There’s no doubt about it, R&D is expensive, but when you do get a good product there’s every reason to make the most of it, even if that means working very hard to cross markets.
It is something that both Cosworth and Amercian night vision giant, Flir have done with some success.
Flir, unlike Cosworth, is taking the direct acquisition route: when Raymarine got into its recent spot of bother, it became as attractive to Flir as Fay Wray to King Kong.
However, it seems it was the breadth of Raymarine’s product range that was of particular interest to the larger company. “One thing about the match is that despite its enormous size, Flir is actually quite specialist, so Raymarine’s product scope means there are now a number of niches where the Flir thermal camera technology is finding a foothold,” explains Sarah Brooke of Raymarine.
Overall, the marriage with the Flir products means that there’s a much better view at night available to a whole range of craft, from the smaller end right up to large cruisers.
Thermal imagingAs you’d expect, Raymarine’s T Series creates pictures by detecting and displaying small changes in heat. the imaging hinges on the fact that since everything has a “thermal” print objects don’t have to be warm to show up, just emitting heat at a different rate to the general background – therefore different kinds of material will create different tones, even if they have been in the sun – or cold – for the same length of time.
Further, as Ms Brooke explains: “These cameras are amazingly sensitive, so for a certain length of time even a handprint left on a wall has enough thermal energy to show up clearly.”
All this means the Thermal Night Vision Cameras can be an aid to easy docking in low light or even no light conditions, while ocean-going boats in northerly waters will find the cameras gives them a view of ice hazards, simply because the ice has a different temperature signature to that of the surrounding sea. Nicely, these can be seen on screen using the video function on Raymarine’s multi-function displays,
Ms Brooke adds: “The thermal night vision cameras also mean you can see people overboard in the dark, they show up as hot spots, so this kind of thing is very interesting to Search and Rescue organisations – vital when just a few minutes makes all the difference in the matter of survival.”
Following this line of reasoning, thermal cameras are not just limited to night-time use; they can be used in daylight where binoculars become “of limited usefulness” such as looking across the water directly into the path of the sun, because they come into their own through picking up heat signatures rather than light.
But it’s not just people in distress; the cameras, both handheld and static, improve the ability to see rocks, buoys and general floating debris, simply because, again, these things emit heat at a different rate to the water around them.
Wireless futureWith the acquisition of Tacktick you can tell that Raymarine UK saw the future. Tacktick had been clever in cornering the market on a range of products that, because they dropped the required power and concentrated on wireless transmission, meant they could be fitted with a minimum of intervention and even run from solar cells.
The challenge being met by Tacktick was covering boats that want a completely bespoke design as well as those that already have some investment in onboard systems, where the issues with drilling holes and installing new cables can be difficult and potentially expensive to address.
Mike Kennedy, an independent contractor, explains that the company made it a fairly simple job to link additional systems to the existing set up via Tacktick’s wireless interface – called the Micronet – which gives a fitter easy integration with other NMEA compatible instruments. “One colleague of mine just ran the sensors up the mast and fixed everything in place inside a day,” he said. Cruising displays which give speed, depth, wind, SOG and XTE ran wirelessly around the boat, being positioned wherever needed, only requiring a 12V power input.
However it appears that not all necessarily went well with the kit all the time, as Mr Kennedy adds that occasionally he’s found reports of some routing “blackouts” when the data just dropped.
So, its interesting that when Tom Surran, general manager of Raymarine UK talked of the takeover of Tacktick, he spoke of allying Micronet technology with Raymarine’s “development rigor and manufacturing efficiencies”, which might smooth out some of these bugs.
App technologyEven before its recent acquisition of Tacktick, Raymarine had been working on embracing wireless connectivity in a big way. the e7 is Raymarine’s first multifunctional display to boast WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities, and provides the option of networking up to six e7 units plus accessories such as radar and so on, together.
With the e7, boaters have on-screen control of – yes, you’ve guessed it – the thermal cameras and are able to stream live video using the Raymarine Viewer app direct to their iPad or iPhone in real time, making navigation charts, thermal video, radar and sonar information accessible from absolutely anywhere on-board, via the WiFi connection.
Further, Bluetooth connectivity means the user has the ability to control the e7 via the optional RCU-3 remote control unit, which can be mounted on a boat’s steering wheel or used as an independent handheld device.
Another aspect to “crossover” technology has been ushered in by the customers themselves, with the growing use of Android and iPad applications. so, Raymarine has developed a new user interface called Lighthouse, which brings familiar touchscreen navigation and customisation options together. This results in an intuitive system that should suit users who are getting more and more familiar with things like “drag and drop” screen movements.
All you can say to this is, Flir now doesn’t just hold a building block for leveraging its own know-how, it’s moving very rapidly to holistic offerings. Developing integration solutions for the installer and user will give Flir a very big slice of the market.
