprietary app or device that could display data from multiple different devices from different companies would be very helpful.

I actually wouldn't mind building something like this - not just for BT, but different media. It would involve three components:
- interface (the hardware/firmware that physically interfaces with a given device)
- consolidator (the software that talks to all of the interfaces and translates to/from a lingua franca)
- UI (the hardware/software that talks to the consolidator, displays data, and receives input from the user to pass commands back to the device, via the consolidator)

This is something I could put together in a weekend ... but ...

The rub is that researching, designing, building, and testing interfaces for various devices ... that would be kind of a chore. I kind of feel like maybe OpenCPN already scratches this itch by at least providing a platform. It provides the UI and, so some degree, a consolidator framework. So, what is really needed is a plugin for each device. I'm not that familiar with OpenCPN, so I'm not sure how that would look ... just thinking out loud.

There are a few other projects out there like SignalK, OpenPlotter, and PiForBoat that come very close to this, as well. With all of them, it comes down to supporting that end piece - the bit that actually interfaces with the device in question and interprets the data so that it can be displayed in some standardized way.

 

[smokey73]

everything from to Python to InfluxDB and Grafana.

Well there you are, if I had know that I would have griddled the digi-bong and solved the problem? Well, maybe not though.

Guess I'm more of a 'plug and play' kind of dinosaur.

 

[Tally Ho]

I am also a gadget guy….but to a point…and usually to solve some problem or provide some functionality.

My stereo doesn’t have BT, so I use a BT radio transmitter to stream from my phone, through the stereo speakers
LENCENT FM Transmitter, 2022 Upgraded Bluetooth FM Transmitter Wireless Radio Adapter Car Kit with Dual USB Charging Car Charger MP3 Player Support TF Card & USB Disk Amazon.com

My marina wifi isn’t that great, and my little Raspberry Pi (more about this next) doesn’t connect well when sitting down in the boat…so I use one of the little travel routers to pull in the marina wifi and then connect the RPi to that.
GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 (Opal) Secure Travel WiFi Router – AC1200 Dual Band Gigabit Ethernet Wireless Internet | IPv6 USB 2.0 MU-MIMO DDR3 |128MB Ram Repeater Bridge Access Point Mode https://a.co/d/g9XyAIN

This one is really more for a fun project, but I was enamored with the idea of a little computer that can run off the boats 12-volt system, provide some basic computer functions (email, browser, etc) and do some navigation functions. So I bought a Raspberry Pi 4b to play with. After using it home as a computer, I bought a Pican-M hat that allows me to hook up the RPi to the boats NMEA2000 network. I am still working on this project, but am enjoying getting some functionality out of the RPi. Here, I am accessing the RPi, through the travel router, while sitting at home, and checking the winds at the marina



And, finally, I have a wifi camera on the boat that I can access to see what is happening in a storm, or whatever.




Dang, I guess I am a nerd

Greg