OpenCPN Heading (HDM) Dashboard precision

[ian5142]

Hello all,
I am a great fan of OpenCPN. I am putting together a small heading sensor using an Arduino Nano and a CMPS14. I have it outputting NMEA HDM sentences. It shows up correctly in OpenCPN. PS, if anybody wants my code, PM me.

My question is why is the heading listed in the Dashboard rounded to the nearest whole degree? My sensor is outputting decimal degrees. Is there any way of changing this?

Also, why is the boat on the chart so slow to change direction? It is easily more than 2 seconds. I can see the heading change in the dashboard but the boat/chart don't move. The heading indicator line is turned on, but it doesn't move.

Thanks,
Ian

[ian5142]

I did some more testing. It seems that the boat/chart heading indicator only moves when I scroll in or out, or move the chart around with the mouse.

[ian5142]

OpenCPN 5.2.0 on Windows 7 by the way.

[Hakan]

Ian..
HDT/HDM decimals in Dashboard.
I think the reason is for a small boat, like most of OCPN users have, a decimal degree would be meaningless since the movements are to fast. You don't get the real accuracy of a heading to have significant decimals, so no need to show "false" numbers.

On my own digital compass, CMPS10 and Ardunio, I don't even send decimals. What I did was to round up if the first decimal is more than 0.5 and round down if less.

The course presentation in OCPN can be slightly equalized by the GPS filter in Options->Connections-> "Filter NMEA course and speed data". Check your setting.

And, my opinion, if the heading predictor line would follow every course change each second the presentation would be very "nervous" and even irritating on a pendulous sea.
Håkan

[Karanga]

I also have an arduino exporting HDM to OpenCPN, and displaying in Dashboard.

I have dampened my COG and SOG data within Dashboard, to be less "twitchy".

I now have COG and HDM that match some of the time, but are often quite different. Is there some way to harmonise the damping? Presumably it would have to be the Arduino output modified to match whatever COG has been selected in Dashboard settings?

Tim

[Hakan]

My Arduino compass has a update frequency of about 2 Hz.
OCPN is basically updating every second.
COG and HDM can differ for many reasons. E.g. leeway by wind and current.

If you are turning the COG is slower than the HDM. First of all because it takes time for the boat to turn after the heading is changed and not less is the COG calculation by a GPS lagging. It has to be calculated based on several positions. A dated GPS is slower in calculation than a new one. This I can see when I compare the COG calculated by the AIS with the really dated Garmin 120 GPS.

[ian5142]

I found my issue. It seems OpenCPN is fine when it has position and heading but not only heading. My arduino is outputting at 10Hz.



Here is my Arduino ino file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pk0...ew?usp=sharing


It is adapted from one I found on the net for the CMPS12. I then added the NMEA statements. It currently outputs HDM and XDR (both pitch and roll). Pitch and roll were just added yesterday and not extensively tested.


Thanks,
Ian

[Hakan]

Ian..
Good the hear but what's the problem with HDM only? It should direct the ship symbol to line the heading and show a heading prediction line if that's selected. See my pict.

To update the HDM by 10 Hz to OCPN only is so to say "overkill". If you TX it direct to a radar scanner calculating ARPA is would make sense though.

BTW: I saw your program, thanks. One Q: How do you calibrate your deviation and offset on the CMPS14?

[ian5142]

I don't calculate the deviation or offset at all. Am I supposed to?

[Hakan]

Well, I haven't studied the CMPS14 so it may be it has some inbound method for this?
But if you mount it off the boat's center line I suppose it has to adjusted for that.
Deviation can be self adjusted by some devices at start up but I know some has to be rotated in a special manner to trig it. (Like the Moitessier HAT)
Neither is available for my CMPS10 so I've to do it myself in the program.

[ian5142]

What does your program look like than?

[Hakan]

Ian..
My pgm attached but there would be a better method for the deviation. There's one for the CMPS10 but it's more adapted for robots than a boat so it's not practical. But check the specifications for your CMPS14 for how to perform the calibration.

As can be seen my deviation is based on a manual deviation table constructed on board while sailing in protected waters.
Håkan

[ian5142]

Isn't deviation only needed when outputting HDT? My sketch only outputs HDM. I only use Mag headings any way.

[Hakan]

No, deviation is a compass error caused by surrounding magnetic material like iron.
Variation or declination is caused by the ambulant magnetic north pole corrected by the WMM table, like in OCPN inbound plugin, to get HDT.

[ian5142]

Here is my code as it stands now: https://github.com/ian5142/Arduino_CMPS14_NMEA


I have Pitch, roll and heading working like they should. 10Hz output.



I did not do any deviation calculations because nothing on our boat is calibrated (old fashioned magnetic compass, etc). Heck our magnetic compass is within 20cm of the radio, depth sounder and GPS. Radar display (CRT type) is only about 1m away. If I extend the USB cable, I will put the Arduino up away from the helm station near the bow. See photos of our boat here: https://birdisland.net/bestboat/


In my case this is all going into a Panasonic Toughbook CF-31, Third Gen i5 processor. I have computational power to spare. It is not running on a Raspberry Pi. I plan on adding a Raspberry Pi 4B to handle the multiplexing (Toughbook only has one accessible USB port). I will write a Java program for that though. I know I could just buy a USB hub but what is the fun in that.