General Information; Restrictions - NorthStar 972 Quickstart Manual And Reference Manual

General information

Restrictions

Reference section 10 — Networking
142
General information
Northstar's networking allow 972's to be
connected together to share navigation
data. Waypoints and routes are shared
among all networked displays, without any
work on the user's part. Any changes made
to a route or waypoint instantly appear in
all connected units. If a unit is turned off
while changes are being made, those
In a network, one unit is designated as the
master, and all others as slaves. The GPS
antenna is connected to the master unit.
The only restrictions on networking are the
following:
there must be one and only one master
•
unit operating in a network
all units must have the same software
•
version.
If, for example, a slave unit is turned on
before the master, a message is displayed
reminding the user to turn on the master
unit before using the slave. In case the
master unit is not available (in for service,
for example), brief instructions show how
to convert a slave into a master unit
temporarily.
changes are automatically copied into that
unit when it is turned back on.
Navigation can be started from any unit,
and your progress and steering screens are
displayed on any unit. In addition, radar
and sounder images are sent in real time to
all 972 displays on the network, and the
radar and the sounder can be controlled
from any of the connected units.
In normal use, this means that as long as
the master is turned on, everything works
automatically.
The remainder of this section tells what to
do if you experience one of the rare occur-
rences where networking stops working.
Master unit unavailable
If your master unit becomes unavailable
due to a failure or other reason, you can
replace it with any other 972 on the vessel.
The GPS antenna and any necessary NMEA
devices must be connected to the replace-
ment unit. In many situations, it will be
easiest to move the replacement unit to the
location of the master and physically
replace it.
Northstar 972