The ABN AMRO ONE yacht, which finished first in the 2005/2006 Volvo Ocean Race, successfully used two Digi Hubport/7 DC USB hubs and two Digi Edgeport/8 USB-to-serial converters onboard to provide reliable navigation support and networking solutions for the race.
The Volvo Ocean Race (originally the Whitbread Round the World Race), is the world's longest ocean race, at over 48 000 km long, calling at nine ports worldwide and taking over seven months to complete. The race is physically and mentally challenging as participants have to live in close quarters for up to a month at a time, with 10 crewmen per boat, no beds, no kitchen, no chairs and only one toilet. Considering space is at such a premium and the conditions onboard so demanding, the equipment on ABN AMRO ONE needed to be compact, reliable and robust.
Navigation in modern times is less about actually determining position than it is about weather prediction and selecting the fastest course. This requires many types of equipment including a GPS, communications equipment, and weather monitoring technology. Given the limited space and the fact that there was only a small diesel generator to charge batteries, it was essential that networking equipment be as efficient with space and power as possible.
Stan Honey, navigator of ABN AMRO ONE, needed a networking solution that would be reliable, easy to configure, and be both power- and space-efficient. Given these user requirements, two Digi Hubport/7 DC hubs and two Edgeport/8 converters were selected to meet the yacht's networking requirements. According to Honey, it was the products' proven reliability that most appealed to him. He stated, "I have found that Digi networking products consistently perform well and, most importantly in an around-the-world yacht race, they have always been reliable."
As an out-of-the-box (external) alternative to PCI cards, the Digi Edgeport/8 connects via USBto a PC or server to provide eight serial ports. By simply plugging in two Edgeport/8 units, ABM AMRO ONE gained 16 serial ports in a matter of minutes without opening the PC's chassis, reconfiguring and rebooting. This allowed for greater networking flexibility - essential as the networking requirements at sea can change, and it could have been necessary to alternate or add additional equipment.
While Digi's Edgeport USB-to-serial converters offer an easy plug-and-play solution forCOM port expansion, it was the ability to disable the plug-and-play function that interested Honey. The ability to disengage plug-and-play allowed him to customise the equipment to the unique specifications necessary on the yacht and to prevent Windows from misinterpreting GPS NMEA strings as serial mouse data. Honey also used two Hubport/7 DC hubs onboard the yacht. The Hubport/7 DC offers an external, user installable solution that plugs into an existing USB port to provide seven additional USB ports for instant peripheral device connectivity.
With the limited power onboard provided by a diesel generator and batteries, it was important that the Hubport/7 DC could run directly off 24 V d.c., thus conserving energy and avoiding the extra requirement for a DC-DC converter.
The Volvo Ocean Race began in Sanxenxo, Spain, 5 November 2005, and completed 17 June 2006 in Gothenburg, Sweden. ABN AMRO ONE finished the race in first place by a comfortable margin.
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