Baytek is now offering the new maritime BQM monitor with fully enclosed housing for outdoor areas specifically for this demanding sector. For indoor areas, the BPM monitor with ECDIS and radar certification is also available.
Varied light conditions are always a factor in marine applications. In addition, reflections are also a common problem. Natural or artificial sources of light or the clothing of the crew is refracted by the protective bezel of the monitor display. This often results in a hard to read image with poor contrast, which can lead to significant safety-related problems in maritime navigation.
The following given physical conditions must be considered in order to solve this problem:
Due to the tiny air gap between the bezel and the actual LCD display, reflections from various sources of light interfere with the contrast. On top of this the consistency of the glass and air is different, and the air conducts light.
Therefore each source of light is reflected three times; by the front of the protective bezel, by the back of the protective bezel, and then once more by the front of the actual LCD display. Each of these sources of interference has an average reflection rate of 5%. In total, these sources of interference add up to a reflection rate of 15%, making it nearly impossible to read the monitor in bright light.
The solution developed by Baytek for this purpose is the so-called bonded display. The 3mm thick and non-reflecting mineral glass bezel is bonded directly to the surface of the TFT display using an optical adhesive and a lamination process.
This process ensures that there is no longer any air between the display and the glass bezel. This additional effort can reduce optical aberrations and reflections to as little as 0.2%. As a result, the Baytek maritime monitors provide the viewer with a detailed high-contrast image, even in very challenging and bright ambient light conditions. These monitors are fully readable in direct sunlight without increasing the power requirements.
Thanks to the bonded display, bright or glaring sunlight is no longer a problem for users of the Baytek maritime monitors. But how do these displays work in diffuse light, for example in fog?
The capabilities of the ECDIS certified BPM monitors extend far beyond general display of nautical charts on a typical monitor. On an actual ECDIS / radar monitor such as the BPM monitor, the user has a choice of five different settings for the backlighting and the nautical chart display.
As a result, the BPM monitors can be adjusted to all light conditions which occur in seafaring applications. Day bright, day white back and Day Black for daytime applications, Dusk for driving in fog and Night for perfect display of the monitor image at night.