Budget-Friendly Chart Plotter Using Raspberry Pi and Open Plotter Software
Hey there, matey! Let's learn how to buy brains for your boat using a Raspberry Pi and OpenPlotter!
If you've heard of the raspberry pie, or open plotter, maybe you're not quite clear about what they are. Fear not! This guide will help you navigate the shallow waters of piracy, er, Raspberry Pi!
Raspberry Pi, more like Hannah Montana of computers—small, cheap, and surprisingly powerful. You can get a Raspberry Pi 4 for just 50 smackers. With its affordable price, lots of projects have come up, from smart TVs to arcade consoles, and even boating equipment, like our beloved friend, OpenPlotter.
Open Plotter is an open-source operating system designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi. It bundles together several helpful utilities for sailors. With it, we'll make a chart plotter for our boat—a map of our boat's position on the high seas—and add an Automatic Identification System (AIS) to see other ships in the area, thanks to a simple USB TV tuner.
What's it gonna do for us?
Here's the juicy part:
- By plugging a USB GPS, we'll transform our Raspberry Pi into a chart plotter for our boat.
- With a 12-euro TV tuner, we'll convert it into an AIS receiver, revealing large ships around us, along with their courses and speeds in real-time.
- We can fetch meteorological information, overlay it onto our chart plotter, connect other boat instruments such as sounders or wind equipment, and view everything on our screen or tablet.
To get started, you'll need the following components:
For both options:
- Raspberry Pi: Aliexpress | Amazon
- Micro SD Memory Card: Aliexpress | Amazon
- USB TV Tuner: My favorite | Best fit with VHF antenna
- 12V Power Supply Socket: AliExpress | Amazon
- 5V USB Charger: AliExpress | Amazon
- Power Supply Cable: USB C
For option without screen or connected to a TV screen:
- GPS USB: AliExpress | Amazon
- HDMI - Micro HDMI Cable: AliExpress | Amazon
- Mini Keyboard with Touchpad
- Raspberry Pi Case
For the all-in-one option:
- GPS USB with Integrated Antenna: AliExpress | Amazon
- Touch Screen Case
With these components, you'll be ready to turn your boat into a tech titan! Happy sailing, buccaneers!
- To enhance the navigation system on our boat, we can pair our Raspberry Pi with gadgets such as a USB TV tuner for an AIS receiver and a GPS USB for converting the Raspberry Pi into a chart plotter.
- Combining these technology components can provide us with real-time ship tracking, meteorological information, and the ability to connect other boat instruments, making our sailing experience better and more informed.
