Raymarine

[paul2884]

Hello
I have just fitted a Cat5 network to connect 2 Raymarine MFD and the Fusion radio, is it possible for opencpn to read the data on this network?
thanks
paul

[Hakan]

Paul
I understand Cat5 as a "normal" IP/Ethernet wired network. (For me Cat5 is the technical capabilities for the cable hardware and not what kind of data is sent trough that cable.)
As long your PC can connect to the IP-network OCPN can read and send data. So it's all about what your MFD's are sending. OCPN can interpret most NMEA 0183 messages but not NMEA 2000. Most makers, like Raymarine, use a data bus either called something cryptic or just NMEA 2000 (2k) and seldom transmit using the NMEA 0183 protocol. There are a couple of soft- and hard-ware converting from 2000 to 0183 but you've to be more specific about your needs.
Håkan

[paul2884]

Originally Posted by Hakan

Paul
I understand Cat5 as a "normal" IP/Ethernet wired network. (For me Cat5 is the technical capabilities for the cable hardware and not what kind of data is sent trough that cable.)
As long your PC can connect to the IP-network OCPN can read and send data. So it's all about what your MFD's are sending. OCPN can interpret most NMEA 0183 messages but not NMEA 2000. Most makers, like Raymarine, use a data bus either called something cryptic or just NMEA 2000 (2k) and seldom transmit using the NMEA 0183 protocol. There are a couple of soft- and hard-ware converting from 2000 to 0183 but you've to be more specific about your needs.
Håkan

hello Hakan

not sure what Raymarine are usuing the only info i can find is:-

"An address based data packet network capable of high speeds (10/100/1,000Mbs) originally developed for the computer industry that is seeing adoption in the marine industry. Ethernet networks are designed as a star topology. Systems of three or more nodes require a hub, router or switch to facilitate all point to point connections. An NMEA standard for the transfer of NMEA 2000 messages using an Ethernet protocol is being developed that will be called OneNet."

it dosent say what they are using now, i suspect it is NMEA2000 as the fusion radio supports NMEA2000 and they talk to each other OK. looks like i will have to wait for someone to produce a plugin for opencpn to read the NMEA2000.
thanks for looking at it and providing some explanation.
Paul