IEC 61162

IEC 61162 is a collection of IEC standards for "Digital interfaces for navigational equipment within a ship".

The 61162 standards are developed in Working Group 6 (WG6) of Technical Committee 80 (TC80) of the IEC.

Sections of IEC 61162

Standard IEC 61162 is divided into the following parts:

• Part 1: Single talker and multiple listeners (Also known as NMEA 0183)^[1]
• Part 2: Single talker and multiple listeners, high-speed transmission
• Part 3: Serial data instrument network (Also known as NMEA 2000)
• Part 450: Multiple talkers and multiple listeners–Ethernet interconnection (Also known as Lightweight Ethernet)
• Part 460: Multiple talkers and multiple listeners - Ethernet interconnection - Safety and security

The 61162 standards are all concerning the transport of NMEA sentences, but the IEC does not define any of these. This is left to the NMEA Organization.

IEC 61162-1

Single talker and multiple listeners.

IEC 61162-2

Single talker and multiple listeners, high-speed transmission.

IEC 61162-3

Serial data instrument network, multiple talker-multiple listener, prioritized data.

IEC 61162-450

Multiple talkers and multiple listeners.

This subgroup of TC80/WG6 has specified the use of Ethernet for shipboard navigational networks. The specification describes the transport of NMEA sentences as defined in 61162-1 over IPv4. Due to the low amount of protocol complexity it has been nicknamed Lightweight Ethernet or LWE in short.^[2][3]

There are three revision: the original published in 2011, and updates in 2018 and 2024.^[4]

IEC 61162-450/460

IEC 61162-460:2015(E) is an add-on to the IEC 61162-450 standard. This standard extends the informative guidance given in Annex D of IEC 61162-450:2011. The first edition was published in August 2015.

State May 2016 is the first bridge and system manufacturers beginning with the implementation of IEC 61162-450 and IEC 61162-460.

IEC 61162-460:2024 (also referred to as IEC 61162-460 Edition 3.0) is an updated add-on to IEC 61162-450. This standard extends the informative guidance given in Annex D of IEC 61162-450:2011. The third edition was published in April 2024.

Known devices with -450 implementation:

• AMI Marine X2 VDR
• Cobham SAILOR AIS
• Cobham SAILOR GNSS
• Cobham SAILOR NAVTEX
• Cobham SAILOR 7222 VHF DSC Class A
• Danelec VDR
• Furuno GPS
• Furuno ECDIS
• Furuno VDR
• Ixblue ECDIS Archived 2017-04-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Ixblue Netans (Full Naval Data Distribution solution)
• Navmaster ECDIS
• Netwave NW6000 SOLAS Voyage Data Recorder (VDR)
• Saab AIS
• Totem Plus ECDIS Archived 2016-10-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Totem Plus VDR 2014 Archived 2016-10-23 at the Wayback Machine
• Veinland NMEA Matrix ( bidirectional 8 Port Multiplexer / Converter )
• Inclinometer
• SATURN Gyrocompass
• Norwegian Electric Systems RAVEN INS
• Weidmueller modular I/O system u-remote
• RH Marine ECDIS

Known devices/systems with -460 implementation:

• Robustel MG460 Maritime Cyber Security Gateway ( IEC 61162-460:2024 Gateway/Wireless-Gateway)
• Veinland marine approved network switch MagicNet ( IEC 61162-460 Switch/Forwarder)
• Veinland marine approved network gateway MagicNet-GWR Archived 2017-09-12 at the Wayback Machine (IEC 61162-460 Gateway)
• Chartworld eChart Secure (IEC 61162-460 Gateway)