Simrad Yachting has introduced AutoTrack for its HALO 2000 and HALO 3000 Radars, which adds automated vessel tracking to these radar systems. 

AutoTrack gives boaters with real-time, mission-critical information without requiring constant monitoring. The system works intelligently behind the scenes, adding an extra layer of safety without impacting the user experience. Whether someone is inshore or a marine or crossing blue water, AutoTrack keeps captains informed and in control.

AutoTrack follows up to 50 targets simultaneously at a range of up to 24 nautical miles. Within the radar application, AutoTrack creates overlays of vessels and potential hazards. Simrad says that even when the radar screen is not the active display, AutoTrack is still monitoring and a widget shows the highest-priority targets.

Simrad is careful to note the appropriate use of this technology, stating: “The Autotrack feature is an aid to navigation under specific circumstances, but should not be considered as a collision avoidance system or used as a primary source of navigation. This feature is not a substitute for proper training, qualification, licenses (where required) and prudent seamanship and is designed to be used in conjunction with conventional navigational practices.”

AutoTrack is compatible with Simrad multifunction displays, including the NSS and NSO evo3 and evo3S series (running software version 25.1 or later) and the NSX, NSX Ultrawide and NSS 4 displays (with software version 2.1 or later). It is enabled by default with HALO 2000/3000 V8.2.0.32 software update. The feature can turn on or off in the radar settings menu. AutoTrack will eventually be available with Simrad, Lowrance and B&G HALO dome radars too.

The post Simrad’s AutoTrack Enhances Radar Safety appeared first on Yachting.

As a kid, I would accompany my dad to our local chandlery to buy paper charts. He’d spend his winter weekends with them, planning our cruises. Come July, these charts would appear on board, with waypoints and routes drawn in pencil.

This system wasn’t seamless, but there was something magical about sitting next to my dad at the nav station, discussing the day’s agenda.

Flash-forward 40-plus years, and Furuno has combined the convenience of electronic navigation with the practicality of a chart table.

Modern electronic charts simplify navigation, but it can be challenging to plan a cruise on a relatively small screen. Enter Furuno’s PS-100 planning station, which is available in three large screen sizes, including a pedestal-mounted 55-inch display. This setup can overlay automatic identification system, radar and weather information atop cartography, giving navigators the convenience of electronic navigation with the elbow room of an old-school nav station.

The PS-100 is primarily designed for large vessels that navigate using International Hydrographic Organization-approved electronic charts on ECDIS (electronic chart display and information system) equipment, rather than for recreational navigation gear like multifunction displays. That said, some large yachts sail with IHO charts and ECDIS equipment, while other boaters can plan their cruises on a PS-100 and then manually transfer routes into their Furuno NavNet TZtouch MFDs.

“The PS-100 is meant to be an addition to, or an enhancement to, an existing Furuno bridge system,” says Bart Disher, Furuno’s commercial business development manager, referring to ECDIS equipment. “It’s a way to easily look at a much larger screen, separate from the navigation bridge, to do the planning.”

PS-100 systems consist of a display networked via USB and DisplayPort cables to a downstream PC tower, which, in turn, is networked to the vessel’s ECDIS via Ethernet. Planned routes are created on the PS-100’s display and sent to the ECDIS via Ethernet, while AIS (and tracked targets), radar and weather information is sent from the ECDIS to the PS-100 via this same connection.

Users have a choice of three standard screen sizes: 32-inch, 43-inch and the pedestal-mounted 55-inch. Alternatively, users can spec their own screen. The three standard displays are built by Hatteland Technology. “We have a long-running relationship with Hatteland,” Disher says.

All three of the standard monitors have 4K image resolution, which allows them to display high-definition electronic navigation charts. The 32- and 43-inch displays can be mounted at the helm or on a bulkhead, or they can sit on a desk like a computer monitor. The 55-inch display can be mounted or fitted in a pedestal that presents the screen at a fixed 45-degree angle or that articulates from horizontal to 30 degrees using electric motors.

All PS-100 systems use identical PC towers, which are also built by Hatteland to Furuno’s specs and run on Furuno’s software. Each PC comes with a ninth-generation (or newer) Intel Core i7 processor, an Nvidia Quadro P2200 (or later) graphics board, 16 gigabytes of RAM, and a 240 GB solid-state hard drive. In terms of connectivity, the towers also have HDMI ports, a DisplayPort, a USB type A port, an RS-422/485 port, an RS-323C port, an Ethernet port and an analog input.

While it’s tempting to think of PS-100 systems as MFDs on steroids, Disher says one distinction is that while PS-100s can display networked radar information, they can’t control the radar’s functionality, such as operating modes or zoom levels. Instead, he says, PS-100s are intended to be large and eye-pleasing planning stations that let users explore points of interest, compare route options, measure distances using an electronic divider and create routes. PS-100s also have three sets of electronic bearing lines and variable range markers for measuring bearing and distance, and they can store and transfer up to 300 routes and 200 charts with their networked ECDIS.

PS-100 systems can also run NAPA’s cloud-based Voyage Optimization software, which requires Furuno’s optional Service Gateway Gate-1 automatic chart-update system. This software optimizes route planning based on each vessel’s performance characteristics to bolster safety and reduce fuel consumption. While NAPA’s Voyage Optimization considers factors including weather routing, fuel consumption and emissions, Disher says the system uses math, not AI, to optimize routing.

