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For most of us, the
expression black box conjures images of aircraft disasters and the crash-proof
technology that records flight data and cockpit conversations so the accident
can be analyzed. It’s a brilliant technique for retrieving possibly
life-saving information out of tragedy, but I’m pleased to write
that it has almost nothing to do with the term black box you’ll see
in many marine electronics brochures these days.
Furuno product manager
Eric Kunz is widely credited with bringing the black box name to boats
and to a certain extent originating the concept. Furuno was having trouble
securing a steady supply of displays for its big radar units, and Kunz
took it upon himself to go into his shop and mock up a box that contained
the processing portion of the system and could feed imagery to a variety
of off-the-shelf displays while being controlled by a separate keypad.
This would allow Furuno to concentrate on the radar’s guts and let
owners shop for a display that suited their particular helm station and
wallet. Black Box Radar was born, and its multiple benefits began to show
themselves. Today, Furuno has added sounders and sonars to its Black Box
line, and other manufacturers like Simrad have begun to offer similar
products.
What’s more, "black
boxing" has come to refer to a whole new architecture of marine electronics
systems, in which all sorts of data is collected and processed by discrete
boxes (including PCs) and then fed to an array of flat displays and customized
helm controls. You’ll see the results–sleek, balanced "all
glass" bridges–in some of the megayachts featured in this issue.
The benefits of black
box electronics begin on the practical side, as modular components can
mean easier installation and maintenance. Put the box in an electronics
locker and cable it to an easy-to-mount flat screen on the bridge. If
the box fails, only it needs to go to the shop; the technician may not
need to even visit the nav station. If the monitor fails, it can be replaced
with a unit from any number of sources, or you can switch to a redundant
display.
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