Changes

WiFi Interface
We moved our web site to a new provider. Therefore the IP address and login credentials or our new FTP server hosting the WiFi firmware has been changed. These are "hardcoded" in the MiniPlex-2 firmware.

Changes

NMEA Input
Bit 7 of incoming data is no longer cleared. In NMEA 0183, bit 7 is always 0 but some proprietary sentences use 8 bit extended ASCII characters. Adrena software uses this for instance to configure certain NKE displays.

Bug Fixes

RMC to ZDA Conversion
The conversion from RMC to ZDA failed on RMC sentences without mode field (NMEA < V2.20). A check for presence of the mode field has been added to fix this.

New Features

The following conversions are added:

• RMC to ZDA: The time and date of an RMC sentence are used to generate a ZDA sentence.
• VTG to HDT: When a VTG sentence is received, the multiplexer generates a HDT sentence.

New Features

The following conversions are added:

• RMC to GGA: When an RMC sentence is received, the multiplexer generates a GGA sentence.
• VHW to VTG: When a VHW sentence is received, the multiplexer generates a VTG sentence

Bug Fixes

SeaTalk

Datagrams 50 (latitude), 51 (longitude) and 58 (lat/lon) were always converted simultaneously, which sometimes resulted in a jumping position in navigation software or on displays. The conversion now uses either datagram 58 or 50/51, with a preference for 58.

Routing

If a sentence was blocked by the Sentence Filter, it would still be used for enabled sentence conversions. This is now fixed in the following way: If an entry in the Sentence Filter is not enbled on any input, that sentence will be completely blocked. If an entry is enabled on an input but not on any output, that sentence is not sent to any output but it will be used to generate a conversion.

New Features

The following conversions are added:

• RMC to GGA: When an RMC sentence is received, the multiplexer generates a GGA sentence.
• VHW to VTG: When a VHW sentence is received, the multiplexer generates a VTG sentence

Bug Fixes

SeaTalk

Datagrams 50 (latitude), 51 (longitude) and 58 (lat/lon) were always converted simultaneously, which sometimes resulted in a jumping position in navigation software or on displays. The conversion now uses either datagram 58 or 50/51, with a preference for 58.

Routing

If a sentence was blocked by the Sentence Filter, it would still be used for enabled sentence conversions. This is now fixed in the following way: If an entry in the Sentence Filter is not enbled on any input, that sentence will be completely blocked. If an entry is enabled on an input but not on any output, that sentence is not sent to any output but it will be used to generate a conversion.

Bug Fixes

WiFi

A setting of the WiFi interface is changed to disable the Link Monitor. This prevents dropped WiFi connections when a device doesn't send any data to the MiniPlex via WiFi. This is often the case when for instance an iPad is used to only monitor you boat's data and/or AIS targets, without driving an autopilot. In this case the iPad does not send any data to the MiniPlex. The Link Monitor would see this as an inactive client and therefore disconnect it from the WiFi network.

Theoretical Wind calculation

A bug in the calculation of Theoretical Wind has been fixed. Wind speed values in m/s, km/h or mph units were incorrectly converted to knots.

New Features

WiFi Channel Setting

In Access Point mode the WiFi channel can now be set with the PSMDWI,W,x command. As before, PSMDWI,W,0 completely disables the WiFi interface. Any number from 1 to 13 will set the WiFi channel. If the WiFi interface was disabled, it is enabled first and a message is shown.

WiFi SSID and passphrase

The WiFi SSID and passphrase may now contain spaces. Thus, a command like

PSMDWI,W,I,Blue Lagoon Marina,Big Secret

is now allowed.

Magnetic Variation

The heading conversion from magnetic to true now uses the magnetic variation present in an RMC sentence too. When converting an HDG sentence, the variation present in this HDG sentence takes precedence over the variation from an RMC sentence. For the conversion of an HDM sentence, the variation of an RMC sentence is used.

When an HDM sentence is converted, the RMC is the only possible source of magnetic variation.

Bug Fixes

SeaTalk Conversion

The COG on the Seatalk bus appears to be a magnetic COG. If a any variation value is present on the SeaTalk, a true COG is calculated. This will now result in a correct true COG when generating an RMC sentence.

Bug Fixes

Theoretical Wind calculation

A bug in the calculation of Theoretical Wind has been fixed. Wind angles > 180 degrees were incorrectly converted.