In addition to route optimization, Furuno’s optional Gate-1 system also acts as an automatic chart-downloading and updating service. This, Disher says, transforms the manual process of updating IHO-approved electronic navigation charts into an automatic service that compares available updates with the vessel’s licensed cartography library. It then automatically downloads any needed updates via the vessel’s satcom system and shares these with the ECDIS system.

Disher says boat owners and captains who navigate using MFDs can create routes on a PS-100 and save them in MFD-friendly formats onto a Furuno USB dongle, and then manually transfer this information to their MFD. While the process isn’t seamless, Disher says it allows navigators to bring PS-100 routes into Furuno’s NavNet MFD ecosystem.

Also, Disher says, Furuno is exploring the possibility of enabling NavNet MFDs to navigate on IHO-approved charts. If this happens, PS-100 owners could potentially share routes with compatible Furuno-built MFDs via Ethernet.

Adding additional equipment requires analysis. PS-100s require a large helm to accommodate the display, or bridge space for a pedestal-mounted screen. Still, the system would be a welcome addition to most yachts for planning routes, replaying past voyages, briefing crew and owners, or showing guests the day’s agenda. A simple tap flips the screen’s orientation, allowing for group discussion and collaboration.

Overall, Furuno’s PS-100 can provide the best of all worlds: accurate and up-to-date cartography displayed atop spacious screen real estate that makes route planning a pleasurable experience.  

The post Introducing the Furuno PS-100 appeared first on Yachting.

In 2013, I purchased a 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt display, which I’ve used as a docking station for multiple generations of Mac mini black-box computers. The monitor still looks great, but more important is its longevity and the relatively affordable price of Mac minis. I’ve enjoyed better, faster computing without purchasing new glass. And should my trusty display fail, I only need to replace the monitor, not the entire setup.

I’m sure Apple’s marketing department would love to claim credit for inspiring my setup; however, it’s more likely that I got the idea from the marinized black-box computers and stand-alone displays that I’ve seen aboard high-end yachts.

Marinized computers come in two forms: all-in-one multifunction displays, and black-box chart plotters that use a separate networked display. While MFDs work well, black-box chart plotters allow owners to refresh their yacht’s computational powers without replacing compatible glass, which can be expensive and sometimes complicated to install.

Furuno and Garmin both have newer black-box offerings. Let’s start by looking at Furuno’s.

Furuno TZTBBX

In early 2024, Furuno released its line of NavNet TZtouchXL MFDs. Now some eight months later, the company has released the NavNet TZtouchXL Black Box Chart Plotter ($4,100).

“The TZTBBX is a compact processor with the same processing capacity as other TZtouchXL-series MFDs,” says Matt Wood, Furuno’s national sales manager. The TZT2BB has dual processors and dual video outputs in one housing. Its single hexacore processor and single video board allow it to drive a single touch-enabled display.

That last bit means users can also buy off-the-shelf splitters, allowing TZTBBXs to run multiple or mirrored screens.

Wood says the TZTBBX is “by far” the smallest black-box chart plotter that Furuno has built across six generations of black-box offerings. “It has a single HDMI output [and input], which can drive an 8-inch marinized display up to a 75- or 80-inch TV,” he says. “It’s light and easy to install.”

The TZTBBX’s smaller form factor, he adds, makes it suitable for well-appointed center-consoles along with superyachts: “It’s small, but it punches above its weight.”

In addition, the TZTBBX has all the same features as Furuno’s flagship TZtouchXL MFDs. “There’s no gap in functionality,” Wood says. Features include Furuno’s eye-pleasing TZ Maps, which are built using data sourced from official hydrographic offices and supplemented with privately sourced data. They currently encompass Australian, European and North American waters.

TZTBBXs also have Furuno’s AI Routing feature, which determines safe routes using chart data and vessel-specific parameters such as draft and air draft. If a TZTBBX is paired with a Furuno DRS-NXT radar, the black-box chart plotter also delivers Furuno’s Risk Visualizer feature, which color-codes targets based on their threat level, and AI Avoidance, which calculates safe routing in real time around potentially dangerous targets.

While TZTBBXs come with TZ Maps, Wood says, owners of bigger yachts can run networked blended systems that involve a black-box chart plotter or an MFD along with a Windows-based PC running Timezero’s TZ Professional or TZ Navigator software. With this setup, the PC is often the primary navigation tool, while the black-box chart plotter provides networked sensor input to the Windows-based computer.

“It’s the best of both worlds,” Wood says. “If we take the computer offline, or if we get the Windows blue screen of death, we can still navigate on our dedicated device.”

Garmin GPSMap 9500 Black Box

When it comes to big glass, Garmin’s 27-inch GPSMap 9000-series MFD leads the market. This series has impressive features, including large-format 4K screens, built-in Global Navigation Satellite System receivers, embedded LiveScope and Panoptix sonars, and the ability to support three downstream black-box sonars and to display Garmin Navionics+ cartography. Its four BlueNet ports, which hustle data at 1 gigabit per second, are most impressive.

More recently, the Olathe, Kansas-based technology giant released the GPSMap 9500 Black Box ($5,000). “It’s a GPSMap 9000-series MFD, but without the display,” says Dave Dunn, Garmin’s senior director of marine and RV sales. “The guts are exactly the same.”

Dunn says Garmin designed the GPSMap 9500 for owners of large yachts who use large marinized displays or TV screens and want more flexibility with their dash layouts and screen sizes.

“MFDs are great, but customers are limited to the screen sizes we offer,” he says, noting that each GPSMap 9500 Black Box can drive one touch-enabled screen.

