Immediate Command Clarity At The Wheel

Helm UI Module

The helm UI focuses on what matters most in rough conditions: readability, command certainty and fast safety actions.

Suite Overview Safety + Prevention

Primary Helm Surface

Heading, target, mode and drift/leeway context are visible at a glance.
Large action targets support tack, gybe and override flows.
Freshness and source-confidence cues stay visible.
There is a fast path back to safe STBY-like behavior.
WORK mode visibility and quick-access toggles support task-focused steering.

Traffic And Alarm UX

AIS/RADAR warning tiers use clear color and severity states.
Collision-risk alerts can escalate into the voice-alarm path.
Acknowledge and snooze behavior stays clear without hiding active risk.
Avoid-and-resume actions are exposed directly from the warning context.
Alarm logs stay aligned with the blackbox trace for post-event review.

Menu Depth Without Clutter

Operational grouping follows skipper intent.
Diagnostics stay accessible without disrupting the steering view.
The interaction model is consistent across touch-controller variants.
Page-level behavior is designed to prevent accidental deep-state confusion.
NMEA source and status surfaces show both standard NMEA2000 links and private high-speed links.

Multi-Display Scaling

From a software perspective, UI/LCD modules on the bus are effectively unlimited; the practical limit is bus and network capacity. UI/LCD links run over a private CAN bus between the Main unit and the UI/LCD units.
Each display can focus on a specific role such as helm, navigation, diagnostics or weather.
A shared control model keeps mode ownership coherent across screens.
The system is designed so one failed display does not collapse overall control visibility.

**Compass Main**
Main helm view with active mode and command actions.

**Safety Banner States**
Warning and advisory overlays with acknowledgement path.

Related across the suite

Current page focus: Clear helm interaction under pressure.

Clear mode ownership and command acknowledgement at the helm.

AIS/RADAR warning workflow with avoid-and-resume actions.

Visible NMEA source and freshness status.

WORK mode controls for task-focused steering.

Alarm logs aligned with blackbox traces.

Shared control model across displays and iPad.

Feedback And Comments

This project is still in progress, and I would genuinely like feedback on what is missing, what feels unclear, and what would be most useful offshore. The first sea trial is planned for the 2026 sailing season, and every comment is reviewed by me before it appears publicly.

No public comments yet. You can be the first to add feedback.

Built For Singlehanded Offshore Reality

These public pages focus on what the suite actually delivers offshore: steadier steering, fail-safe automation, and practical offshore support that reduces workload without taking control away from the skipper.