NAVIGATIONAL AID AND AUTOPILOT

摘要

A navigation aid and autopilot in which the condition of the craft, the external characteristics, and a chart are combined into a single communication. The navigational aid measures external physical conditions such as radio transmissions (12), radar soundings (13), sonar soundings (14), and the like, as well as the physical state of the craft such as fuel flow (24), list of the craft, and speed of the motor. Through the monitoring of these characteristics and the use of an electronic chart, the system combines and communicates in a single combination the total informational content. Additionally, a Loran-C type device (11) is used to communicate via the map the position of the craft relative to the external physical positions being monitored so as to provide a single visual representation (18) of the actual state of the craft relative to the real world. The system additionally provides a real-time log (21).