SynchroSystems has a design concept for a low-cost, very low-power
electronic tide predictor that we are considering dusting off for a
design competition. Although we don't have any plans to market it as a
product at this time, I'd like to get some feedback about how such a
device might actually be used. It would be pocket-sized and should be
able to run for a year on a pair of AA batteries. If it were to be
manufactured, it would probably retail for around $100.

My market research indicates that there are basically two types of tide
clocks on the market: a simple diurnal clock that rotates the hand every
sidereal day and chartplotters with "real-time tide & current data".
The diurnal clock is a reasonable analog indication of when high & low
tide occur, but provides no depth prediction. I'm not sure what the
chartplotters are doing, but they should be capable of doing a proper
harmonic prediction, including depth. Can anyone tell me about the tide
prediction the chartplotters offer? Are there less expensive electronic
predictors that I missed?

Assuming expensive chartplotters offer acceptable tidal prediction, the
"market" for our device would be limited to boats without a
chartplotter. What kind of tidal prediction accuracy does such a boater
need? From my experience, I would be happy with +- 10 minutes and +- 1
foot of accuracy, but I'd be interested in what you would consider
acceptable. The less resolution we can tolerate, the more coastline we
can stuff into the chip. I'd also be interested in how far into the
future you would like to predict. I'm usually only interested in the
next 2 tides, but I'd be interested in your requirements. We can
predict far into the future, but unnecessary calculations waste battery
power and clutter the user interface.

There are three ways we could determine which reference point to use:
manual selection, direct serial connection to a GPS unit or listen on an
NMEA network with a GPS talker on it. I'd be interested in your
preferences.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

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Chuck Cox - SynchroSystems - Synchro.com
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