The maritime electronics manufacturer Furuno from Rellingen, Germany, has launched a new compact Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS[ds_preview]). A panel computer provides the Furuno FMD-3100 with the necessary hardware. The crew can perform the mechanical installation on board on their own. The new model comes as a cost-effective version of the FMD-3×00 series, featuring the same software, and is available from this month on. It meets the requirements for paper-free navigation/mapping, if two stations are installed. Radar overlay is integrated as standard. This requires a connection to a Furuno radar FAR-2xx7 or FAR 3xx0 series via LAN. It is possible using an optional Radar Connection Box (RCB-002) to connect the FMD-3100 to radar systems from other manufacturers.
The hardware includes a 24“ full HD widescreen. The costs of the installation have been reduced through the use of smaller components compared to previous series. The SSD drives and Compact Flash memory cards used reduce mechanical wear and moving parts. The stability of the hardware and software is maintained without uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The new device runs on a Linux operating system with Furuno instant chart redraw technology for rapid map display. In addition, it is compatible with Jeppesen Dynamic Licensing and supports the Admiralty Information Overlay. The latest updates can be automatically downloaded when connected to the Internet. Via the menu item »Auto Load« the system automatically transmits the map updates to the entire ECDIS network. Weather data can be loaded and displayed graphically on the ECDIS, too. Furuno Germany also provides Furuno ECDIS type specific training on the new FMD 3100.
