The PilotAid program fits between the electronic navigation software (ENC) and the autopilot (AP). It was designed to compensate for the difference between the AP's bearing and ENC's bearing. I found while cruising in British Columbia and Alaska that the ENC-AP interface was not able to keep the cross track error at or near zero. It was always several hundred feet off center. The problem is that the AP's bearing is derived from a magnetic compass while the ENC's bearing is derived from the GPS, and the difference between these two bearings is often 10 to 15 degrees. The PilotAid program adjusts the ENC bearing to compensate for this difference before sending the corrected bearing to the AP.
The PilotAid program receives ENC NMEA data via an input comm port and, after correcting the NMEA data, sends it to the AP via an output comm port. The program automatically tracks the difference between the magnetic and GPS bearings by monitoring the cross track error. To avoid needing to add additional hardware comm ports to interconnect the ENC, PilotAid and AP together, the PilotAid program allows software or virtual comm ports to be used in place of hardware comm ports. That way no additional hardware is needed to insert the PlotAid program between the ENC and the AP.
Download the PilotAid files.
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