![]() To get that, Actisense (or another TPG developer) has to create a test suite and hardware which can prove that all TPG requirements are met, which then has to be tested by the NMEA. * The NGT-1 is an NMEA 2000 certified gateway, but is not yet certified as a “Third Party Gateway”. Some clarity on the TPG system (thanks to Andy Campbell): The NGT-1 has a full ‘NMEA 2000 stack’ inside it to enable access to the NMEA 2000 data without any of the headaches that will be created by trying to put the ‘stack’ in a PC program – which can never hope to respond in the required time to core bus control messages. However, whilst you can say my comments could be biased, I could never condone using it for sending messages on the NMEA 2000 bus! There are so many issues that could be created that I will not bore you with them all here, but the first one will most certainly concern Address Claiming, which is a complicated business and must be completed (and updated) before you can send any messages on the bus. If the CanUSB device offers the required isolation that keeps all NMEA 2000 products from interfering and damaging each other (I cannot find a datasheet for it on their website to prove this), then for limited ‘Receive only’ operations – where no messages are sent to NMEA 2000 bus, this could be used for ‘DIY’ projects. Tomorrow we’ll take a look at a new product that really shows what TPG makes possible. That may change when the Third Party Gateway rules get fully sorted out. Maretron’s USB100, incidentally, is both an N2K-to-0183 translator and a gateway (as discussed on the forum), though Maretron has not really opened it to third party developers yet. It’s not yet as informative as Maretron’s N2KAnalyzer ( manual here), but then again it can also look at incoming NMEA 0183 data. And Actisense has built a simple program for updating the NGT-1 as well as a NMEAReader utility (below) that’s coming along. The NGT-1 also seems to work fine with Airmar’s WeatherCaster software (as I illustrated last summer), and seems to be very similar to Airmar’s own U200 Gateway (explained well with Airmar’s other converter/gateways in this PDF). All via a simple, robust pipeline with no NMEA 0183 translations needed. that can now be integrated into and/or displayed by CE. Yes, the wind display needs work, but the responsiveness to the sensors that do display is excellent (the 115,200 baud rate helps), and think of all the info - engine, tanks, batteries, etc. But I can tell you this: Beta versions of TPG software are starting to look powerful…Ībove (click for bigger) is the latest Beta version of Coastal Explorer 2009 connected to a backbone full of live data via the NGT-1. ![]() For instance, bundling in an NGT-1, or a similar gateway, may required. In other words, we don’t quite know yet how software that works with it will get NMEA approved and what, if any, restrictions there may be on how it’s sold. It’s fully NMEA certified now, and selling for $200 at some outlets, but I gather that the Third Party Gateway system (formerly known as the Intelligent Gateway) of which it’s a part is not yet fully detailed. ![]() I’ve got a large NMEA 2000 network set up in the lab now, and it’s giving me a good chance to try out the Actisense NGT-1.
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