This same flexibility, it turns out, makes the GPSMap 9500 Black Box attractive to owners of other vessels, including small boats. For example, Dunn says, some bass-boat owners are installing large-format displays on their bows that they network with GPSMap 9500 Black Boxes. The setup allows them to view Garmin LiveScope sonar returns.

“We’re seeing GPSMap 9500 in places we didn’t expect,” Dunn says. “They are a fraction of the cost of an MFD.”

Like the GPSMap 9000-series MFDs, GPSMap 9500 Black Boxes come with four BlueNet ports. “If you’re running more traffic on your network, BlueNet will shine,” Dunn says. BlueNet architecture can easily support Garmin’s Surround View Camera System, which uses six factory-installed cameras to deliver live bird’s-eye and 360-degree imagery around a yacht, plus distance markers for docking as well as third-party thermal-imaging cameras, digital-switching systems, radars, black-box sonars and other downstream instrumentation.

“We tried to be as expandable as possible,” Dunn says. “If you run out of BlueNet ports, you can expand your system with a network switch.”

Also, GPSMap 9500 Black Boxes can be added to existing Garmin ecosystems using Garmin Marine Network adapter cables.

The GPSMap 9500 Black Box’s BlueNet ports, Dunn says, create a future-proof system that can handle heavy data loads. BlueNet’s 1 Gbps bandwidth—one can imagine—will also be important if and when Garmin releases autonomous docking or autonomous navigation features.

GPSMap 9500 Black Box systems also come with high-bandwidth digital content protection distribution, allowing customers to enjoy the same multimedia content across all networked screens.

Alternative Interfaces

Furuno’s TZTBBX and Garmin’s GPSMap 9500 both support third-party touchscreen displays, but touch-based user interfaces don’t always pair well with sloppy seas. Furuno’s optional MCU006 and MCU006H (horizontal) controllers have RotoKey and buttons, while Garmin’s optional Wireless Remote Control (GRID 20 Vertical and GRID 20 Horizontal) offers hard-key user interfaces. 

The post Furuno and Garmin Black-Box Computers appeared first on Yachting.

There’s an African proverb that says, “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” It’s often the difficult experiences at sea which offer the most valuable lessons, especially when the weather takes a turn for the nautical.

Maritime safety hinges on continuous advancements, particularly as vessels operate in increasingly busy waters and in unpredictable weather conditions. Sea.AI, an innovator in AI for maritime vision, is enhancing its capabilities by integrating Tocaro Blue’s radar perception software, ProteusCore, into its navigation platform.

Integrating ProteusCore with Sea.AI’s system marks a major step in maritime safety technology, introducing a comprehensive multi-sensor approach to navigation. This process merges ProteusCore’s radar capabilities with Sea.AI’s platform, enabling the visualization of filtered radar targets within the Sea.AI interface.

This integration merges data from optical, thermal, AIS, and radar systems into one interface, simplifying operator decision-making and improving detection accuracy. It enhances the differentiation between true targets and noise, boosting situational awareness and reducing false alarms that could disrupt operations.

By combining radar with visual technologies, this collaboration sets new safety benchmarks for various maritime applications. The integrated radar perception technology is applicable across diverse maritime environments.

Since 2018, Sea.AI has led maritime technology innovation with onboard safety systems utilizing machine vision. These systems enhance operators’ ability to navigate by relying on a vast database of annotated marine objects for precise recognition. Using advanced camera technology and AI, it detects and classifies objects that conventional systems like radar or AIS might miss.

ProteusCore transforms marine radar into a sophisticated perception tool by leveraging machine learning. It addresses the limitations of traditional radar technology, such as slow scanning speeds and excess noise, by using over two million labeled radar images for training.

Radar is excellent at detecting objects at great distances and in challenging conditions, but it has not been extensively used for advanced navigation assistance due to its inherent limitations. ProteusCore overcomes these with machine learning models that enhance detection, eliminate noise, and track objects precisely.

Marcus Warellmann, Sea.AI’s CEO, states, “Merging radar with optical and thermal vision enables us to deliver an AI-enhanced safety system, transforming instruments into intelligent tools.” John Minor, CEO of Tocaro Blue, adds, “This collaboration brings powerful sensor fusion to enhance maritime situational awareness, supporting Sea.AI’s mission of sea safety.”

The post Advancing Maritime Safety appeared first on Yachting.

In seventh grade, Matthew Zimmerman dreamed of playing in the rock band Metallica. He picked up an electric bass, and by high school, he was playing upright bass. In college, he joined the University of Rhode Island’s jazz band and his professor’s house band—experiences with steep learning curves. Zimmerman was on the six-year plan, “adding majors.” He graduated with bachelor’s degrees in French and German, another bachelor’s in ocean engineering, and several key relationships.

“There’s lots of connections between engineering students and music,” he says, referring to the mathematics of music. “You don’t notice a great bass player unless they mess up. Obstacle avoidance is like that: Best case, you avoid catastrophe.”

His path to becoming FarSounder’s co-founder and CEO took root during those college years, when he began working with Jim Miller, a professor in the Department of Ocean Engineering. A graduate student had been working with Miller on a three-dimensional forward-looking sonar project. When that student left, Zimmerman took over. The project earned some publicity, and they got a call from an oil company.

“I either had to find a job or turn the FLS project into my job,” Zimmerman says while sitting at the conference table in FarSounder’s Warwick, Rhode Island, headquarters. Their technology wasn’t a good fit for slow-turning oil tankers, but the call inspired confidence. “Our motivation was to help mariners avoid hitting whales and rocks.”

