Shift tracking was the most commonly requested feature on the new ProStart. And we added shift tracking to the new ProStart in Firmware v31.
The new ProStart's shift tracking works very similarly to the shift tracking of the ProStart Classic. The biggest difference is that the new ProStart's shift tracking is compass based so it is much more useful than that of the ProStart Classic, which was GPS based. Learn more about the shift tracking in this video and read on below:
NOTE: You can set the reference angle manually by pressing the RESET button while the ProStart is in Race Mode.
The algorithm starts by detecting when the boat is sailing a steady course. This is accomplished by comparing the current heading to a rolling average of previous heading measurements. Once the current heading falls within a specified bound of this rolling average the boat is determined to be sailing a steady course and a "trim angle" is set to this averaged heading value.
When a trim angle is set the shift measurement will display the damped difference between the current heading and this trim angle. The damping reduces the algorithm's sensitivity so as to only capture larger variations in heading angle, ideally from wind angle changes, and not any smaller heading variations due to wave action or other noise effects.
The trim angle remains constant until the current heading differs from the trim angle by more than 30°. Once the trim angle is reset the shift angle will no longer display and the algorithm will again start measuring for when the boat has reached a new steady course.
The shift tracking is displayed on the bar graph at the top of the ProStart's screen. You get visual confirmation of the reference angle set when the arrow at the top center is displayed. Each bar graph segment is 3° of deviation from the set reference angle.
Do you have questions or a feature request? Send us an email!