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John Weston

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The problem is that applying these communication standards require
knowledge that most people don't have, so they stick to what is offered
and can interconnect without being a pro in data exchanges. If
protocols like Ethernet or TCP/IP are applicable to marine equipment it
would be wonderful to publish some installation procedures for people
who are ignorant of them.
Could this be done?
It sounds that NEMA instruments could communicate using the Ethernet
protocol. How do you do this?

You could use a standard RS232 to Ethernet interface. These usually have
virtual port software for the PC end that make them emulate a local
serial interface so maybe they would work with PC SW that expects a
local RS232 interface. You can also get RS232 to Ethernet devices with
optical isolation so these would meet the NMEA isolation requirements

I've also seen NMEA (single and multiplexers) to Ethernet boxes built
for the marine environment (i.e. +$$) but they are typically more
expensive than the wire only solution bringing the NMEA signal all the
way back on a single pair wire rather than via CAT5.

You can already get wireless connected instruments - but these typically
use their own standard. Why would an instrument manufacturer want to
adopt a new standard that didn't also lock-in the customer :-)

--
John W
To mail me replace the obvious with co.uk twice