Zimmerman and Miller formed FarSounder in 2001 using private funding from family, friends and angel investors. Miller kept his position at the university and joined FarSounder’s board of directors. Given that Zimmerman was 24 and more interested in developing sensor technology than in business operations, the company hired—and then fired—a CEO. Enter Cheryl Zimmerman, Matthew’s mother. She had helped form the company, and her business experience made her an ideal replacement as FarSounder’s CEO.

“I didn’t see my mom at work,” Zimmerman says. “I saw Cheryl.”

Unlike sonars that detect fish, FarSounder’s 3D FLS technology was designed to help owners wend past icebergs and coral heads and dodge whales, all while creating their own high-resolution seafloor charts. FarSounder landed its first sale in 2004 and shipped its first product in 2005. “Our first customers were cruise ships and large yachts,” Zimmerman says. The company was also awarded several small-business innovation research grants that enabled years of research and development, and it earned its first (of eight) patents in 2006.

“In 2008 and 2009, we transitioned from R&D work to being a commercial company,” Zimmerman says. “We had around 15 employees at our largest.” This includes Matthew Coolidge, director of hardware development, and Evan Lapisky, director of software engineering, who have both worked at FarSounder since 2002. Zimmerman met them in the university’s jazz band. “Music is acoustics,” he says.

The pandemic brought FarSounder’s first major business headwinds, as supply chains became sticky. The company then moved to semi-remote operations and reconfigured some designs, which got it through the crux.

Listen: Virtual Q&A: FarSounder Argos 350 Forward-Looking Sonar

Things began to settle down, and Matthew Zimmerman took over as CEO in May 2022, a few months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Successive waves of sanctions were imposed, and the company’s second serious business challenge in two years arrived. Oligarchs, after all, adore their superyachts.

Today, the company is still plowing forward. I also spent time with Zimmerman at Wickford Shipyard’s marina. We carried heavy cases down to Cap’n Bert, a 53-foot research vessel owned and operated by the university. Our first stop was the bridge, where we met Capt. Stephen Barber. We were joined by Lapisky and Heath Henley, FarSounder’s senior application engineer (and a guitar player).

The FarSounder team unpacked an Argos 500 (see sidebar) and pole-mounted its transceiver onto Cap’n Bert’s bow. Then we headed out toward Narragansett Bay and the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge. I had a great view of a laptop running a split-screen view, with two-thirds of the monitor displaying FarSounder’s 3D FLS imagery, and the other third displaying top-down FLS imagery and automatic identification system data layered atop National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cartography.

Impressively, the Argos 500 also creates and stores a high-resolution local history map of the ground covered. “When you see something that doesn’t correlate with the chart, that’s what you want to pay attention to,” Zimmerman says.

The local history map looked exactly like how I imagine the seafloor would appear to a scuba diver. As we approached the Jamestown Bridge, I stared at the screen. The working pilings were visible, as were a set of parallel footings. “That’s the old Jamestown Bridge,” Zimmerman says. This latter span was demolished in 2006, and the Argos 500 painted a detailed view of its remnants in customizable colors.

Ahead, a fast ride ripped a white streak through Narragansett Bay’s blue waters. Zimmerman asked Barber to head toward the wake. As we approached, the Argos 500’s range decreased to a few boatlengths.

“Air bubbles are really good acoustic reflectors,” Zimmerman says. “They block the acoustic energy from going to the other side.”

As we cleared the wake, the system’s normal range resumed.

“We’re a software company that makes really big dongles,” Zimmerman told me later, back at the company’s headquarters. “Software makes it possible, but hardware makes it feasible.”

Zimmerman led me to FarSounder’s testing lab and nearby assembly room. “We do all assembly and testing in-house,” he says, adding that FarSounder uses off-the-shelf components whenever possible. Other parts, including the transducers’ piezoelectric ceramics, are manufactured to FarSounder’s specs by third parties—often between larger-volume jobs for other clients. “All components are made in the USA,” he says. “This helps us control quality.” Vendors often warehouse completed components, allowing FarSounder to practice just-in-time manufacturing.

A testing room has a large water tank with a submerged calibrated hydrophone. A hoist lowers FarSounder transceivers into the water, and the hydrophone broadcasts a known frequency sequence to the transducer. Zimmerman points to a monitor that displays the results from 3,600 angles tested simultaneously. “We correct for variance on an individual level,” he says.

Listening to Zimmerman talk about acoustics testing is a reminder that, while he’s mastered 3D FLS sensors, music is his native language.

Coolidge, who designs FarSounder’s electrical components, says the company has made a lot of upgrades to reduce assembly time since the pandemic-era slowdowns. These changes also added future-proofing, but even still, navigating past the Russia sanctions required different thinking. Prior to 2022, Russian ownership accounted for roughly 20 percent to 50 percent of the world’s largest superyachts. Once the sanctions hit, “everything stopped,” Zimmerman says.

The workaround involved adjusting FarSounder’s sales strategy. One green shoot has been the unmanned-surface-vessel market. Another growth trend has been toward yachts with smaller waterlines. Zimmerman hints at a possible smaller system for trawlers; it could be a boon for yacht owners and the scientific community.

In 2023, FarSounder also partnered with Seabed 2030 (see Yachting, May 2024), which aims to map the world’s oceans by 2030. Zimmerman led me to a meeting room where a large screen displayed a FarSounder customer’s recent cruise. “Most of our customers are going places that aren’t well-mapped,” he says, noting that FarSounder sends some clients USB hard drives to capture their systems’ raw data. If issues arise, customers can send the drive to FarSounder, where engineers can troubleshoot and, if necessary, refine the company’s algorithms. These customers can also opt into a fleet-sharing arrangement, where FarSounder sends their anonymous, low-resolution data to Seabed 2030.

