WindTracker Program

Description:

The WindTracker program was designed to provide Apparent and True Wind tracking for autopilots without this capability.  The program reads the apparent or true wind data from NMEA 0183 devices and controls the autopilot with NMEA 0183 commands.

The program also presents the tracking data in four different formats:

1. Table format.
2. Strip Chart Recorder format, which displays the data versus time.  The display is continuously being updated and graphs the data over a specified time span.  This time span can be specified from 1 minute to 24 hours.
3. Performance Polar format, which displays the boat speed, wind speed, and wind direction plus the predicted boat speed.  The predicted boat speed is obtained from a simple data file for your boat.  This data file is a table of boat speed versus wind speed and wind direction.
4. Tacking Data format, which displays the optimized tack angle and time period for a specified course.  This data is shown as text and vectors overlayed on top of the performance polar data.

Screen Shots:

• Main Window
• Block Diagram Window
• Polar Plot Window
• Polar Plot Window with Optimized Tacking Data

Download the WindTracker files.