Can I use an NMEA Multiplexer with my NMEA Autoswitch?

Yes, is the simple answer. The NMEA Autoswitch has been specifically designed to work together with the NMEA Multiplexer / Combiner to create a complete NMEA system solution.

The normal NMEA system would have an Actisense NMEA Autoswitch connected to two (or more) GPS / Depth sounder units. The NMEA Autoswitch adds a special NMEA tag to the data that passes through it to help identify which of these GPS / Depth sounder units supplied the NMEA data.

The autoswitched NMEA output is connected to one of the NMEA Multiplexer’s inputs. In this way the highest priority device’s NMEA data is autoswitched into the complete NMEA system and the actual device supplying the NMEA data can be determined (and displayed if required and possible) to help the user.

Our current range of multiplexers and our PRO-BUF-1 have autoswitching capabilities built in, where the priority can be defined. The NDC-4 has ‘smart’ autoswitching, which means that as soon as the data is identified as invalid or corrupt it will switch to the secondary input. The NDC-5 and PRO-MUX-1 / PRO-BUF-2 are having this feature added in future, as they currently autoswitch when no data at all is present on one input.

For more information on NMEA 0183 and how it works, please download our free guide to NMEA 0183 networking.