From cars to boatsCosworth, a company better known for its position in Formula 1 motorsport, moved over a range of technologies to the marine market just a few years ago.
Simon Holloway of Cosworth points out that in some ways, the similarities between high-performance motorsport and sailing are growing in that now many of the races, even sometimes the longer distance ones, can be decided on times that come down to a fraction of a second.
So, the main product string to benefit from the crossover has primarily been the data logging devices that show a crew how it’s doing, and why – giving them enough detail to shave a few extra percent off their times.
The Pi Garda data logging system is one answer to this: originally developed for the British Olympic team in order to provide a performance improvement tool for dinghy sailors, it’s now found a wider foothold.
Mr Holloway explains: “It’s very useful for teams with a new craft: by using the system the crew can get a brand new yacht up to optimum speed much faster.” the testing can cut out the two-boat trials, it reduces the time on the water, and it reduces the costs, he adds, but its not, actually, that hard to install.
Mr Holloway has said that he’s even put the Pi Garda product on a kite board. It’s a completely self contained, battery powered unit with an integral GPS unit and three accelerometers – needed to get the full range of movement – that hooks up easily to the sensors.
Complete pictureHowever, the integration of the system with others onboard has been influenced by a technical partnership with Tacktick. “We understood our best way forward was to develop working alliances, teaming up with the established companies in the field – it’s a path we are still keen on pursuing,” explains Mr Holloway.
This approach has meant an interesting bonus for the crews. “You can take everything on the Tacktick system, including, say, wind direction and speed, and watch it later on the Pi Garda, building up a complete picture for analysis.”
It also works vice versa, and because anything coming through the sensors can be displayed on the Tacktick screens, it can also be used to tune the rigs, too. “If you know how much load there is on the forestay, you know how much power you are generating from the sail,” he explains.
But it’s also useful for the longer term, in that the information can be fed back to the rig designers so they can see how the peak loads are affecting the stresses on the mast, forestay and shroud for example, and use the data to tailor their builds to take account of particular high load areas.
However, despite the crossover’s similarities, there are differences in the way the data is handled. the analysis starts by overlaying the GPS on a C-Map marine chart – this came from another technical partnership with Jeppesen.
To begin, the crew has to define the track, putting in the start line and windward marks, which again is a little different to the race car setup. but all the analysis works best if you can actually see what went on aboard while the sensors were picking up the data. “It means video synchronisation,” says Mr Holloway. “Normally this brings together footage from three or four videos, a couple on the boat, and another on the coach boat.
Given synched video footage, you can see where the crew are placing themselves, for example where they are hiking, or how the crew are moving during a tack, and how it impacts on the onboard stresses. on the bigger craft you can see a sail hoist and drop, and how the sail transfer and its timing affects performance.
However, says Mr Holloway, one of the difficulties he regularly faces is educating people about training. “You can understand it,” he says, “Often all the dinghy crews want to do is race, equating racing experience with improvement. but there’s a case for trying out different approaches, making the most of time afloat.” This is where the Pi Garda box comes in very useful.
‘Virtual’ coachFor example, he says, if a crew spends an evening doing 10 different tacks, and then can see which is best, the knowledge will help them move up the fleet. And there’s a good reason for a coach leaving a Pi Garda box with the crew. He can get them to try out different manoeuvres, returning to analyse it later – which can make the most of everyone’s time.
Further up the scale, Cosworth’s LightWave is aimed at larger, longer distance events like the Volvo Ocean Race and the Americas Cup.
What this gives is a real time view on what is going on aboard, as it happens. the information covers everything from wind speed to loads and stresses in the carbon fibre and can tie together data from other systems too, including inertial, GPS and fibre optics. all together this gives the crew up to 2,000 different channels of information, integrated in a single, central hub.
Cosworth provide custom sensors and mechanisms as well as interfacing with other systems. so for example, Cosworth fitted an anti-capsize system for one team which automatically released the sheets when a certain load was reached. “Although things like these are safety features, it means a crew are more likely to push the boat harder as they know they have that immediate response from the system, plus when the crew’s sleeping, its there as a guard and backup to the watch,” explains Mr Holloway.
Further the company does get involved in measuring the other part of the set-up, the sailor. because there are ways to measure things like hiking performance, it gives crews the opportunity to tie the training to the type of workload. but there’s also the ability to measure tiredness.
Someone doing a single handed passage in an Open 60 will typically spend long periods at the helm, knowing they are more efficient than the autopilot – but when fatigue sets in this efficiency reverses. Since the point at which it changes can go undetected, measuring physiological information means a sailor can make informed choices about optimum rest patterns, explains Mr Holloway.
In other words, it tells you when to stop – not something that everyone is particularly good at.