Help to send a waypoint or a route to a GPS or autopilot

[Gilletarom]

Hello All,

An idea came to me to help an OpenCPN user who wanted to send a waypoint to his GPS.

I offered him the following experience (partially feasible at home and completely on the boat).

Prerequisite:
- This necessarily implies the existence of a local WiFi network.
- You will need two terminals that can be a Windows PC or Linux or a MAC or Android tablet or Android smartphone.
- You will need to know the IP address of the PC and that of the tablet on the local wifi network.
- You will also need to choose a port number. If your GPS or autopilot must use a particular port number, use this port number.

In the remainder of this description, a PC and a tablet were used.

Implementation :
- On the PC, OpenCPN is launched
- On the tablet, OpenCPN, for Androïd, paid version, say Dave Register, is launched.
- Create an output connection on the PC by sending all the sentences that exist in the PC. This connection must be of network type, UDP mode.
- Create an input connection on the tablet by accepting all the sentences that arrive on the tablet. This connection must be of network type, UDP mode.

So, everything goes as if the tablet was autopilot or GPS.

View the NMEA sentences window on the PC and on the tablet.

Check that the tablet receives the sentences present on the PC, using VDR, on the PC, to play a VDR file, pre-recorded at other times.

Close VDR.

On the PC:
- Create a route, and activate this route.
- Send the route to the GPS or the driver by using the "Send to the GPS" command in the context menu of the route.
On the tablet:
- Just look at the tablet window to see if the NMEA sentences are coming on the tablet or not.

This does not guarantee that the GPS or the driver will receive the sentences, but it tells you two things:
- if yes no, the sentences are sent,
- if so, which sentences are sent.

On the tablet:
- The ECXTE, ECRMB, ECRMC and ECAPB sentences should be received.

You can also do the same tests:
- Sending a waypoint from the PC.
- By disabling the route on the PC.

This experience will allow you either to facilitate your tests at the start of the system or to test in case of failure on the boat.

Perhaps, this can be add to the user manual.