In exchange, FarSounder gives these customers access to high-resolution files from the greater fleet-sharing community. This means the customers enjoy some of the world’s finest charts.

And FarSounder sometimes informally collaborates with NOAA scientists. On a recent whale-sounding trip to the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, FarSounder equipment detected humpback whales exhibiting interesting diving behaviors. These findings, Zimmerman says, surprised the NOAA marine biologists.

Zimmerman’s eyes lit up as he talked about FarSounder sensors helping to advance science and protect whales. Listening to him talk, I understood what he meant about bass players and obstacle avoidance: FarSounder’s frequencies may be inaudible, but they’re providing game-changing returns on several levels. 

Forward-Looking Returns

The Argos 350 ($57,000) searches 1,148 feet in front of a vessel’s bow at up to 18 knots. The Argos 500 ($108,000) probes 1,640 feet at 20 knots, and the Argos 1000 ($184,000) can prod 3,281 feet at 25 knots. Each one broadcasts shorter, quieter transmissions for infield detection and longer, louder pings for outfield work.

Take the next step: farsounder.com

The post FarSounder’s Argos Collision-Avoidance System Reviewed appeared first on Yachting.

It was 0100 on the tennessee-tombigbee waterway, and Capt. Scott “Red” Flowers was running his Canyon Bay 28h at 17 knots. He encountered a tugboat pushing barges. The tug was illuminated, but the barges were dark. While Flowers is a self-described “old-school radar guy,” the situation was confusing and unfurling fast. Then his Tocaro Blue Proteus Hub prompted him with collision-avoidance alerts. “I hate to admit it,” he says, “but without Proteus, I may have gotten into the barges.”

Instead of crashing, Flowers completed his Great Loop Challenge route in 19 days, 19 hours and 50 minutes, besting the record by nine days while raising $1 million for the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

Radar is one of the most important collision-avoidance sensors afloat, but reading radar imagery is an art that can take years to master. It can be frustrating for boaters who only get out on the water a handful of times a season. Tocaro Blue’s Proteus Hub navigation system uses AI machine learning to demystify radar. It bolsters situational awareness by way of built-in cartography and networked automatic identification system data, creating user-friendly two- and three-dimensional screen views of the water ahead on compatible multi- function displays.

Tocaro Blue’s Proteus Hub ($2,950) is a black-box system that networks with a yacht’s NMEA 2000 backbone, also letting it access the boat’s AIS, compass (ideally, its satellite compass), depth transducer and GPS (or GNSS) sensor data. Proteus then connects with the MFD via Ethernet to access data from a compatible magnetron or solid- state radar and to display its 2D and 3D screen views.

Read More: New Yacht Tech for a New Season

Proteus Hubs are built from aluminum and Delrin plastic. They measure 8-by-4-by-1.5 inches. They sport 4G LTE, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi antennas and connectivity, along with N2K, HDMI, USB and Ethernet ports. They also come loaded with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration charts, and with bathymetric data sourced from Tocaro Blue’s user community. C-Map cartography is optional.

Proteus Hubs contain a central processing unit that runs Tocaro Blue’s machine-learning software, which “learns”—sans human instruction or programming—by applying algorithms and statistical models to networked data. Tocaro Blue also offers a software developer kit called Proteus Core that allows using the machine-learning software aboard third-party hardware.

“The intent with Proteus is to provide clear, smart navigation to the captain,” says Andrew Rains, Tocaro Blue’s senior sales director. “By that, we mean reducing the complexity of existing nautical charts and radar displays, and combining a lot of sensor information into one simple interface.”

In the case of radar, Tocaro Blue’s auto-focus function uses machine learning to eliminate irrelevant radar returns, such as land and wave noise. It classifies returns into one of eight categories: land, shoreline constructions, bridges, wake, aids to navigation, small boats (less than 40 feet), medium-size vessels (40 to 150 feet) and large vessels (larger than 150 feet). All of them are represented graphically by icons.

“We can draw a picture of a real object instead of just a radar blob on the screen,” Rains says, noting that Proteus Hubs can classify and track an unlimited number of targets. “That lets us present a lot of information in a simplified format.”

The auto-focus function also helps the system predict how radar targets will behave, and it provides corresponding alert levels. For example, Rains says, small boats tend to exhibit more erratic behavior than large ships. Tocaro Blue’s machine-learning software uses its classification system, embedded cartography, and data coming from other networked sensors to predict the future behavior of its own vessel and of acquired targets over a 30-second horizon.

If this sounds like signal filtering on steroids, welcome to the AI age.

“Machine learning is a lot more sophisticated than filtering, but I’d say that we can intelligently filter [radar targets] because we use machine learning,” Rains says. Raw radar data, he adds, is better for the system’s machine-learning software than post-processed radar returns such as Doppler processing. “Machine learning gets better with the better data that you feed it.”

For example, if the system knows that some returns are land or aids to navigation based on its cartography, then its machine learning can focus on identifying the other targets and predicting their behavior.

This information, plus closest-point-of-approach data to all targets, is presented on a graphically intuitive 2D or 3D screen view on the networked MFD. Users can split their MFD screen between a Proteus Hub screen view and standard radar imagery.

