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MAIANA AIS transponder fully integrated in OpenPlotter
#11
Disclaimer

MAIANA™ devices are not finished products, they need to be assembled by end users to function. MAIANA™ devices are distributed for research and development purposes. MAIANA™ devices are delivered with the ability to transmit disabled by default and have not been tested for compliance with regulations governing transmission of radio signals. End users are legally responsible for using the MAIANA™ device for transmission. We do not recommend to rely solely on MAIANA™ devices for navigation and collision avoidance.
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#12
My Maiana is working (32bit OS) well at home now.  It takes some time to get a fix and some more time to find ships.
It sends my information but I have not a way of verifying that it is getting out there. The receive led lights only for a short pulse on receive. GPS led steady on when it has a fix and transmit led steady on when transmit is enabled.

I am going to try the SDR VHF app on another computer to see if I can receive the transmission.  I have been struggling to get it working on the RPI, no joy so far.  Also the two AIS apps will conflict if installed at the same time
on the PI.

I'm looking forward to trying it onboard my sailboat.  Hopefully it will be acceptable to everyone concerned.
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#13
(2022-03-20, 04:36 AM)Grrreg Wrote:  Hopefully it will be acceptable to everyone concerned.

Sorry guys but a negative post on such a positive forum...... but it's not legally acceptable... for very good reasons, any legal ais transmitter will have jumped through many loops to prove that it can behave perfectly with the countless other units broadcasting. The DIY option here might be just fine, but nobody knows without extensive & expensive type approval.. 
Fine to receive, but personally transmitting on such an important system with something untested is not a good idea... probably very unlikely but even so, it's possible the mess you could make on the airwaves  would be bad for the AIS system locally. 


Type approval is there for a reason, to make sure as much as possible everything works. ?
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#14
(2022-03-20, 04:36 AM)Grrreg Wrote: My Maiana is working (32bit OS) well at home now.  It takes some time to get a fix and some more time to find ships.
It sends my information but I have not a way of verifying that it is getting out there. The receive led lights only for a short pulse on receive. GPS led steady on when it has a fix and transmit led steady on when transmit is enabled.

I set mine up today, on OP2.  It was quick to get a fix, in fact, 18 satellites, where my GlobalSat BU-353 only had 10.  It took a few mins to get 3x AIS targets that were 1.4 - 2 miles away.  I did not get anything else, but there were not many other targets around - one at about 2 miles, but heavily built up area and no guarantee that the target is transmitting and not just uploading position (I was using Marine traffic to check).  the next nearest that was transmitting was 17nm away - I did not get this one.

it did take a little while before my position was broadcast or at least published by Marine Traffic.  Not sure if that was an issue with my transmit distance or just marine traffic publishing it - I wonder if Marine traffic makes sure something is real by not publishing until it has 

there are a couple of things that may be better specified in the literature:

1.  I was expecting the OP Maiana App to find the vessel info from Signal K - I already had provided MMSI, Vessel name, LOA, Beam etc. - could the app get this info from Signal K?
2.  I did not know the lengths needed to be in round meters - a warning would be useful, either in the docs or something better than "Invalid LOA"

I can make an edit if necessary?

   
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#15
I have mine set up at home as well, using OP2. The process was relatively easy, and the issue about measurements needing to be in whole meters was explained very clearly in the manual.

I also noticed it takes a long while to get a fix. That may be due to the fact it doesn't have a clear view of the sky, but my Moitessier HAT's antenna is right beside it and it gets a fix a lot faster.

I have tested transmission, and my MarineTraffic station didn't pick it up (it's in a different plane ~5 meters almost directly above, so there might be some signal propagation issues here), but a passing ship did (apparently some ships have MarineTraffic base stations too), so I'll call that a success.

I also get relatively good reception for where it's located.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it, so it'll come aboard the boat this spring.
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#16
(2022-03-21, 05:46 PM)emilecantin Wrote: I have mine set up at home as well, using OP2. The process was relatively easy, and the issue about measurements needing to be in whole meters was explained very clearly in the manual.
You are correct - sorry for my mistake!
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#17
(2022-03-21, 04:59 AM)Techstyle Wrote: 1.  I was expecting the OP Maiana App to find the vessel info from Signal K - I already had provided MMSI, Vessel name, LOA, Beam etc. - could the app get this info from Signal K?

