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IOB
#1
I have been working on a few projects as of late... and it got me thinking...
 Internet of boats
A system that would streamline the development and deployment of boat devices.
 Right now I have to set the sensor up, set timing of messages, internet/communication, set up who and what i am sending, and receive messages from and debugging. Not a hard job but i would rather do other things.

Openplotter, SignalK and Kplex do an awesome job of dealing with the data once i get it there.

MQTT sounds interesting but then i am still converting the data on the openplotter system. I would like to use what ever processing power that i have on my device and take the load off the openplotter device.

NMEA 2000 has a nice system simple wiring input and output devices but it is closed..

 We need some dumbish output devices. That can parse the SignalK stream and output data on a screen.
I am waiting for a small display so i can try to make a device.

A common bus if that is the right term like NMEA200  power and data lines together with the ability to tap input or output devices into it. So my RPI does not look like a multi legged monster.

I would be nice just to deal with one connector to the RPI that would supply power plus would connect it to the back bone.

Having a simple, tough, locking and waterproof 4 pin connection is a real plus.  Dealing with wires in and out of device that needs to operate in a wet environment is a big design consideration.

Any Ideas? Or is just dumb?
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#2
I've been thinking about this as well. The 4x20 info display I did got me thinking that I really needed a more versatile display, so I've been tinkering with some small TFT displays that I had laying around. I would think that a TFT (even with touch) display and an ESP32 would be a good start, and with a decent core to decode and display Signal K, it would make a good portable display. You can buy ESP32s and ESP8266 units with a battery backpack - then wire it out to an SPI display?

The other one is some of the low cost ePaper displays that are becoming available.

Enclosures is ALWAYS a problem. 3D printing might be the answer, but I don't have any experience with that.

I think it's important to keep it simple. Waterproof POE if you need power, wireless if not. For POE, you would need home runs back to a central switch, but it is relatively easy to implement and very common.
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#3
(2018-12-19, 12:25 AM)ddelorme Wrote: MQTT sounds interesting but then i am still converting the data on the openplotter system. I would like to use what ever processing power that i have on my device and take the load off the openplotter device.

No probs with sending MQTT from signalk node-red app - just 2 nodes needed, very doubtful you could even measure the increase in processor resources even with many sigK data getting sent. Then if it's just a simple 4 x 20 an ESP can do it without programming using espeasy. A button to scroll though different pages might be handy. I've had one like  that running as a test & hopefully will make something more permanent with a 18650 battery/charger so it can run with or without power. Would be very useful sailing solo. 
Slight aside, but the esp32 has capacitive touch sensors built in, I've just got an esp controlling the volume of a plugin hifiberry amp over mqtt by touching pins. Could be a handy way to communicate with fewer holes in the box.
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#4
I did not get the part where you say ’I am still converting data on the openplotter system’.

Adding MQTT publishing to SK server is just a plugin install away and very little overhead.

What would be your alternative setup?

If you go directly from sensor to display the data will not be available for anything else but the display. If you use broadcast everybody will get everything.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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