NAVICO LAUNCHES THE NEW NAIS 500 CLASS-B AIS TRANSPONDER

Navico, the parent company to Lowrance, Simrad and B&G brands, leaders in marine electronics for professional and recreational boating, launches the new NAIS 500 Class-B.

A safety tool whose presence on board is increasingly more essential today, the NAIS 500 belongs to the category of AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponders, devices specifically designed to receive and send a series of essential navigation data.

Mandatory on commercial ships, passenger ships and working vessels ( in the case of fishing boats, its use is mandatory on ships of 15 mt and upwards) AIS transponders are equipped with a digital VHF transmission system along with an embedded positioning system. This way, they can send a series of navigation data to other ships sailing in the same area every few seconds and receive the same pieces of information simultaneously.

Especially at night and on sailboats, monitoring the transits of neighbouring ships is extremely important. Even those who are equipped with a radar not always have a clear perception of approaching speed or target direction, especially in the event of hard weather conditions. With the only limit of the VHF range, the AIS system provides, on the contrary, with exact data concerning the real course, the speed detected by the integrated gps system, the ship-to-ship distance along with eventual collision risks, transmitted speed, the name of the approaching ship, its MMSI number and many further details. The overlapping targets displayed on the screen of the on-board chartplotter immediately provides with a full picture of the surrounding transits and, above all, it allows the other ships, if equipped with the same AIS system, to “see” us more efficiently than a simple radar reflector.

The NAIS 500 is compact in size, lightweight (less than 250 g), equipped with a 100% waterproof chassis and capable of withstanding harsh offshore conditions. With a power supply voltage range of 12 V, it absorbs just 180 mA for continuous digital signal transmission. Its considerable low power consumption makes it suitable for any recreational boat, sailboats included. Furthermore, the amount of connections available ensures full compatibility with all the multi-function chartplotters made by the three brands. More specifically, the Simrad NSS, NSO and GO series, Simrad RS VHF systems, Lowrance HDS Carbon and HDS Gen3 series and B&G Zeus 3 and Vulcan series. Compatibility to NMEA 200, NMEA 0183, NMEA 0183 multiplexing and USD protocols complete the device’s usability both with other systems and eventual on-board computer. Depending on configuration, price is around 1,000 euros (VAT included), which makes the device significantly more affordable than any other marine electronic system supporting the inevitable deck watchkeepers armed with their loyal binoculars.