I will take a look at this for the next version.
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#18
(2022-03-20, 11:25 AM)PaddyB Wrote:
(2022-03-20, 04:36 AM)Grrreg Wrote:  Hopefully it will be acceptable to everyone concerned.

Sorry guys but a negative post on such a positive forum...... but it's not legally acceptable... for very good reasons, any legal ais transmitter will have jumped through many loops to prove that it can behave perfectly with the countless other units broadcasting. The DIY option here might be just fine, but nobody knows without extensive & expensive type approval.. 
Fine to receive, but personally transmitting on such an important system with something untested is not a good idea... probably very unlikely but even so, it's possible the mess you could make on the airwaves  would be bad for the AIS system locally. 


Type approval is there for a reason, to make sure as much as possible everything works. ?

You are probably right but...

The system has been tested so as not to cause interference in the frequencies used and the neighboring ones but you have only the developers word, not an expensive certification. The big difference is that everything is open and verifiable.

In the other hand these people had all the certifications: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_emissions_scandal but they had a closed source impossible to verify until it was too late.
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#19
(2022-03-21, 09:04 PM)Sailoog Wrote:
(2022-03-20, 11:25 AM)PaddyB Wrote:
(2022-03-20, 04:36 AM)Grrreg Wrote:  Hopefully it will be acceptable to everyone concerned.

Sorry guys but a negative post on such a positive forum...... but it's not legally acceptable... for very good reasons, any legal ais transmitter will have jumped through many loops to prove that it can behave perfectly with the countless other units broadcasting. The DIY option here might be just fine, but nobody knows without extensive & expensive type approval.. 
Fine to receive, but personally transmitting on such an important system with something untested is not a good idea... probably very unlikely but even so, it's possible the mess you could make on the airwaves  would be bad for the AIS system locally. 


Type approval is there for a reason, to make sure as much as possible everything works. ?

You are probably right but...

The system has been tested so as not to cause interference in the frequencies used and the neighboring ones but you have only the developers word, not an expensive certification. The big difference is that everything is open and verifiable.

In the other hand these people had all the certifications: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_emissions_scandal but they had a closed source impossible to verify until it was too late.

PaddyB is 100% right about this.

The guy who designed this is obviously very talented, has a great understanding of radio equipment and the unit may be the best one ever designed, but this is one to stay away from.

If there is not approval for the equipment to transmit given by the country your vessel hails from then it is illegal to transmit in a large portion of the world.

Here is some USA regulations:

§ 80.231 Technical Requirements for Class B Automatic Identification System (AIS) equipment.
© Prior to submitting a certification application for a Class B AIS device, the following information must be submitted in duplicate to [i]typeapproval@uscg.mil or the Commandant (CG-ENG-4), U.S. Coast Guard Stop 7509, 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE., Washington, DC 20593-7509: [/i]
      (2) Copies of the test report and test data obtained from the test facility showing that the device complies with the environmental and operational requirements                 identified in IEC 62287-1.

Fines are not insignificant in the US at least: FCC Fines

Do yourself a favor and pay a few hundred more euro or USD and buy a certified unit.
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#20
This is a quite complex topic and it heavily depends on how each one's country handle certification agencies and processes, imho. Of course most certifications are there for a good reason, but some countries use some of them just to make you pay. For example in Spain, at you moment you untie the lines you are forced to have on board a number of items: from basic safety stuff, which is great, to a couple of books and nautical charts that must be printed on paper. Nothing you have on digital format is valid. Unless, of course, you pay for a certification. 

One of the most extreme examples i found is that even a live raft (mandatory equipment for non-coastal navigation) that is certified to last 10 years (not only by the manufacturer, but also international agencies), you are forced to buy a new one every 5 years (or re-certify, which cost almost the same as a new one). This happens with a lot of the equipment, and does not make any sense. When there's a scenario with double or triple certification, the end user is forced to comply with the most restrictive one, so what's the point of the others? 

Another example is that a lot of marinas around the one we have the boat at, are starting to forbid non-professionals to work on the  boatyard (on their own boat). 

So at least in spain, which is the regulation I know, certification doesn't always equals safety.

Also, isn't this the whole point of OpenPlotter?
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