The result, Rains says, is far greater situational awareness than bloblike radar returns, especially when tricky navigation or dodgy crossings are involved.

“It eliminates the question: What’s that?” Rains says. “It eliminates the time that they need to spend learning how to use all their radar capabilities.”

More-advanced users get the most value from the system, he adds, because the software “can present really intelligent collision-avoidance alerts to the captain.” Even old salts, of course, can get distracted.

Looking ahead, Tocaro Blue’s future appears equally clear. Recent years have seen the rise of optical-based collision-avoidance systems, and Rains says the Proteus Core software could complement this technology by residing on third-party hardware. In time, Tocaro Blue’s machine-learning software could also help demystify other instrumentation—say, forward-looking sonar returns. However, Rains says, this isn’t on the company’s immediate road map.

Tocaro Blue’s machine-learning software can also ferret out errors in networked sensors. For example, most autopilots are only accurate to a few degrees unless a satellite compass is involved. (This inherent error can be compounded by the presence of ferrous metals within ships and bridges.) Rains says Tocaro Blue’s machine-learning software can perform a “constellation lock” and triangulate on known reference points, using cartographic and radar data to correct for sensor biases.

While there’s currently no feedback loop to the erroneous native sensors, in time, Rains says, this information could make autopilots and other networked sensors more accurate.

So, for skippers who find radar confusing or want to increase situational awareness, Proteus Hub is worth investigating. Just ask Red Flowers. Despite holding his captain’s license for 45 years, his night on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway could have ended differently without Tocaro Blue’s technology.

Busting Loose

For now, Proteus is available to boaters as a black-box system that networks with a vessel’s N2K and Ethernet networks to access radar and instrumentation data. Tocaro Blue may move to a software-as-a-service model and sell Proteus Core to boaters as software that runs aboard a personal computer or multifunction display. 

The post Smart Navigation with Tocaro Blue’s Proteus Hub appeared first on Yachting.

The U.S. Coast Guard requires boats to have certain things on board for safety, such as personal flotation devices and flares. When a navigation/anchor light is required, it must be mounted at the vessel’s highest point. There’s a good reason for this: The higher the light is above the waterline, the farther away it can be seen by other boats, enhancing everyone’s safety out on the waterways.

However, that high point on the vessel is also prime real estate when it comes to some of today’s AI technology. There are now cameras with AI features that can augment situational awareness and safety to provide skippers at the helm with bird’s-eye views all around the yacht. These cameras can identify and track buoys, debris, logs, other vessels and marine wildlife, and their detection range increases with mounting height, making them most effective when they’re installed at the vessel’s highest point.

Hence the new partnership between Lookout, which makes marine AI systems, and Lumitec, which makes marine lighting. The companies have combined advanced AI vision cameras with a Coast Guard-certified all-around white navigation/anchor light, eliminating the challenge of trying to install both items in the same spot on board.

“Our integrated system offers boat owners significant advantages by combining navigation compliance with advanced safety technology,” David Rose, CEO of Lookout, stated in a press release. “The high-mounted night vision camera provides exceptional range and clarity in darkness, while the 360-degree camera delivers complete situational awareness around your vessel. It’s essentially a second set of eyes on the water that never blinks, never gets distracted and can see things the human eye might miss. The system is available in various colors to complement different vessel designs while providing the safety benefits that modern boating demands.”

The integrated system is compatible with different styles of boats from about 20 to 65 feet length overall, according to the Lookout team, which premiered the product at the Palm Beach International Boat Show in March.

Who created Lookout? The team has included AI researchers, video game developers, 3D designers and hardware engineers. Lookout systems generally combine data from computer vision, charts, AIS and online sources into a single, 3D augmented reality view that can display on multifunction screens from leading brands such as Garmin, Furuno, Raymarine and Simrad, as well as on tablets and smartphones.

Take the next step: click over to getalookout.com

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Boston Harbor is notorious for serving chowder-thick fog when the temperature and dew point align. Such was the case late one night for Brian Moseley and Paul Sullivan, who were enveloped while cruising home aboard Pasithea, their 36-foot Jeanneau NC 1095 Coupe. Fortunately, Pasithea carries a Lookout AI-based collision-avoidance system and an infrared-enabled camera. Instead of staring at the darkened inside of a meteorological pingpong ball, the boaters could use Lookout to see augmented-reality screen views of cans, nuns and nearby shorelines.

Sullivan says the technology allowed them to move along, confident of the location of nearby aids to navigation, islands and the area’s ubiquitous lobster pots. Moseley adds: “I would have felt anxious at the helm without it.”

AI-based watchkeeping and collision-avoidance systems are one of the more exciting pieces of contemporary electronics. While Lookout doesn’t autonomously dodge detected targets or navigational hazards, it does combine AI, a camera, the automatic identification system and cartographic data to provide up to 360-degree situational awareness with collision-avoidance alerts.

Lookout—which has a lower price point than its competition—consists of a marinized black-box processor that connects to a camera, the vessel’s NMEA 2000 data backbone, a 12/24-volt DC power supply and the yacht’s multifunction display.

Owners have a choice of two processors. The Brain ($5,000) is aimed at smaller power yachts and sailboats. It has an Nvidia graphics processing unit that tackles 10 frames per second from a forward-facing high-definition video stream (760 pixels), an augmented-reality processor, an N2K port (for accessing vessel heading and GPS/GNSS information, and for networking with N2K-enabled multifunction displays) and an AIS receiver. It draws 25 watts of continuous DC power with a 60-watt maximum draw.

