December 21, 2023  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear our users and partners, we would like to summarise the results of the past year, share our plans for the coming year and, of course, wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Happy New Year

We worked hard on our products this year, releasing updates to 19 of our 25 active products. Engine Gateway YDEG-04 received a major update, we added a new protocol for VW Marine (Volkswagen Marine) engines and made significant improvements to BRP and Mercury engines. Thanks to active feedback from our users, work on this product is always ongoing, we are adding support for new proprietary messages, and we plan to release another update in January-February.

The second major improvement was in Web Gauges, which are included in our products with Wi-Fi and Ethernet interfaces. We have added controls, gauges and data bars for autopilot operation, and Web Gauges can now replace the Pilot Head for Raymarine autopilots connected via SeaTalk NG or SeaTalk 1. This turns your mobile phone into a remote control for your autopilot, just install the free update! We also work to support autopilots from other manufacturers, and if you have one of our gateways (to record diagnostic data) and want us to add your autopilot, contact us!

The catalyst for this change was the release of our own Autopilot, which has been in the works for over three years. And, of course, it is supported in all our products and even has compatibility modes so that Raymarine and Navico (B&G, Simrad, Lowrance) plotters will accept it as their own and display panels with buttons to control the autopilot. We continue to work actively on the autopilot, and even yesterday, taking advantage of the fact that the river was ice-free, our colleagues went out for another water test. In the coming year, we plan to release a more powerful version, with a constant current of 20A and a peak load of up to 30A.

One of our favourite projects is the NMEA 2000 Bridge. Firstly, it is unique, we do not know any similar product. Secondly, it is just a wand, for which new applications are constantly being found. Thirdly, its fans willingly pass their enthusiasm to others, and every year it becomes more and more popular without any effort on our part.

Python for NMEA

Next year we plan to release the Yacht Devices Python Gateway, which will be able to process not only NMEA 2000 messages, but also NMEA 0183 messages. It will also offer the ability to write programs in Python, the most popular programming language for data processing. We have already published examples of tasks that this product can solve. It will not replace the Bridge because it will have only one CAN interface, but it will be a companion.

For practical tests, we have implemented an AIS converter from NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 on it, which is a rather complex task associated with decoding and recalculating a large array of binary data in a single message. For messages of type 1 and 14 (the most complex), the average message processing speed was around 1.5 milliseconds, making it suitable for creating rather complex gateways that process data in real time.

And also for 2024 we have a very interesting idea related to AI (it won't be related to image generation, as you might think from the picture above). We haven't decided yet if we'll be able to make it into a product, but we'll definitely finalise the tests in the winter and share it anyway. So subscribe to our mailing list, Facebook page or check out our website more often.

Our sales and support team will go on holiday from December 29 and return on January 4. All emails will be answered and all orders will be processed and dispatched.

Thank you for your interest in our products, for your emails with ideas and suggestions, for choosing our products and for waiting for your parcels. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with your loved ones, peace on earth, peace at sea and peace in your soul. And, of course, we wish you interesting and exciting travels in the coming year 2024!

 

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