Exporting target markers

Under normal use, the ST90 system presents several different echoes simultaneously. Some of these are clearly more interesting than others. It can be a challenging task to tell these echoes apart. It can also be hard to keep track of the different echoes as both echoes and your own vessel move. To ease the identification of these echoes you can use markers. Each marker is identified with its geographical location. This marker location can be very useful for other instruments. For example, you can export this information to a chart plotter.

A compatible instrument is connected to the ST90 system. You have a vacant interface port on your Processor Unit. The interface port is set up with the correct communication parameters.

In this context, the phrase marker is used to identify a visual symbol placed in the display presentation. A marker is thus a graphical indicator used to identify and highlight specific locations or objects. You can use markers to pinpoint and label interesting positions, objects or targets the ST90 system detects. Placing a marker on an echo identifies the echo as "interesting". It is regarded as an object that you can act upon.

Procedure

  1. Open the Operation menu.
  2. Select Output.

    Observe that the Output dialog box opens. This dialog box contains a number of pages selected from the menu on the left side.

  3. Select Marker Output to open the page.
    1. Select an output type from the list.
    2. Select the communication port you want to use.
    3. Select which marker type to export.
    4. Select Add to save the output format.
    5. Select Apply to save your choices.
  4. If you want to check the communication parameters, select Inspect Port.
    Note:

    You cannot make any changes here. To change the communication parameters, use the I/O Setup page. The I/O Setup page is located in the Installation and Output dialog boxes.

  5. If you want to check the data flow on the selected port, select Monitor.

    In order to see this data traffic, your ST90 system must be active and transmitting information to the peripheral system.

    The Port Monitor dialog box provides one text box for incoming messages (Rx Data), and one for outgoing messages (Tx Data). Use these boxes and your knowledge of the data communication to investigate the datagrams. The Port Monitor dialog box is a tool for debugging purposes. It is neither required nor intended for normal operation of the ST90 system.

  6. At the bottom of the Output dialog box, select OK to save the chosen parameters and close it.