Nautic alert apparatus, system, and method

Abstract

A sensing unit for an autonomous onboard monitoring and communications system for watercraft. The sensing unit can include at least one sensor for sensing a condition, and a control unit configured to receive input from the at least one sensor, determine a condition value based on the input, compare the condition value to at least one condition value range, and execute an action if the condition value is outside the at least one condition value range.

1 . A sensing unit for an autonomous onboard monitoring and communications system for watercraft, comprising:
 at least one sensor for sensing a condition, the at least one sensor comprises at least a temperature sensor and at least one ultrasonic water level sensor, and the condition further comprises ambient water temperature of a sensing unit;   a control unit configured to:
 receive temperature data input from the at least one temperature sensor; 
 receive water level data from the at least one ultrasonic water level sensor; 
 determine a condition value based on the temperature data and water level data input; 
 compare the condition value to at least one condition value range; and 
 execute an action if the condition value is outside the at least one condition value range; 
   a connector, controllable by the control unit, for connecting an external device and controlling a supply of electric power to the connector; and   at least one communications device for notifying a user of the condition.   
     
     
         2 . (canceled) 
     
     
         3 . The sensing unit of  claim 1 , wherein the condition comprises the distance between the at least one ultrasonic temperature sensor and a surface. 
     
     
         4 . (canceled) 
     
     
         5 . The sensing unit of  claim 1 , wherein the external device is a bilge pump. 
     
     
         6 - 7 . (canceled) 
     
     
         8 . The sensing unit of  claim 1 , wherein the action comprises operating the at least one communications device so as to notify the user of the condition. 
     
     
         9 - 10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . The sensing unit of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one communications device is a visual indicator. 
     
     
         12 . The sensing unit of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one communications device is a sound emitting device. 
     
     
         13 . The sensing unit of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one communications device is a wireless network communications interface. 
     
     
         14 . The sensing unit of  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configurable by the user. 
     
     
         15 . The sensing unit of  claim 1 , further comprising an interface for configuring the control unit. 
     
     
         16 . A sensing unit for an autonomous onboard monitoring and communications system for watercraft, comprising:
 at least one temperature sensor;   at least one ultrasonic water level sensor;   a power supply connector;   a power out connector;   one or more audio emitters;   a visual indicator;   a wireless network communications interface; and   a control unit configured to:
 receive input from the at least one temperature sensor and the at least one ultrasonic water level sensor; 
 determine, based on the input, a distance between the at least one temperature sensor and a surface; 
 compare the distance to at least one threshold distance; 
 provide electrical power to a device connected to the power out connector if the distance exceeds the at least one threshold distance; 
 determine a value of a condition, wherein the condition comprises the ambient temperature; and 
 operate one or more of the audio emitters, the visual indicator, and the wireless network communications interface if the condition value is outside a condition value range. 
   
     
     
         17 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . The sensing unit of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one ultrasonic temperature sensor is recalibrated with a new zero-distance mark to adjust a zero-distance mark. 
     
     
         22 . The sensing unit of  claim 1 , wherein the user configures the control unit to set-up predetermined liquid depth thresholds when the control unit identifies that the thresholds have been reached or exceeded. 
     
     
         23 . The sensing unit of  claim 1 , wherein the user configures the control unit to restore product defaults so as to see how much additional space there is to work with before an at least one ultrasonic temperature sensor reading is registered. 
     
     
         24 . The sensing unit of  claim 5 , wherein the bilge pump is turned on and pumps water out of a bilge area, until the at least one ultrasonic temperature sensor measures a minimum lower water level that meets a predetermined user policy based minimum level. 
     
     
         25 . The sensing unit of  claim 5 , wherein the control unit provides power to another bilge pump when the bilge pump is non-operational, thereby providing redundancy in case of failure. 
     
     
         25 . The sensing unit of  claim 5 , wherein the control unit provides power to another bilge pump when the bilge pump is non-operational, thereby providing redundancy in case of failure.