Actions
Engagement
  • Author Author: e14phil
  • Date Created: Date Created
  • Last Updated Last Updated:
  • Views 17429 views
  • Likes 16 likes
  • Comments 61 comments
Related
Recommended

Sailing Auto Pilot - Competition - Ready For Tomorrow 2022

Farnell partners with sailor Alberto Riva to redevelop a Nautical Autopilot image

Alberto Riva is a multi-competition winning skipper who always had a passion for sailing since he was a child.

With the support of many different sponsors, he has sailed on a variety of boats from smaller centreboard boats to 70ft long flying trimarans, on board of which he competed many different regattas.i

He now has an eye on a new dream: the Mini Transat - a 4050 nautical miles solo race on the smallest offshore racing boats at only 6.50m long. A challenge that requires not only competence and resilience, but also a sound mind.

Far from being only a sailing passionate and competitor, indeed, Alberto is also a trained engineer who worked as data analyst and on-board electronics expert for the preparation of other racing boats. With a master in nanotechnologies, he also developed an auto-pilot board during his studies

.image

The auto-pilot is an element that he defines “his best friend” during sailing, as it allows him to leave the wheel and rest or focus on weather conditions especially on demanding regattas like the Transat, where one-person sailing and no phone/computer or technical support aside from tracking are the main requirements.

image

Interface for AutoPilot 

In light of all the characteristics that distinguish this challenge, such as passion, determination, performance, resilience and technology, Farnell decided to partner with Alberto and help him by opening the project up to our open-source design community to redesign his autopilot. As technologies develop further and faster, we are confident that our electronics enthusiasts could highly improve it to achieve higher performances with better cost efficiency.

image

Among the improvements Alberto would add, he would certainly focus on changing the current screen (which was an additional cost on the overall system) in favour of taking advantage of new smart phone technologies. Connecting a smart phone to the automatic navigation system could allow to cut a big part of development and budget effort, as it would allow to use the embedded characteristics of modern displays such as waterproofness and mechanical resistance, and make it further flexible and efficient.

Join Alberto in his challenge!

Auto Pilot Components

What do you need for a boat to sail its self? 

The autopilot is made by two parts: The data acquisition and the control part.
Several sensor are connected to the system to perform the vectorial calculation of the wind and gain information about the heading of the boat: IMU compass, wind sensor, boat speed sensor and a rudder sensor.

The calculated variables are used to keep the boat on a particular true wind angle or on a particular course. Two nested PID controllers allow the boat to keep the desired route moving the rudder through a linear actuator.

The first PID calculates the desired rudder angle. The second PID, thanks to the rudder angle sensor feedback, drives the motor of the actuator to the desired rudder angle.

The first controller can be set to follow a particular reference: TWA (True Wind Angle), AWA (Apparent Wind Angle), Internal Gyro Compass (preferred choice), Fixed Rudder Angle (debugging purpose).

 

Ancient mariners would tie the rudder with a rope but this could run them into rocks in their sleep. 
Alberto has used electronics to monitor the wind, position and control it all with an Arduino 

image

Components 

Learn more about the components used in this build

image image image image image
Arduino Max232 Driver Interface 12v-5v DC to DC Converter H-Bridge Motor Drivers Resistors 

Arduino

 Driver Interfaces DC to DC Converters Motor Drivers Resistors

Are you ready for Tomorrow? 

Competition

Global Competition
Winner
 		 Australia and New Zealand
Winner
 

India
Winner
 

 Greater China
(China, Taiwan, Hong Kong)
Closed

 ASEAN
(Singapore, Malaysia, Phillipines, Vietnam, Thailand) + Korea
Winner
 
image image image image image

 

Enter our "Ready for Tomorrow" competition for a chance to win a prize from our prize pool

Multicomp Pro Handheld Oscilloscope - Hand Held Oscilloscope
Multicomp Pro PC USB Oscilloscope - USB Oscilloscope
Multicomp Pro Soldering Station - Soldering Station

Mulitcomp Pro Handheld Multimeter - Multimeter


Details of your answers and contact details can be shared with element14 Avnet Group

 

Parents

  • Am autopilot takes quite a lot of power for driving the linear actuator and the screen which must be sunlight readable. In this thread you can read some practical cases of power requirements of these kind of systems. A solar panel of at least 100W is needed to keep things running. Use a monocrystalline solar panel because of the better performance when cloudy or in partial shade. On a boat is much shade due to sails and booms. Use a MPPT controller to charge the batteries to optimize performance.

    For the control system it is not only a matter of keeping course but solo sailing has its own challenges. What if you are sleeping and the wind suddenly increases to much for the boat. A helmsman would normally steer the boat a bit in the wind. So much as to decrease the heel but not so much as to loose too much speed. With a 9 DOF sensor it would be possible to grade the intensity of the sea. From that an appropriate program/setting can be selected for optimum steering. So in case of a sudden increase of wind over the maximum capacity of the boat in some cases it would be best to steer into the wind, however if the waves are very high and the course is off the wind the opposite could be prudent. However sailing in front of the wind is very challenging for an autopilot. In case of a gijp (the dutch word for tacking in front of the wind). Much strain on the boat is put and things can break when this happens.

