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I’m starting to spec a 45-foot custom boat and want it to have
a “future-proof” electronics networking backbone. Should I go
with NMEA 2000 or Ethernet? C.H., via e-mail
As we say
in Maine, “You can’t get there from here!” The confusing
truth is that a single, universal networking protocol and hardware standard
for marine electronics has not yet appeared and probably never will. While
you’re right that Ethernet and NMEA 2000 are both up and coming,
one is not a substitute for the other. Ethernet is great for high-speed
communications between complex devices that have lots to say to each other,
like computers, plotter/radars, Internet links, and the like. NMEA 2000
is designed to carry much smaller packets of information among these machines
as well as relatively simple components like transducers and lighting
controls. It also has built-in prioritization for mission-critical messaging
like engine controls.
There’s more confusion.
While the Ethernet protocol (and plug/cable architecture) are standard
on computers, the electronics companies that have chosen to use it have
not opened their software. In other words, while you can plug a Furuno
NavNet or Northstar 6000i into a computer, you won’t get anything
for your trouble (yet). Garmin’s brand-new Ethernet-based Marine
Network—part of a big-boat initiative I’ll write about next
month—even uses its own proprietary waterproof plugs. Meanwhile,
even though NMEA 2000 includes a bulletproof plug and cable standard,
it looks like the big companies will come up with their own versions.
That’s exactly what Simrad has done with SimNet, and it’s hard
to argue with the company’s less costly, easier-to-run yet rugged
design. There’s a conversion plug available to marry SimNet to the
standard 2000 hardware.
In short, this is still
a world where you run wires based on the particular electronics you’re
installing, and the wise designer leaves easy chase ways for later modifications.
Got a marine electronics
question? Write to Electronics Q&A, Power & Motoryacht,
260 Madison Ave., 8th Fl., New York, NY 10016. Fax: (917) 256-2282. e-mail:
PMYElectronics@primedia.com.
No phone calls, please.
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