The Brain Pro ($10,000) is aimed at larger yachts and go-fast rides. It sports similar capabilities, but its Nvidia GPU processes 30 frames per second from multiple full-HD 1080p video streams, providing 360-degree imagery with displayed vessel tracks and buoy annotations. The Brain Pro comes bundled in a larger black box than the Brain and draws 60 watts of continuous power with a 160-watt maximum draw.

Yacht owners can network the Lookout Brain processor with an existing IP-enabled camera—including FLIR thermal-imaging cameras—or spec the Lookout camera ($4,000). While the former can be a great option, the Lookout camera has a long-range HD video feed and includes a near-infrared sensor for nocturnal operations, plus a 360-degree camera for docking (including automotive-style guide lines) and all-around situational awareness.

David Rose, Lookout’s CEO, says that while the system’s hardware is solid, its sorcery resides in its software and implementation of a kind of AI called computer vision. Lookout incorporates three types of computer vision to perceive, identify and track potential threats. This starts with scene segmentation, where the system classifies every pixel in a scene (read: water and not water) and works to stabilize the horizon. A multi-object tracker then follows 100-plus targets within a scene, while a distance-estimation algorithm calculates the range to each target.

Collectively, these AI capabilities allow Lookout to present augmented-reality views on a head-up display on any networked MFD or IP-enabled device, including phones and tablets. It also can present a 3D synthetic view with a bird’s-eye view around the boat. In both cases, chart data is used to create the augmented imagery.

Unlike other AI-based threat-detection systems that consider range using the currency of distance, Rose says, Lookout considers human reaction time and focuses on the potential hazards that lurk in the next 30 seconds. “Radar can detect things miles away, but we focus on extending human perception,” he says. “Thirty seconds at 20 knots is three football fields. We want to be really good at detecting things 30 seconds out.”

Once a target has been detected, Lookout tracks it and uses computer vision to identify it using a deep-learning network that’s been trained and tuned specifically for boating. Rose says Lookout’s algorithm has been trained on hundreds of thousands of images and videos to enable fast, accurate identification. Every Lookout system, he says, captures examples of ambiguous targets and uploads them to Lookout’s cloud, so the system’s model is retrained and pushed out to all Lookout systems.

“We’re using clustering and self-supervised learning,” Rose says, explaining that this largely obviates the need for human labeling.

Lookout systems also use AIS data to detect and identify targets, which the system tracks. Rose says Lookout might someday use MARPA (mini automatic radar plotting aid) data for detecting and tracking distant targets.

On the user-interface side, Lookout provides three alert levels. All detected targets are marked with a white triangle on the augmented-reality view, while targets in the vessel’s path are marked with yellow triangles. Targets that present a collision hazard are marked with a pulsing, automotive-style hazard icon. “Most people like visual alarms more than audible ones,” Rose says.

If a Lookout system “sees” a log or any other navigational danger, it can track the target with a GPS pin and a virtual perimeter. If cloud connectivity exists, it can also share this information with Lookout’s community cloud, which is shared with other connected Lookout users. While Lookout doesn’t require full-time connectivity, cloud access enhances its capabilities and enables over-the-air updates.

In addition to collision avoidance, Lookout can create suggested safe routes using its camera to detect buoys and aids to navigation, and by interrogating the vessel’s vector cartography. Rose says Lookout has also incorporated “Hogwarts-style” graphics, such as hoops over channel entrances and banners that mark a boat owner’s home dock.

While Lookout has been tested aboard vessels ranging from small boats to a 460-foot superyacht, its target market is 30- to 65-footers. Lookout can be added as an aftermarket feature, but Rose says he hopes the technology will eventually be akin to automotive rearview backup cameras, which are standard issue on most new cars. “Tools like this can expand the market and democratize boating,” Rose says.

Lookout’s upsides are quite compelling, but some downsides exist as well. For example, users need to spec out the Brain Pro and the Lookout camera to take advantage of the system’s full capabilities. Also, Lookout can’t use radar-generated MARPA data or autonomously command the vessel’s autopilot to dodge danger.

But given the human tendency to tire during those long watchkeeping duties, there’s little question that Lookout could be a useful helm companion, especially if a chowder-thick fog bank arrives at the wrong time.  

Sensitivity Scale

Lookout allows boaters to adjust the system’s sensitivity level (think radar gain) on a scale of 1 to 5 based on personal preferences. Lower sensitivity equates to greater system confidence that the target exists. Higher sensitivity is likely to catch targets faster, albeit with a greater chance of false positives.

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Timezero and Sea.AI have partnered to integrate data from Sea.AI with Timezero’s navigational software. The result for boaters is a boost to situational awareness on the waterways.

This partnership allows mariners who cruise with Timezero software and a Sea.AI Sentry system to display Sea.AI data and alarms atop TZ Professional’s cartography.

The Sentry system uses a combination of daylight and thermal-imaging cameras along with AI to detect, identify and track floating objects. TZ Professional software combines Sea.AI’s target information with radar and automatic identification system data.

While this integration can help to keep mariners safer, it required aligning Sea.AI and Timezero’s data formats. “We tested a specific workspace within a newly developed HTML environment tailored for third-party applications to seamlessly incorporate the full Sea.AI app,” says Frederic Algalarrondo, Timezero’s sales and marketing director. “We also revamped the interface with new icons and visual cues to ensure users could easily distinguish Sea.AI targets from radar and AIS targets. These efforts were crucial in delivering a user-friendly experience.”  

