Customizing a Garmin Marine Electronics System

Garmin marine electronics is a brand that almost every experienced boater is aware of. And that’s because Garmin is one of the leaders in the marine electronics industry. With annual marine electronics revenues in the order of $177 million, they hold a significant market share in almost every marine electronics segment including the marine electronics network market.

Because Garmin offers an extensive range of marine electronic components that are network and system compatible, you can use Garmin devices to build a customized and networked navigation and communication system. Making the job even simpler is the Garmin Marine Network; a framework that allows you to connect different Garmin devices in a plug-and-play fashion just like you can with your PC.

The first step in building your ships’ navigation and communication system is familiarizing yourself with the available system components and how they work together.

Garmin makes this job easy with a line of network compatible products that includes GPS/chartplotter display products, radar, radios, instruments, autopilots and sounder products, such as fishfinders. Garmin also offers a number of handheld GPS units, which can be hooked up to your network in a wireless fashion. As well, the Garmin Marine Network includes a NMEA network interface, allowing you to hook up any NMEA compatible devices.

One of the first product lines to look at when planning a Garmin Marine Network is Garmin’s chartplotters. Chartplotters, basically the main display of your system, are designed to display data from all different types of sources. They can interface directly with digital maps on USB disks as well as retrieve and display data from radar and sonar devices, like fishfinders.

Garmin offers a number of chartplotters to meet your system needs. Its large-format multi-function display devices include its 7000 and 6000 series line of chartplotters. All of the chartplotters in these series, besides being NMEA and Garmin Marine Network compatible, feature Garmin’s G-Motion technology. G-Motion allows graphic information, such as chart data, to be updated quickly and seamlessly on your display with a high level of graphic quality.

For those that want touchscreen control, Garmin’s 5000 series or Garmin’s 7×0 display models can be used. Simplifying the design of navigation and communications systems considerably, Garmin’s 7×0 models not only offer touchscreen control, but also feature a stand-alone chartplotter mode, built in sonar and a radar interface.

For radar, you will need a radome to gather your radar data. Garmin offers radomes and open array radar scanner products that will directly hook up to a chartplotter. This gives your chartplotter the power to not only display navigation maps but also the current radar landscape, eliminating the need for a separate radar screen.

Garmin’s radomes are based on digital signal processing technology that not only enables a 72 nautical mile range, but also provides for sharper radar imagery and improved target separation.

If you’re more interested in what’s beneath the sea, all Garmin’s fishfinders, feature Garmin’s Ultrascroll technology. Ultrascroll technology offers a faster sonar refresh rate and supports dual beam transducer operation.

Both dual beam and dual frequency transducers give the Garmin’s Fishfinder 4000C the ability to work reliably in fresh water and saltwater. Another 4000C plus is its CANet connectivity. This connectivity let’s you transfer sonar data from the 4000C for direct display on Garmin’s chartplotters.

Once you’ve connected your radar and your sonar to the chartplotter, its time to think about how you’ll connect weather and instrument information. For that Garmin offers its sensor network connection devices.

The GMI 10 is one of the main components you will be interested in for retrieving sensor data. The GMI 10 is a NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183 compliant instrument that is specifically designed for sensor connectivity and communication. The GMI 10 can be used to display data from your sensors directly to your screen, allowing you to monitor any number of instrument readings at once and on command.

Central to opening the communications lines full throttle is Garmin’s GMS 10 Network Port Expander. According to Garmin, this 100 Mbit switch is the “nerve center” of the Garmin Marine Network enabling the connection of multiple sensors. With the GMS 10 and sensors of your choosing, you can design your system so that it can provide you everything you want to know about your ship and your environment.

Common configurations let you simultaneously monitor an unending number of measurements that include everything from engine temperature to wind speed.