PyPilot on OpenPlotter with dAISy hat

[svkatielee]

I too have considered wireless extension of the serial line. Because I have experience with the ESP8266 it is my first thought. I have two broadcasting GPS and AIS over wifi to my boats router that seem reliable. I also have two more sending MQTT to a nodered server through the boats router, they are not as reliable. My battery monitor reboots every few hours and I haven't had time to figure out why. The fridge monitor deepsleeps for 15 minutes between readings and seems ok.

LoRa may be less power hungry. I've read some about it but not actually played with it.

A Pi Zero W might be ok if you use something like the tinycore linux to run entirely out of RAM, otherwise you might get variable delays and unpredictable latency.

Reliability is very important in an autopilot, depending on where and how you sail. Latency between the pypilot and the motor controller is also a concern. Especially in adverse conditions.

If pypilot see a GPS, it offers waypoint/track steering called GPS mode, so it says. I haven't got that far myself yet.

Since you are using the RPi headless, did you consider the TinyPilot installed near the motor and control accessed the same, VNC or such?

--
Larry s/v Katie Lee Passport 45 Ketch somewhere in Japan