The Hydromagic NMEA0183 Playback plugin is a plugin which allows you to send NMEA0183 data to the software as if it were received in real time. You can use this functionality to re-record NMEA0183 data, demo purposes and testing.
The NMEA0183 data is fed to the plugin by selecting a text file that contains NMEA0183 sentences. The sentences supported are the same as the ones that are supported in the regular NMEA0183 plugins.
It is possible to simulate tide as well, using the manual tide buttons in the main tool bar.
The NMEA0183 Playback plugin can be used in both Hydromagic Survey and Hydromagic Dredging.
To load this plugin, open the preferences window by selecting "Preferences..." from the "Options" menu.
In the window that appears, select the "Devices" tab. Next click the "Add..." button.
A list of available plugins will be displayed. In this list, select the "Hydromagic NMEA0183 Playback Plugin" and click "OK" to load and display the simulator.
In order to start pushing the simulator data into the application, you have to select a valid NMEA0183 log file first.
To do so, click the 'Browse...' button and select the file to replay. You can check whether the file is valid by clicking 'View...'.
When a file is loaded, the 'Start' button will be enabled and clicking this button will start reading the NMEA0183 file sentence by sentence. The data is decoded and send to the survey or dredging application as it was raw data received from real NMEA0183 hardware.
You can pause playback at any time by clicking the 'Stop' button, or start from the beginning by clicking the 'Rewind' button. The playback speed can be controlled with the 'Default Speed', 'Increase Speed' and 'Decrease Speed' buttons. By default, the playback rate is one sentence per 250 milliseconds.
To change the NMEA0183 log file, press the 'Stop' button first. This stops the simulator and the 'Browse...' button will be enabled, allowing you to select a different file.
To unload the simulator, open the preferences window by selecting "Preferences..." from the "Options" menu.
In the window that appears, select the "Devices" tab. Next select the "Hydromagic NMEA0183 Playback Plugin" and click the "Remove..." button.
