Integration Options
FarSounder’s Argos series sonars offer great flexibility when it comes to integration into the bridge of your vessel. Integration means different things to different users. We offer various levels of customization to ensure that the system integration meets your needs.
Bridge Display, KVM, or Video Matrix
FarSounder’s stand alone software.
All of our navigation products include our stand alone software which runs on a standard Windows 10 based computer. At the most basic level, the video output of the FarSounder system’s bridge computer is displayed on a bridge monitor and controlled with a 2 button mouse or trackball. We know you want to match all the monitors on your bridge. Therefore, we don’t supply a display (though our dealers can if needed). Our software can be displayed on a dedicated monitor, share a monitor via KVM, or be input directly into a video matrix switch.
Chart Display Options
Though chart data is not required to use our system, correlating chart data to 3D forward-looking sonar data is a great way to improve situational awareness while navigating. FarSounder’s software includes the capability to display ENCs with the sonar’s sea floor and in-water target detections overlaid on top of the chart data. The software supports standard S57/S63 format charts by default. However, the software can be configured to support I4Insight Professional+ databases (previously known as C-Map Professional+). The sonar’s Local History Mapping data is also overlaid on the ENC chart data.
AIS/ARPA Overlays
AIS target overlay in the chart display
Bubbles from the wakes of passing vessels make great sonar targets. When AIS and/or ARPA targets correlate to the position of sonar detections, the user can quickly correlate these targets to past vessel movements. The display of AIS and ARPA targets as on overlay on top of ENC chart data is integrated into FarSounder’s S57/S63 chart display.
Hotkey Integration
Customers using a custom bridge console with glass buttons, foil panel, or virtual touch screen controllers can interface to our software’s controls via Windows hotkey integration. All day-to-day controls can be accessed via a array of configrable hotkeys. Any controller which appears as a keyboard interface device to the FarSounder computer can use these hotkeys to connect the custom bridge console’s buttons directly to the software’s controls.
Direct Integration with 3rd Party Systems
In addition to controlling FarSounder software via custom interfaces and integrating AIS, ARPA, and ENC data inside FarSounder’s software, some 3rd party systems incorporate FarSounder 3D sonar data into their software. FarSounder systems include a network accessible, machine interface allowing for control of all day-to-day settings and display of sonar data in both a 3D display as well as chart overlay. Third party systems with direction integration of FarSounder 3D forward looking sonar data include:
SDK for New Integrations
In addition to the off-the-shelf integration options listed above, FarSounder also offers a Software Development Kit (SDK). The SDK enables other 3rd party systems to access processed sonar data and offers complete control of the system’s day-to-day settings.
