SHIPHarbour Master was introduced in SHIPv5.1

The SHIPHarbour Master application provides connection management between PC-based applications and SIMs/SCMs that are using the SHIPBridge protocol.

Basic Operation

SHIPHarbour Master can be launched manually, but is launched automatically when any of the SHIP PC-based tools (including the SHIPTide GUI authoring tool as well as SHIPCrane and SeaShell programming tools) require it. It sits in the system tray on Windows as a background application, and provides a notification pop-up whenever a module running the SHIPBridge Protocol is connected to the PC:

SHIPHarbour Master, as released in SHIPv5.1.0, has minimal functionality in the operator console beyond its inherent connection management features. The intent, over time, is to increase its functionality so you will be able to (for instance) discover directly in the application what firmware is installed in a given device.

Minimizing the app back to the system tray shows this notification:

Connections and Plugins

SHIPHarbour Master supports the concept of plugins for different connections to modules. Currently plugins are only implementable by Serious, however we expect in 2017 a plugin writers’ guide will be available for custom plugins.

USB

USB (via a PC’s USB host port to a module’s USB Device port) is the default connection method from a PC to a module. You can use one (or more) USB hubs and SHIPHarbour Master will manage these connections in parallel.

CAN

This support is currently in development, and will be initially released on a custom basis to customers in Q3’2016.

UART over USB/CDC

This support is planned.

UART

This support is planned.

TCP/IP over Ethernet or WiFi

This support is planned.

Debug Log

If you are having difficulties using SHIPHarbour Master, including module connectivity issues and custom application development issues, it may be helpful to examine the connection/communications log or even save and forward it to the Serious support team.

The log can be saved in .html format to preserve the helpful formatting and color coding (this is the preferred format when submitting to the Serious support team). If SHIPHarbour Master is minimized to the system tray, simply click the system tray icon to restore the window. To save the log, select File->Save and choose a location and format.

You can then use any web browser to view the log at a later time. The log output includes the details of the SHIPHarbour messages that have been exchanged between SHIPHarbour Master and connected PC applications as well as the SHIPBridge messages between SHIPHarbour Master and modules.

Custom Applications

You can write your own applications to talk to the SHIPHarbour Master application. For example, you may want to integrate functionality similar to the SHIPCrane programming tool into your own manufacturing framework rather than using the SHIPCrane tool directly. SHIPHarbour Master uses the SHIPHarbour API over a TCP/IP socket interface which allows direct integration with your own development environment. SHIPHarbour can be used with most modern languages (i.e. Java, Python, C#, etc.). For more information, see the SHIPHarbour API documentation.