E-SEA FIX CAT ROT

The E-Sea Fix CAT ROT is a small and compact pilot unit primarily designed to connect to a ship AIS pilot plug and transmit data via Wi-Fi to the Pilots notebook.

The CAT ROT has an integrated rate sensor thus providing decimal degrees to the heading information, a valid Rate-Of-Turn (ROT) and reliable predictions.

As a backup solution the CAT ROT has an integrated GPS receiver. So should the pilot plug become defective for any reason the CAT ROT can, crucially, act independently if taken to the bridge wing to acquire a GPS signal.

nEW FEATURES OF THE E-SEA FIX CAT ROT

technical data

The CAT is also available in a version without ROT sensor called CAT Basic

EXAMPLE 1 - All data from Pilot Plug	EXAMPLE 2 - Defect Pilot Plug. Position data from CAT

What exactly is an AIS Pilot Plug?
An AIS Pilot Plug allows pilots and mariners to receive data from the vessel Automatic Identification System (AIS) straight to their own PC or portable device.

What information is available using an AIS Pilot Plug?
The AIS Pilot Plug sends out all relevant information such as AIS targets, ships position, heading, speed etc

How accurate is this information?
The data from the AIS pilot plug comes from the ships’ instrumentation such as speed log, gyro (heading) and ship GPS so in some cases they are very accurate and in other cases they are incorrect. The heading however is only forwarded in whole degrees by the AIS.
Especially the GPS can be setup with incorrect chart datum in regards to the charts used on the PPU. (E.G. PULKOVO 47, ED 50)

Communication protocol?
The AIS Pilot plug uses NMEA format. RS 422.
On some of the AIS plugs the + and – are reversed but the CAT unit will detect this and still function.

Can I connect more than one device to the Pilot Plug at the same time?
Using the CAT will send out the signal through Wi-Fi thus enabling more users to receive the signal.

Can the CAT units be used with other software?
Yes, the data are sent out via Wi-Fi and nowadays most notebook PCs support this standard.
The software on the PC must be setup for the Wi-Fi standard but in case this is not possible we can include a software program which converts data from Wi-Fi to serial (com port). ‘Virtual com port converter’.

What is the range of the Wi-Fi?
The range depends on the local conditions. In ‘line of sight’ it is 300 meters but it is no problem to use the Notebook PC outside when the CAT is inside the wheelhouse and visa versa.

What happens if the connection to the pilot plug fails?
In some cases (5 %) the output of the pilot plug does not function or the data are incorrect.
In that case the CAT can be placed outside and the built in GPS will be used to find the ships position and course over ground used as the ships heading.

Is it possible to use 2 CAT units at the same time, for example one for AIS and one for GPS?
Yes, this configuration is possible. One CAT (connected to the AIS pilot plug) will pick up the heading and the AIS signals and the other (outside) will get the GPS position.

Why should I buy the CAT ROT?
The ROT sensor will make the heading from the ships’ AIS pilot plug more accurate. It will insert the decimal degrees to the headings so instead of changing from e.g. 85 to 86 it will go 85.1, 85.2, 85.3 etc. This will make it possible to calculate a Rate-of-Turn and provide reliable prediction.

What is the delivery time for a CAT unit?
3-4 weeks.