In the palm of your hand

Full function marine PDA chartplotter from Digital Yacht

Digital Yacht, the Bristol-based manufacturer of marine PC systems and software has introduced a new hand-held PC system with chart plotter, GPS and GSM communications device all incorporated into one compact and rugged hand-held unit. The unit is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, features a sunlight-viewable 2.8” colour touch screen display and full function keypad.

It is totally waterproof, drop resistant (to Mil Standard 850F compliance) and comes complete with a long life Li-Ion rechargeable battery pack and AC/DC charger. The unit incorporates a GPS, and a full range of C-Map marine electronic charts is available to plug directly into the unit’s mini-SD slot. It can be used with an existing SIM card, so there’s no need to purchase a new one, and will also operate with Maptech charting or any other software designed for the Windows Mobile platform.

Maritime safety is at the heart of Airo’s operation. The unit includes a distress button which, when activated, sends a distress message over the GSM network with the last GPS position directly to a Digital Yacht call centre, which offers 24-hour monitoring. Messages can be sent in voice, text or email format to the user’s specification.

The operating system is based around the familiar Windows Mobile format so incorporates all the normal functions such as web browsing, email and cut-down versions of Microsoft Office products, including Word and Excel.

Digital Yacht will launch a series of push data services in 2008 including automatic delivery of weather and navigation information to Airo users, together with a polling function so that the unit can be tracked and the device’s position displayed through a secure web interface. An optional onboard fitting kit is available together with external antenna and cradle. The Airo Pocket PC sells for £599 including VAT, and will be available from January 2008.