Bug Fixes

WiFi Support

A bug in the WiFi version check has been fixed. This bug caused WiFi firmware updates from V2.32 to fail.

New Features

Theoretical Wind

An option is added to calculate the Theoretical Wind (often called True Wind) from the Apparent Wind. When the MiniPlex received an MWV sentence with Apparent Wind, it will generate a new MWV sentence with Theoretical Wind. Both sentences are output and can be filtered/routed.

Conversion from VWR to MWV and vice versa

To resolve compatibility problems between old and new instruments and/or software, an option is added to generate an MWV Wind sentence when a VWR sentence is received and vice versa. This option can be used in conjunction with the Theoretical Wind conversion.

HDT to HDM Conversion

The current Heading Conversion option now works both ways. When an HDG or HDM sentence is received, the MiniPlex generates HDT sentence. When an HDT sentence is received, it will generate an HDM sentence. For compatibility with older equipment, the heading value is truncated to one decimal place.

WiFi V4.41 Support

This MiniPlex firmware is needed to support the new WiFi V4.41 firmware with encrypted Access Point. The MiniPlex V3.30.0 firmware is included in te WiFi V4.41 package.

MiniPlex-2Wi: a bug has been resolved in the WiFi update procedure.

Modifications

A new command has been implemented: PSMDC

This command retrieves the entire MiniPlex configuration for diagnostic purposes.

Bugfixes

MiniPlex-2Wi: a bug has been resolved in the WiFi update procedure. Due to changes in the commands and responses of the new WiFi firmware V4.0, a firmware update resulted in an error message while the update performed ok. MiniPlex firmware V3.23.0 has been modified to respond properly.

Modifications

a command has been added to switch the WiFi interface on and off.

Command PSMDWI,W,0 switches the WiFi interface off, PSMDWI,W,1 switches WiFi on again.

• An option is added to the settings of NMEA Out2 to convert specific sentences to NMEA V1.5 format. This allows older B&G equipment to be controlled by modern software and chartplotters. The following sentences are converted: APB, BWC, BWR, GLL, RMB, RMC, VTG and XTE. Basically, the status field at the end of each sentence is removed.
• Flow control (CTS/RTS) is implemented for TCP connections via WiFi.

• A flow control (RTS/CTS) bug has been fixed. Because of a modification in V3.13.1, the flow control no longer worked, causing waypoints sent from the computer to be lost (buffer overflow). This is fixed now and transfer of waypoints is temporary stalled until the multiplexer has room for more.

• Adapted to the new WiFi firmware V4.00
• The SSID is now MiniPlex-xxxxxxxx where the x-es represent the serial number of the multiplexer.
• The Talker ID modification operates on Proprietary NMEA sentences again. Although these sentences do not have a Talker ID, it can be useful sometimes to change characters, to be able to distinguish between similar sentences on different inputs.

• New functions have been implemented for receiving plain text on the NMEA inputs. This allows non-NMEA sensors to be connected to the multiplexer.
• The $PSMDCN sentence that was used to indicate the input number on which a sentence was received, has been replaced by the standard NMEA sentence $MXSTN.
• A $PSMDUI command is implemented to set the Unique Identifier of the multiplexer. This UI is used as Source Parameter in the TAG blocks generated by the multiplexer.
• A new command strcuture has been implemented for the $PSMD... commands. New commands are added to support the new functions of the multiplexer.

Bugfixes

• The host interfaces are no longer part of the Priority mechanism. This prevents blocking of NMEA sentences that are echoed by the host. Such a sentence would have a higher priority than its original from an NMEA input, which would then be blocked.
• When a full filter/routing list was dumped, the terminating empty $PSMDFL sentence was not sent, leaving MPX-Config blocked. This is fixed.
• Talker ID modification is no longer applied to received Proprietary NMEA sentences. These sentences do not have a Talker ID.
• NMEA V1.5 sentences from a GPS were not properly handled by the GPS Status check. These sentences do not have a status field, causing them to be always rejected when Priority was enabled.
• A bug is fixed that caused a burst of $PSMDLDR sentences from the bootloader when a firmware update was aborted. This sometimes prevented MPX-Config to initiate a new firmware update.

This update enhances the WiFi stability. The WiFi connection now supports the UDP protocol. Up to 5 clients can send and receive data using UDP. TCP is still limited to one connection. UDP communication stops when a device opens a TCP connection.

