Digital Yacht’s new iKonvert gateway, which was only announced last month at the METS trade show in Amsterdam, has already been implemented/supported by the “cutting edge” Signal K Server open source project.
Signal K is the open marine data standard, that aims to make all marine data formats, including NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 data, easier to use in modern mobile and web apps. Many new and exciting collaborative projects, applications and solutions are being actively worked on by the Signal K Open Source Community and the Signal K Server is at the heart of many of these projects, effectively a reference design for how Signal K data can be used onboard a boat.
The Signal K Server is designed to run on low cost hardware like the popular Raspberry Pi, Beagle Bone or other embedded platforms. Just like any other Open Source software, the Signal K Server can be downloaded free of charge and the latest version V1.10.0 that supports our iKonvert gateway is now available online.
iKonvert is an NMEA 2000 Certified gateway, with full galvanic isolation that will correctly join the NMEA 2000 network and allow the Signal K server to have full bi-directional data communication with the NMEA 2000 devices. We developed a special “RAW” mode for Signal K that must be selected via the iKonvert’s internal DIP switches and which operates at 230K baud rate.
Once downloaded and installed, you talk to the Signal K Server via its web interface and it is very simple to select and enable the iKonvert as a Data Provider.
Once setup, simply reboot the Signal K Server and iKonvert will become a full function, bi-directional gateway between the NMEA2000 network on your boat and the Signal K Server.
The Signal K Server is designed to be modular and extendable, so that developers can add functionality via simple “plug-ins”, small software modules that can be downloaded and added to the main program. There are many free plug-ins already available and published on the Signal K Appstore, that do specific functions or tasks such as interfacing with Fusion, Victron and SeaTalk equipment.
Any Signal K app or device connected to the Signal K Server will then be able to access the data. Below is a screen shot showing NMEA2000 engine data being displayed on the popular WilhelmSK App for iOS devices, all made possible by iKonvert and the Signal K Server.
For more technical and developer information about iKonvert click here. If you would rather connect the Signal K Server wirelessly to the NMEA 2000 network, why not consider our NAVLink2 wireless gateway. Alternatively, if you like the idea of Signal K but want a more “works straight out of the box” type solution, then have a look at Digital Yacht’s iKommunicate gateway that combines the gateway features of iKonvert with some of the server features of the Signal K Server in one simple to install box.
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