Raymarine’s wireless boat autopilot enabled by Ember’s ZigBee-ready networking

Raymarine reports that sport boat owners can now control their vessels wirelessly, even away from the helm, using its SmartPilot S1000 wireless autopilot system with Ember’s built-in, ZigBee-ready networking technology.

By Control Engineering Staff March 3, 2005

Raymarine reports that sport boat owners can now control their vessels wirelessly, even away from the helm, using its SmartPilot S1000 wireless autopilot system with Ember ’s built-in, ZigBee -ready networking technology. Designed for hydraulic powerboats up to 25-feet long, such as sports fishing boats, ski boats and day boats, Raymarine’s wireless autopilot is embedded with Ember’s ZigBee-ready wireless chips and networking software.

Raymarine adds that S1000 is easy to install with virtually no wiring, and will operate for years on AAA or rechargeable batteries. From anywhere on the boat, users can select to steer a straight course, go direct to a waypoint, or choose one of the programmed fishing or trolling patterns, as well as monitor their marine electronics.

S1000 also uses Raymarine’s SmartSteer programming, which provides an intelligent rate of turn relative to boat speed, enabling an angler to spend time away from the helm without worrying about sudden course changes. While trolling, the autopilot can follow a straighter course for better fuel economy, and can execute controlled turns.

Raymarine reports that it partnered with Ember because it offered a real-world ZigBee platform, enabling Raymarine to rapidly develop a wireless solution. Kieran Breheny, Raymarine’s engineering development director, adds that, “Ember offered the speed and convenience of a full platform solution, including radio chips, networking software and development environment, which enabled us to meet an aggressive product development cycle.”

Ember-enabled systems reportedly are already being used in marine applications ranging from wireless sensor networks that sniff out radiation and bioterrorism materials aboard ocean cargo containers to monitoring the freshness of fish en route to market. Ember’s ZigBee-ready technology is also helping buildings consume less energy, enabling industries to improve their environ-mental impact, making homes safer and more comfortable, and helping factories run with fewer breakdowns.

ZigBee is a recently ratified industry standard designed for low-power, low-cost, low-data rate wireless mesh networks. It enables easy deployment of inexpensive, battery-operated wireless networks, much like the one the Raymarine’s S1000 employs.

“With the ZigBee market set to explode, it’s all about fast time-to-market,” said Venkat Bahl, Ember’s marketing VP. Raymarine’s experiences are “evidence of the technology’s huge mass market potential.”

—Jim Montague, news editor, Control Engineering, jmontague@reedbusiness.com


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