Connecting AIS Receiver to Chart Plotter

Electrical and electronic topics for small boats
jimh
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Connecting AIS Receiver to Chart Plotter

Postby jimh » Mon Jan 08, 2024 4:45 am

To transmit data about AIS targets from an AIS receiver to a chart plotter, the data will sent from the receiver to the chart plotter using a NMEA protocol which is supported by both devices. Generally legacy devices will only support NMEA-0183 for interconnection of data, but more recent devices may also provide NMEA-2000 support. Using NMEA-2000 as the interconnection is generally simpler for most boaters to accomplish.

For advice on making NMEA-0183 interconnections, see my extensive comments and advice at

Guide to NMEA-0183 Interconnections
https://continuouswave.com/whaler/refer ... A0183.html

Note that often the NMEA-0183 output from an AIS receiver will be sending AIS data at the NMEA-0183 Hi Speed baud rate. If this occurs, the baud rate of the NMEA-0183 port on the chart plotter must be adjusted to match.

The reason for using the higher baud rate is to allow for the much longer AIS sentences and the possibility of receiving AIS data from many ships to be transmitted to the chart plotter without data loss due to a limitation in bandwidth from the low baud rate normally used for NMEA-0183.

In regard to how a recreational grade chart plotter will present AIS information on its navigation chart display, there are no particular regulations that cover devices of this type. Most recreational grade chart plotters will present some sort of display of AIS target data, but exactly how it will be presented and what information will be conveyed graphically or from linked tables of information is completely dependent on how the particular manufacturer has chosen to implement this function on the particular device. In short: "Your mileage may vary."