Dave, I updated the existing socket code and committed it to my master branch on github.
https://github.com/rolker/OpenCPN
Is that code going to disappear as well in the next release? If so, will it be replaced with something that will allow me to connect to a TCP server to receive AIS messages?
My use for this functionality is for monitoring the
transmission of area notices via AIS regarding Right Whale detection off of Boston.
Right Whale Listening Network, Cornell, Bioacousti
To
monitor this from my office, I have access to the Coast Guard's National AIS data feed so I made a few updates to the socket code in ais.cpp so I can skip the suggested step of setting up a virtual
serial port.
The updates include:
- Make a TCP source show up in the config gui (TCP/IP:server shows up instead of None)
- Allow port to be specified and defaults to previously hard coded one if omitted. (ex TCP:IP:aisserver:12345)
- Since the data stream I get includes extra meta data, the NMEA part (From '!' to the checksum) gets extracted and anything else is discarded, which should make this flexible enough to use with other sources which might include timestamps and such.
The data stream I use includes live data from all US waters, so it's a good stress test for OpenCPN's AIS functionality!
It would be nice if future versions would support the functionality I mention above and I'm willing to lend a hand in the coding to make that happen.
Roland