Going Pro

TZ Professional gives access to Sea.AI’s features, settings and alarm controls. When users click on a target, a text box shows classification information. Timezero presents Sea.AI’s live daylight and thermal-imaging camera feeds of the target next to a chart-plotter screen. Symbols show if a target has been detected by AIS (empty triangle), radar (empty green circle) or the Sea.AI system (solid green triangle). 

Take the next step: mytimezero.com

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After college, I scored a part-time job acquainting freshly minted boat owners with their new rides. This job entailed reviewing the basics, such as explaining the boat’s systems and working on docking. I tried to be thorough, but I often felt that these two-hour sessions gave newbie owners a feeling of confidence without real competence. Many of these owners would have benefited from additional hand-holding.

Now, decades later, Brunswick Corporation is advancing its Autonomous, Connected, Electrified, Shared strategy with a Boating Intelligence initiative that uses AI to make boating a better experience.

Boating Intelligence won’t autonomously pilot a Brunswick-built vessel—at least not yet. But it encompasses the myriad ways the company plans to use AI to make boating a more inclusive and user-friendly activity. The important pillars include creating interaction between the vessel and its captain, providing key data at strategic times, and helping to raise users’ levels of proficiency.

If this sounds like an advanced version of Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, you’re on the right track; however, you can also expect Brunswick’s Boating Intelligence Design Lab to create user-centered solutions to boating’s pain points.

Brunswick’s ACES strategy dates back to 2019, when the company created a unified framework for the use of new technologies across its brands. In mid-2024, Brunswick furthered ACES by announcing Boating Intelligence and rebooting the supporting Design Lab (originally called the I-Jet Lab).

“Think of BI as our next step in ACES and its own entity,” says Jeff Reifsnyder, Brunswick’s director of advanced technologies and head of the Boating Intelligence Design Lab. “AI plays a big part in this. We wouldn’t call it Boating Intelligence if AI wasn’t involved.”

For years, the connected-boat model (with cloud computers monitoring, tracking and controlling onboard systems) has attracted interest and robust sales. Reifsnyder says Boating Intelligence will further this model with onboard AI tools such as computer vision, machine learning, large language models and virtual assistants.

For example, he says, whereas connected boats might report the number of hours a bilge pump runs each day, Boating Intelligence might parse the data to identify abnormal activity and use virtual assistants to offer the owner DIY solutions or information on the nearest service center.

More important, Reifsnyder says, is that Boating Intelligence is Brunswick’s way of identifying boating’s sticky wickets and using modern computing tools to ease the user experience. Brunswick’s key objectives involve turning boats into interactive partners, delivering just-in-time information, and providing guided mastery of the boating experience.

“Part of turning the boat into a supportive partner involves delivering the right information at the right place at the right time,” he says, noting that boaters shouldn’t be restricted to their helms for this interface. Reifsnyder likens the job of Boating Intelligence to that of an executive officer aboard a military vessel, linking the crew and the vessel to accomplish the captain’s orders.

One example in the future could be Boating Intelligence helping owners interpret sonar or radar returns, and thus better understand how these instruments work and how to master the technologies.

The Boating Intelligence Design Lab is located at the University of Illinois Research Park. “It’s where advanced technology can be explored without the pressure of a production environment,” Reifsnyder says. But instead of creating technologies and then seeking ways to apply them, the Boating Intelligence Design Lab will consider boaters’ real-world problems before determining—or inventing—the best tools and technologies to help them.

One example of this is autonomous operations. At the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show, Brunswick showcased a self-docking Boston Whaler 405 Conquest with automotive-style parking assistance and the ability to navigate to user-designated locations.

“Autonomous operations require myriad advanced technologies,” Reifsnyder says. These include virtual path planners, which determine where the vessel will go, and computer vision, which lets the boat’s computer “see” the outside world using cameras and sensors. “Brunswick has a portfolio of autonomy and advanced driver-assistance systems that will be developed in the coming years, including object detection and avoidance while cruising.”

The Society of Automotive Engineers describes six levels of autonomy for cars, and a similar model has been adopted in the marine space. Here, Level 0 refers to manual operations; Level 1 involves driver-assistance technology; Level 2 means partial automation; Level 3 refers to conditional automation; Level 4 delivers high levels of automation; and Level 5 refers to autonomous vehicles.

“We’re chasing Level 3 autonomy,” Reifsnyder says. “A lot of what we’re doing is software-related, but not all of it, and we’re not excluding hardware or product development.”

While these are early days for Boating Intelligence and its Design Lab, Reifsnyder says the products and tool sets will initially focus on beginner and intermediate boaters. “That’s where a lot of the pain points are,” he says. “But in the future, I see us providing tools for boaters of every level.

“Some people want full autonomy,” he adds, but “a lot of experienced boaters aren’t interested in intelligent systems that take away the work or the experience.”

Provided that Brunswick hits the correct balance, Boating Intelligence tools could help flatten learning curves, add safety margins, and encourage beginner- and intermediate-level boaters, all while broadening the boating market. The risks include ostracizing seasoned boaters, and adding costs and complexity.

That said, there’s little question that Boating Intelligence would have been useful when I was acquainting novice boat owners with their new whips. Given the embarrassment of slamming shiny fiberglass into docks, I imagine that plenty of those owners would have preferred auto-docking and an onboard virtual assistant to yours truly.

Smarter Interfaces

The gains from Brunswick’s Boating Intelligence will likely be under-the-hood advancements. One exception, however, will be the user experience. Here, boaters can expect to interact with advancements via a Simrad multifunction display or the Simrad app on a wireless device.

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