New iAIS Receiver and Wireless Mulitiplexer for your iPad

I have shown elsewhere on this blog site, how a wireless multiplexer from Brookhouse, call an iMux, can be used to serve data to your iPad etc. Here is another similar device by Digital Yacht along with a couple of video's to help explain.

Digital Yacht's Description
The world’s first wireless AIS receiver that links wirelessly with the latest iPhone, iPad and iTouch devices. Consisting of a high performance dual channel AIS receiver, an integrated 802.11b+g wireless access point plus a free app downloadable from the Apple App Store, the iAIS brings AIS data to a whole new generation of mobile devices.

iAIS also multiplexes any other NMEA data that is available on board the boat - for instance GPS, depth, speed and wind etc. All of this data is combined with the AIS data into a single wireless feed, that becomes available on any compatible application. By using the boat’s own GPS, even an iTouch or iPad that does not have an internal GPS can now be used for navigation and superior performance will also be seen on an iPhone, which some users have complained suffers from jitter or poor lock-on with its internal GPS.

As well as sending data wirelessly, the iAIS also has an NMEA0183 and USB interface so that you can output data to a PC (via USB) and a dedicated plotter (via NMEA) for larger installations.

The free iAIS app is available from the App store and is a simple AIS display program. For more advanced use, Digital Yacht recommends the iNavX app (www.inavx.com). Compatible with Navionic’s charts, iNavX provides a complete set of navigation functions that turns your Apple device into a full function electronic chart plotter. It supports waypoints, routes and tidal data and is beautifully simple to use. It even overlays GRIB weather data. iNAVx sell and support this app directly and the cost is just $49.95 (click here).

Features;
World’s first wireless AIS and NMEA Data server
Tri-output; WiFi, NMEA 0183 and USB
Multiplexed NMEA input for wireless NMEA data feed of boat’s instrument and GPS data
Free iAIS App for iPhone, iTouch or iPad
Integrated 802.11b+g wireless access point
Fully compatible with popular iNavX navigation application for Apple mobile devices
Rugged IPX5 aluminium housing
Requires VHF antenna or dedicated AIS antenna (available as optional accessory) or splitter
Simple “fit and forget” black box solution

* NOTE - AIS target range, like VHF range is dependent upon a number of installation factors such as; antenna gain, antenna height and size of ground plane. Ranges in excess of 20-30 miles should be possible if all of these factors are perfect.