Boat monitoring app comments?

[johnmcd]

Hi all, I'm working on a new technology boat monitoring system (like Boat Command) and keen to get comments on what's needed. In particular it will use satellite rather than cellular.

What's your views on the following?
Works anywhere - beaches, island, offshore - not limited by phone signal range
Voltage monitoring, inc shore power - how many batteries?
Bilge pump monitoring - how many pumps?
Intruder alerts - what type of triggers, e.g. pressure mat, movement detection, door/hatch switches?
GPS tracking / anchor watch
Boat manager/charter fleet login
Video camera
Cabin temperature/humidity
Equipment control, e.g. lights, aircon, fridges
etc.

If you use a similar system already, what bugs you?
Do you stay local to your home marina/berth, have nights away or deep ocean sailing?

Comments on thread will be very helpful, thank you. I'm also happy to have email or arrange a call to discuss.

[Rumrace]

I’m playing with a raspberry pi 2 cameras stepper Motors for winter storage and to cool boat when we are going to it.
I’m working on a raspberry pi 3D printed camera housing to aim swivel and zoom.
More for fun but for recording under sail. It has wifi I can view humidity battery state open vents even turn on heat to melt snow off solar panels.
So far so good. I tried an Arduino first. Not as much fun
We have main Salon hatch with an electric bolt and a stepper motor to raise it open 1 1/2” stays open for 15 minutes then closes and locks

[johnmcd]

Thanks @rumrace, R Pi is fine where you already have wifi. Do you have a concern with the power consumption? I'm keen to have consumption of only a few mA. If you're using python on the Pi, recommend taking a look at microcontrollers that can run micropython. The hatch motor is a neat idea.
What would you think to satellite connection (simple signal status) that would work anywhere for less than a cellular connection?

[Rumrace]

Not a bit. The Pi has a battery cooling and AV shield and servo shield on it. Battery gives it 30 minutes without cameras on. The boat has 3 house banks 100Amp lipo 600-1200 peak. 2 are isolated in the bow. So the pi feeds of whatever battery bank is on through a 3.5 V stepdown. The stepper motors run off 5V. off another stepdown.

Satellite yes but not for monitoring the boat. Waiting for the Musk box

[Rumrace]

https://www-engadget-com.cdn.ampproj...-dish-antenna/

I’ve looked at several wifi boosters but I like a clean mast and deck. So I’m more interested a booster which runs up one of the stern rig lines. Even the wifi in our slip gets sketchy depending on what expert has taken over. Where the boat is stored on the hard the wifi is perfect. Go figure.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by johnmcd

Hi all, I'm working on a new technology boat monitoring system (like Boat Command) and keen to get comments on what's needed. In particular it will use satellite rather than cellular.

What's your views on the following?
Works anywhere - beaches, island, offshore - not limited by phone signal range
Voltage monitoring, inc shore power - how many batteries?
Bilge pump monitoring - how many pumps?
Intruder alerts - what type of triggers, e.g. pressure mat, movement detection, door/hatch switches?
GPS tracking / anchor watch
Boat manager/charter fleet login
Video camera
Cabin temperature/humidity
Equipment control, e.g. lights, aircon, fridges
etc.

If you use a similar system already, what bugs you?
Do you stay local to your home marina/berth, have nights away or deep ocean sailing?

Comments on thread will be very helpful, thank you. I'm also happy to have email or arrange a call to discuss.

why satellite? Is this to be open source?

unless the comms hardware is onboard like a cellular hat maybe, I'd consider leveraging already-on-board tech, like maybe wifi. Depending on distance covered and power requirements you could also consider zigbee if you just need a short hop. Would be easy to have a handful of small cheap arduino type devices right at the point of monitoring, using zigbee and then a zigbee to something else hub.

[Rumrace]

I think both methods are valid but wifi may be like the fax machine.
Data can be transmitted from a light fixture faster than most wifi systems.
I run a Wisa Audio Video At Home and added same on miniature scale in the boat. My speakers if wired require CAD7 but they have 16 channel Wisa a processor and 2 150 ICE amps. Called a BeoLab 3. They are so small the Wisa box ports outside. The larger home speakers the Wisa is inside. Way ahead of its time and blows wifi away in terms of privacy in your space.

Elon Musks wee box sounds exciting in terms of being connected anywhere.
Yes Arduino can do some great stuff if you tie in 3 random words app the Arduino can take that and know within a meter where it is on earth and aim at the closest orbiting satellite.
Apparently Elon’s new box he gave Ukraine has some wonderful ability to connect with his satellites run on any voltage ...
Details are sketchy so wait see I guess

[johnmcd]

Thanks for the further comments. I'll add a couple of observations, from my POV.
Wifi is OK where the installer has done a great job for the coverage, but as you're finding it can be problematic. Much of this derives from the frequency at 2.4GHz - it's just not good at long range or getting through obstacles. Plus recall it's the same frequency as your microwave cooker, so this is well absorbed by water. A good fix can be improving the antenna you use for your router on board, or if you're not using one, then install a repeater booster with a dedicated external antenna pointed at the marina gateway. I realise this breaks your clean lines preference and gets tricky when the boat moves around.

Starlink is great, but I think it still requires a fixed location. The reason being so that the antenna can steer itself to the passing satellites. That'll be ok when you're marina based but you may be limited when sailing around. This should improve as more satellites go up, but we've no idea how long that may take as the plan talks about 10,000+ satellites!! The other issue is that the Starlink antenna needs to be on a stable platform and I doubt a boat will be reliable until they come up with a phased array active antenna $$$$$. Plus power consumption, plus somewhat ugly, plus monthly cost...

I can go on about this a lot more!

The system I have in mind will not be cellular, because I want to achieve go anywhere connectivity that is not limited by land based wireless coverage. The new satellites are v low cost and provide guaranteed signal whether it's remote bays, islands or deep ocean. Also, I don't want to deal with roaming SIMs or multiple carriers, or local wifi/wireless providers that only work at single marinas. Essentially, go global or go home!

[johnmcd]

Might be possible to be open source, but earning an income is part of the equation for me.
See my reply to Rumrace re wifi, and ditto zigbee. local gateways and wireless networks become a pain when trying to scale up.