Specifications

Actisense
®
Page 12© 2011 Active Research Limited
Testing an NMEA 0183 computer
connection with Actisense NMEA
Reader
NMEA Reader is free software for PC users to easily
monitor and debug NMEA data. Capable of displaying
both NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 data NMEA Reader
can be an invaluable tool for installing an NMEA network.
NMEA Reader can be found on the software updates
page on the Actisense website.
Example data using an Actisense
talker device
By connecting a so-called “Triducer” from a company like
Airmar (www.airmar.com), or direct from the Actisense
, it is possible to measure the four quantities of depth,
speed, log (distance) and temperature in just one device
with a considerable cost saving versus buying each
transducer/device separately. Plus, all this data is supplied
through just one NMEA 0183 port.
The Actisense DST (active depth sounder module) has
the same Digital Signal Processor unit, but can connect
to any analogue Triducer (Depth, Speed & Temperature),
Biducer (Depth & Temperature), or Depth only transducer.
It allows easy conversion of the analogue transducer
signals into the digital NMEA 0183 sentences.
These two sensor types output the NMEA strings ‘DBT’,
‘DPT’, ‘MTW’, ‘VHW’ and ‘VLW’.
Why do the strings have these names, and what data do
they contain? Refer to the NMEA 0183 Sentence Format
section of this document for more details.