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Introduction Evaluation Data Views Graphic Views Watch Views Customising Connect to a Boat Autopilot Remote iConnect Data Recorder Purchase or Subscribe NMEA2000 NMEA0183 Gateways & Multiplexers Future Enhancements
Introduction Evaluation Data Views Graphic Views Watch Views Customising Connect to a Boat Autopilot Remote iConnect Data Recorder Purchase or Subscribe NMEA2000 NMEA0183 Gateways & Multiplexers Future Enhancements

navCenter - Connect to a Boat

Read the documentation supplied with your Gateway

The documentation supplied with your Gateway or multiplexer will contain the settings you will need to connect to its WiFi system using either TCP or UDP protocols. To avoid encountering connection problems please take the time to read this documentation carefully.

Local Network Permission

The following information is very important. Please read it carefully.

When you first attempt to connect navCenter to your Gateway or multiplexer at some point in the process a popup will appear similar to the image opposite. The popup will announce that:

"navCenter would like to find and connect to devices on your local network"

"navCenter uses the local network to access your vessel's WiFi Gateway. If you do not grant permission navCenter will not work correctly"

PopUp

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You must tap 'Allow' (or 'OK') to allow navCenter to access your local network.

If you Tap “Don’t Allow” then navCenter will be denied the ability to directly connect to any device on your local network; which includes your WiFi gateway. Clearly this is not what you want.

If you do not allow navCenter to access your local network it can be very hard to reverse this decision it. In theory it is a simple reversable decision but Apple have many bugs in this area.

Apple give users a number of suggestions of how to re-instate Network access but there are many thousands of frustrated users and dozens of frustrated developers who find that these methods do not work for them. In fact, for many users, the only solution was to reset their entire device to Factory Settings and reload all their data and apps back on 😱. Hardly a user friendly solution.

So watch out for this Apple popup and make sure you allow navCenter to 'find and connect to devices on your local network'

If you inadvertantally Tap 'Dont Allow' and so need to have another go at granting access to navCenter then this link might help: settingLocalNetworkAccess

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Connect to a vessel's NMEA data

In order to connect navCenter to a vessel's NMEA data you must:

  1. Purchase or Subscribe to navCenter as described here
  2. Connect your device to the WiFi Network by navigating to your devices 'Settings' screen and Selecting the WiFi Network generated by your chosen Gateway or Multiplexer
  3. Select Gateway specific values by navigating to navCenter's “Settings” page (swipe down to expose the menu bar and tap the gear symbol).

Then you will be presented with a view similar to this screen showing that navCenter has been subscribed to and that the current Data Source is Simulated NMEA2000.

In the top centre of the screen you can see the version of navCenter that you are running. Please include this version number if you Contact us for further information or to report a problem.

See below for information on how to enter further settings that are specific to your Gateway (or Multiplexer)

Settings Screen

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Gateway Settings

The documentation supplied with your Gateway or multiplexer will contain the settings you will need to connect to its WiFi system using either TCP or UDP protocols. To avoid encountering connection problems please take the time to read this documentation carefully.

  1. Choose a Data Source 'TCP or 'UDP' by tapping on the current selection of 'simulated NMEA200' and selecting a format from the list presented
  2. Enter the IP Address specified by your Gateway, here we have entered 192.168.4.1
  3. Enter the Port specified by your Gateway, here we have entered 2001 for TCP and 1457 for UDP
  4. Enter the Input format specified by your Gateway. Some Gateways offer a choice of formats so ensure that the format you selected on the Gateway matches the format you select here

TCP

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UDP Broadcast

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For NMEA0183 there is only one format 'NMEA0183'. For NMEA2000 there are a range of formats. This is the list of NMEA2000 formats supported by navCenter.

UDP Broadcast

UDP Broadcast is a connectionless protocol and thus only only Port number needs to be entered to receive data.

However if your Gateway or multiplexer accepts incoming nmea sentences via the WiFi interface and you wish to control your autopilot via navCenter then you will also need to enter the IP address of the Gateway or multiplexer.

TCP

TCP is a connection protocol and thus both IP address and Port number must to be entered to receive data. navCenter also supports symolic IP addresses and thus a device address may also be entered as a Hostname.

If your Gateway or multiplexer accepts incoming nmea sentences via the WiFi interface these values will be used to control your autopilot via navCenter.

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