Since this blog is going to have a focus on the world of marine electronics it made sense, at least to the brain beyond the keyboard, to define what marine electronics are and why they’re any different from any other electronic device. The straight forward definition is the obvious one. Marine electronics are electronic devices which are made to be used in a marine (oceanic) environment. Most of the time this term relates to electronics mounted on a sea going vessel, but it can also relate to electronics on stable marine platforms.

So what makes marine electronics special? It comes down to environment. As beckoning as the ocean is, as anyone who has spilled a Diet Coke on a computer keyboard knows, electronics do not play nicely with water. Even more so electronics do not play nicely with salt water which causes quick corrosion and destruction of devices. Because of these environmental factors marine electronics must be fully encased in waterproof containers all without losing high level functionality and readability, or other data output. It sounds pretty straight forward, but each device presents specific difficulties in achieving these aims.

Common marine electronics devices include the following:

• GPS
• Radar
• Sonar - Military, Scientific and Industrial
• VHF radio
• Ship compass
• Ship chart plotter
• Satellite television

This is only a small sampling of possible devices, but some of the most often used and the examples we’ll take a closer look at in both form and function and how they are used by various military and civil agencies.