Raymarine Axiom MFD adds drone support

Boating has taken to the skies. Raymarine has announced the latest software update to its Axiom multifunction navigation screens now includes an app that allows users to view the world via a high-resolution video camera-equipped drone.

The drone support is part of the Axiom chartplotting system’s latest LightHouse 3.6 operating system update, and is compatible with Axiom, Axiom Pro and Axiom XL multifunction displays.

The catch? To use it, you’ll also have to invest in a DJI Mavic Pro drone, which at the moment retails for around $1400. But the benefits the drone potentially will bring are many.

The biggest is that the “unmanned aerial vehicle” can act as a virtual tuna tower, with the drone’s camera system able to scout for fish and display what it is looking at on the chartplotter’s screen. Add a special filter, and the drone will even peer below the water’s surface to reveal gamefish and baitfish, weed, sandbars, shoals and reefs.

Once you hook a fish, the system can switch into action-cam mode, circling the boat until the operator sets a stationary height, orbit and angle for filming.

It will even allow the operator to map out the boat’s path via the chartplotter, flying out to and then hovering over waypoints.

Raymarine marketing specialist Liza Dukino told Boatsales.com.au at the system’s launch at the Sydney International Boat Show last week that this would be a handy feature for owners hunting down a berth in an unfamiliar, crowded marina.

The UAV app (a free update either via Wi-Fi or via the Raymarine website) also automates some of the more tricky flight tasks, such as launching, filming, in-flight navigation and returning to a moving boat. Manual controls are also available.