WiFi updates are more robust and verbose about the update process.

The PSMDWI,Y command has been removed. The PSMDWI,A command now determines the WiFi version and initializes the interface accordingly.

A MiniPlex firmware bug has been resolved which caused a "Multiplexer does not respond" message to appear in MPX-Config when reading the configuration while a lot of NMEA data was received. A minor bug affecting the flow control on the host interfaces has been resolved.

Supports WiFi firmware updates from the built-in FTP server in MPX-Config V3.10.x. A WiFi connection to the Internet is no longer needed, the update can be loaded as a file.

The Sentence Filter & Routing in V3.17.1 failed to block a sentence while it was listed in the filter list and received on a blocked input. This only occured when the Default Action was set to Pass. This is resolved in V3.17.2.

The WiFi interface now operates as an Access Point instead of Ad-hoc network, resulting in a stable WiFi connection. Devices that connect over WiFi now get an IP address from the multiplexer. The IP address of the MiniPlex-2Wi is now 10.0.0.1/255.255.255.0.

An option is added to reverse the heading of a gyro compass by 180 degrees. This can be used to provide two opposing navigation stations on ferries with a heading from the same gyro.

A queue is added as a fifth 'virtual' input that receives NMEA sentences generated from NMEA conversions. This adds more flexibility to the routing of original and converted NMEA sentences.

The NMEA filter now accepts multiple entries with the same NMEA address field. This allows routing of identical sentences from different inputs to different outputs.

This update has better handling of WiFi firmware updates. New PSMDWI commands are added to configure the WiFi connection.

This update allows you to update the firmware in the WiFi module. It improves the stability of the WiFi connection and prevents the WiFi module from loosing its configuration. Read the included Readme file for instructions.

This update resolves WiFi connection problems. When the WiFi connection is lost by for instance closing your laptop, the multiplexer tries to maintain the TCP connection for one minute. During this time it is not possible to reconnect and the multiplexer appears to be unresponsive.

With this update installed, the multiplexer terminates any existing TCP connection when the WiFi connection is lost. After the update procedure, the WiFi interface must be re-initialized by manually issueing the $PSMDWI,&A command.

This version is similar to V3.13.0 with added support for WiFi.

VTG to VHW conversion implemented to allow substitution of log data with speed and heading info from a GPS. This conversion generates a new VHW sentence from a VTG sentence. The original VTG sentence is still available. The same behaviour applies to the HDG to HDT conversion when enabled: previous versions replaced the HDG sentence with a HDT sentence, this version generates a HDT sentence in addition to the HDG sentence.

Filter option added to determine the default action of the sentence filter. Non-listed sentences can be passed or blocked. This option replaces the "all-wildcard" ("-----") entry.

Bug fixed in the VTG sentence status field check.

Update in SeaTalk conversion: a VHW sentence (Speed Through Water) will have its heading field filled when a SeaTalk Heading datagram is received.

The GPS status check now includes the VTG sentence.

Bug fixed in the handling of the PSMDSP sentence. When SeaTalk translation is enabled, the speed parameter for Input 4 will now be ignored and this input will be set to operate at 4800 Baud.

Bug resolved in handling of the NMEA input queues. In rare cases not all data was retrieved from the queues, resulting in a decreased capacity while the statistics window never showed 0% for an input.

Bug fixed in SeaTalk to NMEA translation which stopped working after a few seconds and subsequently Input 4 showed a constant overflow. The adjustable priority time-out did not work.

Bug fixed in the setting of the variable Priority time out.

Added the possibility of routing NMEA data based on default routes and specific sentence based routes. These routing options replace the Hub and Server modes.

TAG blocks implemented for adding input channel information to NMEA sentences.

Added a command to restore the multiplexer to its factory default settings.

Fixed a bug in the translation of SeaTalk data, where a corrupted SeaTalk block could produce a garbled NMEA sentence.

The MiniPlex-2 can now be updated by the user. New firmware versions can be downloaded and programmed into the multiplexer with MPX-Config.

The Bluetooth version now exists in two versions: with an RS-232 port and with a USB port.

A few minor improvements were made like selectable priority for SeaTalk data, adjustable Priority time-out, validity test for GPS data and an extension of the baudrate range of the inputs and outputs.