    To be prepared for the challenge of weather change you need to know the intensity of the sea: 9 DOF sensor. The current wind direction and speed. To know what to expect air pressure sensor. You can calculate the amount of expected wind from the drop in pressure over time. A gps for your actual position but also to calculate the drift. Sea currents can push the ship sideways and increase the difficulty of keeping the proper course. For this you would also need a sensor to measure the speed through the water. Real angle and apparent angle can be calculated. 

    It would be nice to be able to set a maximum of heel angle. At some point the heel creates too much drag on the boat an this will decrease the speed and also the probability of flipping over. Also when you need to leave the safety of the cockpit and repair something on deck it is nice to keep the boat steady.

    Solo sailing has an other challenge. You are alone, there is no one to help you if things go wrong. And often they do. For this you have a life line going from the cockpit to the front of the deck. You wear a harness hooked on this line to prevent going overboard. However what do you do if you go overboard anyway? What if you are hurt? A normal autopilot will keep going. Here on the IJselmeer in a solo race a couple of years ago a sailor died because of this. He went over and could not get back in the boat any more. The boat went on until it hit the ***. 

    If you go overboard the auto pilot should detect this and steer the boat into "bijliggen" this is a way to keep a boat still on the water as much as possible. The system could also send a distress signal on the vhf if this happens and on the AIS emergency system.

    To detect going overboard you could use a sensor on the life vest. If it inflates you are probably overboard. These kind of systems should be simple. Something like a wire will beak if the vest is inflated. And a bluetooth signal will stop transmitting. The receiver on the boat expects to always receive this signal. If the signal is lost an alarm will sound. If the alarm is not deactivated the emergency system will activate and the boat will be put in "bijliggen" if the alarm is not deactivated by then the vhf emergency system will kick in.

    The bluetooth system can also be used as a remote for the autopilot system. You do not always need a screen to give commands like increase the course by 1 or 10 degrees or tack now.   

    In this way the autopilot will become a true autopilot and protector of your safety.

Comment

  • Am autopilot takes quite a lot of power for driving the linear actuator and the screen which must be sunlight readable. In this thread you can read some practical cases of power requirements of these kind of systems. A solar panel of at least 100W is needed to keep things running. Use a monocrystalline solar panel because of the better performance when cloudy or in partial shade. On a boat is much shade due to sails and booms. Use a MPPT controller to charge the batteries to optimize performance.

    For the control system it is not only a matter of keeping course but solo sailing has its own challenges. What if you are sleeping and the wind suddenly increases to much for the boat. A helmsman would normally steer the boat a bit in the wind. So much as to decrease the heel but not so much as to loose too much speed. With a 9 DOF sensor it would be possible to grade the intensity of the sea. From that an appropriate program/setting can be selected for optimum steering. So in case of a sudden increase of wind over the maximum capacity of the boat in some cases it would be best to steer into the wind, however if the waves are very high and the course is off the wind the opposite could be prudent. However sailing in front of the wind is very challenging for an autopilot. In case of a gijp (the dutch word for tacking in front of the wind). Much strain on the boat is put and things can break when this happens.

    To be prepared for the challenge of weather change you need to know the intensity of the sea: 9 DOF sensor. The current wind direction and speed. To know what to expect air pressure sensor. You can calculate the amount of expected wind from the drop in pressure over time. A gps for your actual position but also to calculate the drift. Sea currents can push the ship sideways and increase the difficulty of keeping the proper course. For this you would also need a sensor to measure the speed through the water. Real angle and apparent angle can be calculated. 

    It would be nice to be able to set a maximum of heel angle. At some point the heel creates too much drag on the boat an this will decrease the speed and also the probability of flipping over. Also when you need to leave the safety of the cockpit and repair something on deck it is nice to keep the boat steady.

    Solo sailing has an other challenge. You are alone, there is no one to help you if things go wrong. And often they do. For this you have a life line going from the cockpit to the front of the deck. You wear a harness hooked on this line to prevent going overboard. However what do you do if you go overboard anyway? What if you are hurt? A normal autopilot will keep going. Here on the IJselmeer in a solo race a couple of years ago a sailor died because of this. He went over and could not get back in the boat any more. The boat went on until it hit the ***. 

    If you go overboard the auto pilot should detect this and steer the boat into "bijliggen" this is a way to keep a boat still on the water as much as possible. The system could also send a distress signal on the vhf if this happens and on the AIS emergency system.

    To detect going overboard you could use a sensor on the life vest. If it inflates you are probably overboard. These kind of systems should be simple. Something like a wire will beak if the vest is inflated. And a bluetooth signal will stop transmitting. The receiver on the boat expects to always receive this signal. If the signal is lost an alarm will sound. If the alarm is not deactivated the emergency system will activate and the boat will be put in "bijliggen" if the alarm is not deactivated by then the vhf emergency system will kick in.

    The bluetooth system can also be used as a remote for the autopilot system. You do not always need a screen to give commands like increase the course by 1 or 10 degrees or tack now.   

    In this way the autopilot will become a true autopilot and protector of your safety.

Children