Marine electronics refers to

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

devices designed and classed for use in the marine environment on board ships and yachts where even a small amount of salt water can destroy some

devices. Therefore, the majority of these types of devices are either water resistant or waterproof. Marine electronics devices include chartplotter, marine VHF radio,

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of a vehicle without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allow ...

and self-steering gear,

fishfinder A fishfinder or sounder (Australia) is a sonar instrument used on boats to identify aquatic animals, bathymetry, underwater topography and other objects by detecting reflection (physics), reflected sound wave, pulses of sound energy, usually dur ...

and

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

marine radar Marine radars are X band or S band radars on ships, used to detect other ships and land hazards, to provide bearing and distance for collision avoidance and navigation at sea. They are electronic navigation instruments that use a rotating a ...

satellite navigation device A satellite navigation (satnav) device or GPS device is a device that uses satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) or similar global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). A satnav device can determine the user's geographic coordinat ...

, fibre optic gyrocompass,

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

, and marine fuel management.

Communication

The electronics devices communicate by using a protocol defined by National Marine Electronics Association(NMEA), with two standards available,

NMEA 0183 NMEA 0183 is a combined electrical and data specification for communication between marine electronics such as echo sounder, sonars, anemometer, gyrocompass, Self-steering gear, autopilot, GPS receivers and many other types of instruments. It has b ...

(

serial communication In telecommunication and data transmission, serial communication is the process of sending data one bit at a time, sequentially, over a communication channel or computer bus. This is in contrast to parallel communication, where several bits a ...

network) and

NMEA 2000 NMEA 2000, abbreviated to NMEA2k or N2K and standardized as IEC 61162, IEC 61162-3, is a plug-and-play communications standard used for connecting marine Sensor, sensors and display Unit of measurement, units within ships and boats. Communication ...

( controller-area network based technology). There is also Lightweight Ethernet (LWE). In recent years, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has created a new standards suite for "Digital interfaces for navigational equipment within a ship". This is known as IEC 61162 and included NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000 and LWE. Additionally, different suppliers of marine electronics have their own

communications protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics (computer science), sem ...

. *A+T Instruments has ESP Ethernet over Ships Power * B&G has FastNet * Furuno has NavNet ("NavNet" refers to a product family, and is not a communications protocol. Furuno uses industry standard NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000, and standard Ethernet for communications protocol in their products) *Mastervolt has CZone *Nexus has FDX *

Raymarine Raymarine is a manufacturer and major supplier of electronic equipment for marine use. The company targets both recreational and light commercial markets with their products, which include: *GPS Chartplotters *Marine VHF radio, VHF Radios *Digita ...

has Seatalk / SeatalkNG * Simrad has SimNet * Stowe has Dataline

Navigation

Another important part of marine electronics is the navigation equipment. Here compasses, which includes both

gyrocompass A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical Direction (geometry), direction automaticall ...

es and

magnetic compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with m ...

es, make up for equipment that is used by the entire shipping industry.

Industry

Some manufacturers specialize more in equipment for commercial vessels such as tankers and general cargo vessels. This industry is relatively small with worldwide sales of $3.2 billion in 2015. The top manufacturer is Garmin's Marine division with a turnover of US$917 Million in 2023Company filing https://www.garmin.com/en-US/newsroom/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2023-Q4-GRMN-Earnings-Release_FINAL.pdf followed by Brunswick-owned

Navico Navico is a marine electronics company providing navigation, marine instruments and fish finding equipment to both the recreational and commercial marine sectors. The Navico Recreational Marine Division is one of the world's largest provider of ...

Group (Simrad, Lowrance, B&G and several other brands), with a turnover of US$915 Million (although this includes sales of equipment which is not marine electronics, such as batteries, cables and pumps). Other popular brands are Japan-based Furuno, Japan Radio Company,

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...

and Raymarine.

References

{{Electronic systems * Navigational equipment manufacturers