Internet of Things on Board

Why run cables when you have nice wireless net on board?

Adapting the Internet of Things approach on board is a natural choice, hence the term Internet of Things on Board, IoToB. All sensors and data producers connect using SignalK over the wifi to the central server. The goal is to replace all the expensive and proprietary instruments with laptops and phones. All consumers (phones, pads, laptops, displays etc) connect to the same wireless network. Keeping the cables to a bare minimum, only power is needed to cable. The need for instruments is reduced as more and more units can be replaced using phones, pads and laptops.

Installing a wireless (WiFi) RADAR was a step in the right direction. Raymarine is thinking along the same lines. Imagine when the CAN-bus could be wireless (maybe someone should make a CAN-wifi and wifi-CAN interface).

Details are covered under the section about Yacht server, this cover a bit more than just the yacht server (using OpenPlotter and other software). Many small IoToB modules are described.

A world of your own:

When cut off the the rest of the world things become a little different. Your yacht is the world and your private wifi zone suddenly become the only thing you can access. Of course you can connect it via satellite, but cost is preventing even the modest usage for most of us.