XB-8000 new WiFi AIS transponder for mobile devices [Update]

Vesper Marine, company established in 2007 in Auckland (New Zealand), specializes in the design of devices for AIS data broadcasting. Their latest product, XB-8000, is a Class B AIS transponder certified NMEA2000® compact, low consumption, responding to the yachting market and small professional units. It was essentially designed with WiFi transmission in mind to navigation applications developed on tablets and smartphones.

[Updated] After the acquisition of Vesper Marine by Garmin, this device is discontinued since February 2023. The brand name is also removed.

The XB-8000 includes :

• A multi-processor architecture, AIS Class B transmitter, Dual channel parallel AIS receiver Class A and B, DSC receiver (Digital Selective Calling).
• A Wi-Fi router, access point that supports the simultaneous connection of up to 5 mobile devices (Laptops, tablets or smartphones) and thus allowing the sharing of NMEA data from the instruments, GPS and AIS. The XB-8000 is also designed to integrate with a wide area Wi-Fi network if needed.
• NMEA 2000 gateway combining the main instrument data (Heading, Speed, Log, Vent, Depth, Temperature) with AIS and GPS data, and NMEA 2000 translator to USB (Laptops) and NMEA0183 in and out.

So XB-8000 allows to mix NMEA 0183 data from instruments and devices with AIS and GPS NMEA 2000 data and forwarding to both NMEA 2000, in NMEA 0183 to old chartplotters, and WiFi to mobiles.

A free app for iPhone/iPad offers a "radar" and target list view, allows configuration, Remote control (including Silent Mode) and device health monitoring.
The transponder is supplied with a built-in GPS receiver and a high-speed receiver antenna. 50 -Channels (WAAS/EGNOS) and 10m of cable, an external VHF / AIS antenna 1m. is available as an option (²).

The XB-8000 has the particularity of being fully waterproof IPx7, with 5 Waterproof connectors :

• 1 Antenna connector.
• 1 GPS connector.
• 1 NMEA 2000 certified connector.
• 1 mini-USB port connector (with 1m cable. abundant, 5meters. as an option)
• 1 input NMEA 0183 (4800/38400 bps) port connector differential (RS422), output NMEA 0183 (4800/38400 bps) port connector differential (RS422), 12-24V power supply (Power/Data cable 2m. abundant).

Usage

For Weather4D Routing & Navigation, as for iNavX, iSailor and others, setup is easy. Once connected to the transponder's Wi-Fi access point, in the settings (TCP/IP in iNavX, NMEA AIS for Weather4D 2.0 and iSailor), we must grasp :

• IP address : 192.168.15.1
• Port : 39150
• Fashion : TCP (Multi-client)

Using, AIS targets appear in applications, iNavX allows you to choose whether to display all targets or only "on-road" targets.

AIS targets displayed in iNavX

Applications display routes of ships and all their information, calculate CPA and TCPA, offer a proximity alarm. Weather4D Routing & Navigation also displays the real-time prediction of the respective positions of the targets and the boat's own at the CPA's moment, This makes it possible to visually determine at all times whether the active target is moving forward or backward. Safety-critical data, same as best chartplotters for pleasure.

AIS Targets with Weather4D Routing & Sailing in the Strait of Gibraltar

The equipment budget for these AIS transponders over WiFi, significantly lower than that of a Radar, now makes the security obtained accessible, and allows boaters to participate in this great safety system that AIS provides (³). In addition, the combined functions of the mentioned devices offer to read all navigation data in applications.

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(¹) An AIS WiFi transponder iNavX compatible
(²) AIS transponder, dedicated antenna or antenna splitter ?
(³) AIS, the second maritime revolution after the GPS
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