FLIR and Raymarine honoured with prestigious 2019 NMEA Awards
by Liza Dukino 9 Oct 2019 12:03 BST
FLIR M400XR © Raymarine
Manufacturers scored big at the 2019 National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA)/Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) Marine Electronics Conference & Expo, held late last month at the Renaissance Hotel in Portsmouth, Virginia.
A total of 18 products received top-category honors in three separate award competitions: NMEA Product of Excellence Awards and Manufacturer of the Year (voted on by the NMEA membership), the NMEA Technology Award, and new this year—the Best New Product Award for manufacturers who introduced new products for the first time at the NMEA/RTCM Conference.
FLIR was recognized and honored with awards for Raymarine ClearCruise AR (Augmented Reality) and the FLIR M400XR Marine Thermal Camera System.
The NMEA Technology Award names a single marine electronics product that scores highest in the same four criteria categories that were used for the Best New Product Award. The judges chose Raymarine ClearCruise AR as the winner from among 11 entries.
"ClearCruise AR is an industry-first technology that combines augmented reality and advanced image stabilisation to help boaters make smarter and faster navigation decisions by placing visual overlays of nav aids, AIS traffic and destination waypoints on Raymarine Axiom multi-function displays," the judges said. "The overlays identify nearby AIS-equipped vessels with colour-coding to warn of traffic that could pose threats. At the heart of the system is a blending of high-definition digital or thermal video from networked Raymarine or FLIR marine cameras and dynamic graphics."
This is FLIR's third major award for the Raymarine ClearCruise AR product, which also won the 2018 NMMA Innovation Award at the 2018 IBEX Show in Tampa and SAIL Magazine's 2019 Pittman Innovation Award.
Technology Award judges included marine electronics specialists Kevin Boughton of Mid-Coast Marine Electronics, Aaron Held of Octopus Yachts and Mark Roche of QCS Marine Electronics, along with veteran marine writer/editor Lenny Rudow and Marine Electronics Journal editor Jim Fullilove.
NMEA members (dealers, technicians, installers, manufacturers, and related government/regulatory agency members) selected the winners of the 2019 Product of Excellence Awards through an online voting process. Awards were given in 16 categories, and the FLIR M400XR Marine Thermal Camera System was chosen as 2019's Best Marine Camera. FLIR thermal cameras have been regular winners in this category through the years.
ClearCruise AR for Raymarine Axiom, Axiom Pro, and Axiom XL multifunction navigation displays is compatible with LightHouse 3.7 or higher. Axiom users may download the latest update at raymarine.com/lighthouse. Designed to deliver enhanced awareness for first responders, the FLIR M400XR camera includes optical thermal zoom, video target tracking and custom fire-fighting software that displays a target temperature meter and isotherms. M400XR is available through FLIR's network of dealers and resellers.
To learn more about ClearCruise AR, visit raymarine.com/clearcruise. For information on the FLIR M400XR Camera, visit flir.com/products/m400xr.
Learn more about all of the 2019 NMEA award winners here (PDF).