AIS receiver and dispatcher. The best !?

[MatsA]

First of all ..... I didn't do it !!!      It is Jasper who created the fantastic AIS-catcher package.
https://github.com/jvde-github/AIS-catcher

All I did was creating a blogpost on a quick setup for the package. It could help because there are so many options.
https://pysselilivet.blogspot.com/2023/1...-best.html
I know that this package has been mentioned before here in the forum but I think it's important to make a "heads up" due to its very good performance compared to other AIS receivers I have tested.

Check out the below link and the "Yearly statistics"
https://stations.vesselfinder.com/stations/5696
It's obvious that I changed software package, using same hardware as before, in mid December.

And don't use a RPi Zero, its not enough.

Enjoy !

[BlackSea]

I have packaged AIS-Catcher (.deb) and put it in preview channel also for OP. Those who want to try it out:
1. activate preview repository (depending on version)
For Bullseye ( aka OP3)

Code:

deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg] https://www.free-x.de/deb4op bullseye-preview main

For Bookworm (aka OP4)

Code:

deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/oss.boating.gpg] https://www.free-x.de/deb4op bookworm-preview main

2. Install

Code:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ais-catcher

3. You can adjust your options in /etc/default/ais-catcher
4. By default, AIS-Catcher delivers the AIS sentences via port 5011 TCP

Any feedback and comment are welcome

[Sailoog]

Cool. If you have plans of maintaining that package there I could try to implement ais-catcher in OpenPlotter 4.

[BlackSea]

@Sailoog
That's what I planned. That's why I have packed and made available

[Sailoog]

Perfect thanks!
I am busy with pypilot now. I will try to add it when the package is in your production repository.

[BlackSea]

I will try to add it when the package is in your production repository.

done

[Sailoog]

working on this now

[Sailoog]

Updated openplotter-sdr-vhf v4

Uninstall the old version from openplotter-settings before installing the new one or run this in a terminal:

sudo systemctl disable openplotter-rtl_ais

rtl-ais has been replaced by the powerful ais-catcher. I do not have an SDR with me and it is untested, so there are bound to be bugs. Please try and report back.

[Sailoog]

@BlackSea, you did an excellent work with this package adding the webassets and the service, congratulations.

[Slovak]

To provide received AIS information from my ship, I've created a roaming station with the use of AIS-catcher. Above information was very helpful in arriving at a solution.

I had considered using the existing SignalK plugins, but all options rely on NMEA0183, or more specifically converting NMEA2000 to NMEA0183 and broadcasting it via TCP/UDP. Seemed unnecessary to involve SignalK in translating the messages and then feeding them to online AIS resources.

I also considered AIS Dispatcher but AIS-catcher seemed more versatile and extensible for the desired task, which is mainly to share data with AISHub, aiscatcher.org, MarineTraffic, VesselFinder, etc.

I also tried installing openplotter-sdr-vhf through the OP GUI interface, which installed AIS-catcher but without support for socketCAN / NMEA2000. The OpenPlotter solution would be more versatile by incorporating the NMEA2000 library, per existing AIS-catcher script.

Using the @BlackSea manual installation instructions and the ./scripts/build-NMEA2000.sh from AIS-catcher, I'm able to take AIS NMEA2000 messages from the network which are generated by an AIS (could be MAIANA per question above) and feed them directly to https://aiscatcher.org/ and other desired online resources via UDP.

Another side benefit of AIS-catcher is that I can share the on-board http server with any guests who are interested in surrounding ships/traffic.