October 2, 2008 15:08
Most commercial vessels have an AIS transponder. The AIS transponders have a "Pilot Plug". A standard connection to extract the NMEA data from the AIS transponder. Portable Pilot Solutions LLC makes various "Pilot Plug" interfaces. Software such as MacENC and iNavX can accept NMEA data via TCP/IP and use an AIS transponder to do real-time chart plotting in addition to plotting AIS targets. Using Portable Pilot Solutions "AIS to WiFi 802.11b" one can create a wireless connection between the AIS transponder and a PC/Mac or iPhone.
Pilot Plug
Pilot Plug