em-trak X100
SRT Marine | em-trak X100
A safer, calmer, more connected way to be at sea
You’re on the water. Another vessel appears on your plotter. Until now, you’d broadcast on channel 16 and hope they were listening.
The X100 is the first marine radio that lets you call them straight from your phone. Tap their icons, request a call and you’re talking. Direct. Private. Done.
The Journey
For years, VHF radio worked the same way. Direct calling through DSC was technically possible, but so clunky that almost nobody bothered.
SRT Marine had spent two decades pioneering AIS technology – its electronics are inside 70% of the world’s navigation equipment. They knew the missing piece was connecting vessel identification to voice communication. Navigation and radio, talking to each other at last.
SRT had the technology. What they didn’t have was a way to make connecting your phone to a marine radio feel obvious. That was the hard part. A connected radio that’s awkward to use goes nowhere the same way early smartphones struggled until the interface caught up. Getting that interaction right is what SRT Marine came to us for.
X100 is SRT’s first marine radio, developed from the ground up under the em-trak name. It needed to feel as confident and trustworthy as the best equipment on any bridge, while making a new complex technology feel simple.
Our design team worked alongside SRT’s electronics engineers and New Icon (who built the companion Connect-X app) across a multi-year programme that started with a concept for METS Trade Show in early 2021 and grew to touch every aspect of the product.
VHF, AIS and DSC in a Single Marine Unit
The X100 puts VHF + DSC with Class B AIS and wireless connectivity into a single waterproof unit with a colour display you can read in direct sunlight. More than just a box full of tech, it’s the foundations for a new experience, that makes being connected at sea a breeze.
See a vessel on your plot. Tap it. You’re connected. Pair your phone through the Connect-X app, and it becomes a marine radio. Up to ten devices can connect at once, so every person on board has access to communications. No walkie-talkies, no extra kit.
And if someone goes overboard, every connected device gets an immediate alert with their position.
Designing for Every Sailor
The X100 had to work for someone chatting at anchor on a calm evening and for someone trying to reach the Coast Guard in an emergency. Easy to learn in fair weather. Impossible to get wrong when it counts.
Commercial boats, charter vessels and leisure yachts – all needed to feel at home with the same product.
When we tested existing products early on, we found a common pattern. Interfaces that looked fine on screen didn’t always hold up on a moving boat – tightly packed button clusters, small displays and forms designed more around the electronics inside than the hands using them. It gave us a clear picture of where the X100 needed to go.
But marine professionals have built muscle memory around specific controls. That familiarity keeps them safe. So we couldn’t just throw everything out and start fresh. The challenge was bringing the interface forward while honouring what experienced sailors already trust. Intuitive enough for a first-time boat owner. Credible enough for someone who’s been at sea for twenty years.
User Testing Under Pressure
Early in our design process, we built an interactive prototype and put it in front of experienced skippers and recreational boaters.
We asked them to carry out key tasks in scenarios covering setup, everyday use and emergencies. Configure the unit from scratch. Call another vessel. Now your boat is sinking and you need the Coast Guard. No instruction manual, no hints. Go.
Screen recordings captured every tap and every hesitation – showing us exactly where people got stuck and where the interface needed to do more of the work. Ten rounds of feedback and iteration. Each one tighter than the last. The final interface worked across the full range of users, yet still felt familiar to mariners with decades at sea.
The physical design went through the same rigour. Bigger buttons for gloved hands. Tactile feedback that works when you’re cold and wet.
We took early pre-production units out to sea from Weymouth to stress-test both the ergonomics and technical performance in reality. Cold hands, moving deck, salt spray – the kind of environment where shortcomings get found out fast.
Engineering a Product That Survives the Sea
The X100 has to survive 30 minutes fully submerged to gain IPx7 certification. Over 40 parts in the enclosure assembly, every one of them a potential point of failure. Every button, screen and connector had to hold.
Each prototype went through repeated submersion and waterjet testing. When something let water in, we found out why and fixed it. When it held, we hit it harder.
Even the speaker grille was designed for the conditions. Our innovative tension-breaker geometry counteracts capillary action on water droplets, causing them to burst on the surface so audio stays clear in the roughest conditions. A tiny detail. The kind nobody notices until it counts.
We worked with specialist manufacturers across China, the UK and Ireland. Each chosen because they were the best at their specific part of the job, and because the cost profile and quality held up across thousands of units.
A Complete Marine Communications System
Early concept models let SRT build excitement at trade shows years before the product shipped. The interactive prototypes gave SRT confidence the product would land well with sailors before a single unit shipped. The engineering testing and manufacturing programme brought together specialists across three countries to hit performance, safety, quality and price targets.
The X100 started as a brief for a radio enclosure. It became the product that positions em-trak as a serious force in marine communications – and SRT Marine as a company that can take world-leading technology and put a finished, market-ready product in people’s hands.
We tested it under pressure, in the hope you never have to.
“Realise is an outstanding agency. We have worked with them for many years on a variety of marine projects. They are highly competent, have a friendly and approachable team, and work in a flexible and organised manner.”
Shaun Horan – SRT Marine
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