New Seetrac Tender Tracking interface for Transas NS3000
The development teams at Seetrac and Transas have been working in collaboration and are delighted to announce the Seetrac Module for Transas NS3000 ECS-I Ver 4, which will be on the Transas MNS22 CD launched at the end of June.
The Seetrac system operates by tracking all tenders and jet skis in the water around a yacht and displays their positions, graphically and in tabular form, on a Transas NS3000 system.
In addition to displaying the position, speed and course of the tenders and/or jet skis, the Seetrac system also transmits back to the host yacht the depth under the tender, so it can be used as a navigational aid in shallow waters.
A "help me" safety alarm on the tender or jet ski can be activated by the driver if he/she is in difficulty, and this is also displayed instantly on the Transas chart.
With a Transas system the safety alert alarm can be connected to the general alarm system on the yacht, so that if the bridge is unmanned, everyone is warned of a problem on a tender or jetski. Security is a prime consideration as, unlike AIS, the data transmitted by the tender or jet ski is encrypted, so that a third party cannot track your guests whilst they are playing off the yacht.
Any yacht operating with Transas simply has to upgrade to NS3000 or unlock the Seetrac module on their current NS3000 ECS-I Ver 4 installation in order to take advantage of the Seetrac system. Seetrac can track up to 20 tenders or jet skis simultaneously.
The system uses UHF or VHF. The data transmissions are free and independent of any third party infrastructure such as land based antennas or satellites. Range varies depending on antennas heights, system and power but is typically between 5 and 20 nautical miles.
What is DTV and HDTV (Digital TV and High Definition TV)?
If you know the basic principles of TV, then you will know all about what is now called analog TV. In analog TV, an analog signal carries intensity and colour information for each scan line of the picture. In about 1967 in Europe 625 scan lines were introduced and called the PAL standard.
This level of resolution was amazing 50 years ago, but today it is rather passe. The lowest resolution computer monitor that anyone uses today has 640x480 pixels, and most people use a resolution like 800x600 or 1024x768. We have grown comfortable with the great clarity and solidity of a computer display, and analog TV technology pales by comparison. Many of the new satellite systems, as well as DVDs, use a digital encoding scheme that provides a much clearer picture. In these systems, the digital information is converted to the analog format to display it on your analog TV. The image looks great compared to a VHS tape but it would be twice as good if the conversion to analog didnīt happen. There is now a big push underway to convert all TV sets from analog to digital, so that digital signals drive your TV set directly. When you read and hear people talking about digital television (DTV), what they are talking about is the transmission of pure digital television signals, along with the reception and display of those signals on a digital TV set. The digital signals might be broadcast over the air or transmitted by a cable or satellite system to your home. In your home, a decoder receives the signal and uses it, in digital form, to directly drive your digital TV set. There is a class of digital television that is getting a lot of press right now. It is called high-definition television, or HDTV. HDTV is high-resolution digital television (DTV) combined with Dolby Digital surround sound (AC-3). HDTV is the highest DTV resolution in the new set of standards. This combination creates a stunning image with stunning sound. HDTV requires new production and transmission equipment at the HDTV stations, as well as new equipment for reception by the consumer. The higher resolution picture is the main selling point for HDTV. Imagine 1250 lines of resolution compared to the 625 lines people are used to in Europe (or the 525 lines in the United States) -- itīs a huge difference! There are already some channels being broadcast in an HDTV format from the Astra 1 satellite. By this time next year Sky is predicted to be transmitting a large number of channels in an HDTV format. You will need new Sky Digiboxes and screens to take full advantage of HDTV.
By Roger Horner of E3 Systems For further information go to the website www.e3s.com for fact sheets, brochures and links. For further information www.e3s.com Tel: +34 971 404208/400738/702975