The benefits of networked marine electronics for boats under 30m

1.  Convenience
2.  Control
3.  Economy

The rise of networking – the interconnection of two or more otherwise independent items of electronic equipment – has been one of the most important developments in leisure marine electronics over the past few years.  Owners of the very smallest boats, who perhaps have on board nothing more than an echo sounder, a log and a VHF radio, may feel that this technology has little to do with them, but the fact remains that even on boats of 10 metres or less networking can play a useful role.

Convenience

The main advantage of networking is, of course, that data collected by an instrument that has its own display at point A, can then be displayed on another display at point B (and points C, D, E etc).  This means that any boat that would like to display navigational and / or performance information at more than one position – say, the steering position up on deck and the chart table down below, or both at the main steering position and up on the fly bridge – can do so without having to duplicate his instruments for each location.

Control

The result of having vital information readily and simultaneously available to all those who may need it is enhanced control and greater safety.  Decision-making can take place without delay and be based on all the necessary information, leading to more efficient navigation and faster reaction to possible hazards.

Economy

A networked system can lead to less financial expenditure, firstly as less equipment is needed when a single antenna / transducer / transceiver can provide information to multiple displays.  They can also be much easier to install as the cabling requirements are considerably less for a network than for multiple independent instruments.  Typically a single ‘backbone’ cable will carry all the information around the boat together with the electrical current, with individual cables then connecting this backbone to each display, transducers etc to supply and /or receive data.  The result is a system that is compact, neat and simple to add new equipment to over time once installed.

The standard protocol that allows different marine instruments to exchange data is NMEA2000.  Individual manufacturers often have their own branded equivalents, such as SimNet for Simrad Yachting and LowranceNET from Lowrance, but they generally also use NMEA2000.