ComNav Commander P2 - Status Output

ComNav Commander P2 & P2VS Installation & Operation Appendices
Document PN 29010074 V4.1 - 189 -
Status Output
PCMNS is an NMEA “proprietary” sentence – i.e., a sentence that can be output only by
ComNav equipment
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. It carries “autopilot status” information, as follows:
Field #
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11
a b c d e f
Example $ P CMN S, AP, 347, 346.1, M, 0.6, 0.3, 347, W, L * 03
The fields in this sentence are as follows (fields 1 – 10 are separated by commas, as shown):
1) The sentence lead-in:
a) $ is the symbol that starts all NMEA 0183 Proprietary sentences
b) P identifies a proprietary sentence
c) CMN is the Manufacturer Mnemonic assigned to ComNav Marine Ltd.
d) S identifies this as a status sentence
2) Mode: SB ⇒ STANDBY mode, PS ⇒ POWER STEER mode,
AP ⇒ AUTO mode, NA ⇒ NAV mode
3) Commanded Heading or Wind Angle, in degrees: 347°
4) Actual Heading or Wind Angle, in degrees: 346.1°
5) Type of Heading (M ⇒ Magnetic, T ⇒ True)
or Type of Wind Angle (A ⇒ Apparent, T ⇒ True)
6) Commanded Rudder Angle: 0.6°
7) Actual Rudder Angle: 0.3°
8) ALC-corrected Heading: 347° (field is blank if ALC is not active)
9) W indicates that WIND or WORK mode is active (field is blank if mode not active)
10) L indicates that ALC is active (field is blank if ALC is not active, or if WIND mode is
active)
11) Checksum:
e) * is the checksum delimiter
f) Checksum, as per NMEA 0183 Standard
Here are some examples of typical PCMNS outputs, on the same P2VS system as above.
• In AUTO mode, with ALC on, & a Commanded Heading of 347°:
$PCMNS,AP,347,346.7,M,5.1,0.3,347,,L*50
• In WIND mode (the Vessel Type is set to Sail), with a Commanded Wind Angle of
89° Starboard, and the current wind angle 89° Apparent, Starboard:
$PCMNS,AP,89,89,A,5.1,0.3,,W,*6F
• In WORK mode (the Vessel Type is set to Stern), with ALC On, & a Commanded
Heading of 347°:
$PCMNS,AP,347,347,M,0.3,0.3,347,W,L*18
When the autopilot powers up, a “start up” variant of PCMNS is output (& repeated several
times), showing the version number & timestamp of the SPU firmware:
$PCMNS,ST,P2VS_SPU 1.00 Aug 27/2009 11:41:11*42
When the autopilot is powered up in Dockside Setup, another variant of PCMNS is output, &
repeated until Dockside Setup is exited:
$PCMNS,FS,,,M,0,0.3,,,*2A
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… in theory … or at least by equipment which conforms to the NMEA Standard!