NMEA Position/Heading Source

In order to run the Surveyor with an external heading and position source, you will need a device that provides heading and position via NMEA messages (either 2000 or 0183) ideally with a high update rate (10 Hz+). The accuracy of the detected points will be directly affected by errors in these sources. The necessary messages are shown below:

This next section will describe a verified setup that we recommend if you intend to use the Surveyor with an NMEA heading and position source, although any device that sends the necessary NMEA messages to your computer at a high update rate should work. Please let us know if you test another device!

Components

Hardware Setup

  1. Connect the Garmin to your powered NMEA network. If you do not already have an NMEA network set up, follow Garmin's installation instructions. You will need to supply power to the network.

  2. Connect the Yacht Devices USB gateway to the NMEA network and your computer.

Software Setup

  1. You will need to set the Yacht Devices USB gateway in RAW mode by following the directions here. You should only need to use the command "echo YDNU MODE RAW > [Com port]" as shown on page 22, but you should verify that you are gettting the raw hex values from the device as the directions describe.

On Windows, make sure the COM port number is below 10. The gateway cannot be configured properly if the COM port is 10 or above.

{
  "session_plans": [
    {
      "name": "Surveyor with Garmin",
      "devices": [
        {
          "product_id": "ydnu-02",
          "url": "serial:COMX?baud=9600"
        },
        {
          "product_id": "mbes24016",
          "url": "tcp://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:XXXXX"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Where your surveyor's IP and port number would replace the url field below "mbes24016" (e.g "tcp://192.168.2.1:62311) and COMX would be replaced with the COM port the USB gateway is using (e.g. "serial:COM7?baud=9600")

  • If using the Yacht Devices YDNU-02 gateway, set product_id to ydnu-02.

  • For a different NMEA2000 Gateway, set product_id to gps.

  • For any other GPS device, set product_id to gps.

If using any other GPS device, your session plan would look like this:

    {
      "name": "Surveyor with GPS",
      "devices": [
        {
          "product_id": "gps",
          "url": "serial:COMX?baud=9600"
        },
        {
          "product_id": "mbes24016",
          "url": "tcp://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:XXXXX"
        }
      ]
    }
  1. Connect to the session plan on SonarView. The Surveyor should now use the provided gps heading and position data.

If you are using a different NMEA gateway and you have the option between NMEA 0183 and 2000, use 2000 because the conversion to 0183 seems to cause gateways to drastically slow the update rate

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