ASEAN (Singapore, Malaysia, Phillipines, Vietnam, Thailand) + Korea Entry Page - Sailing Auto Pilot - Competition - Ready For Tomorrow 2022

Thanks, Phil for letting me know. It's exciting to be part of the competition. I have verified that the address is updated in the account.

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Phil 

I have two ideas for the implementation of the autopilot system. Basically, they are two possible configurations. Although I practice Arduino, Microchip and STM32 Arm controllers, my choice of use will be ST products due to the powerful hardware and open-source IDE-based environment. The inspiration for this write-up comes from the road test that I have done before and my experience in designing some embedded systems. Apart from these, the following are my metrics for designing the autopilot system

• The maximum speed of the microcontroller
• Use of redundant systems 
• Support for graphics 
• Availability of GPIO pins for interfacing 
• Connectivity (I2C, USB etc.)
• Availability of evaluation kits 
• The overall cost of the main uC with respect to the above features 

                                                                                              1) DOUBLE REDUNDANT AUTOPILOT WITH OPTIONAL SBC

A two-part system using a redundant high-speed microcontroller-based sub-system and SBC-based visualization is proposed as shown in the block diagram (apologies for the faded portions in the picture, due to the image conversion problem). The system consists of two parts mainly:

• Sub-system for data acquisition and control.
• Optional SBC for visualization and advanced data handling

a) Primary microcontroller for DAQ and control unit

STM32-based microcontrollers ( such as STM32F407VGTx ) have enough GPIO pins for accommodating most types of sensors and this can be very useful. Also, the controller runs at a high speed and offers 32-bit support, so precise calculations can be done at using a low-cost microcontroller. 

A user interface will be provided, consisting of three parts:

• LED-based indicators and buzzer for system status and malfunction alarms
• A set of minimalistic buttons for a few quick operations
• Auxiliary display panel using the touchscreen for showing various parameters

A data recorder using time-stamped data can be employed as a backup on the primary controller in case optional SBC is not used.

It is to be noted that while a controller can be used to act fast on inputs and outputs for sensors and actuators, it cannot store or analyse large quantities of data and therefore, an optional SBC is used for the same.

b) Double redundant architecture for the primary controller

Redundant architecture can be employed as the main controller is very critical for the sailing operation and therefore, a switchable type of system that can switch and take over in case of a severe critical failure of the main unit.

c) Single Board Computer (Optional) for secondary data monitoring and visualization

The use of a single-board computer is primarily to store the different data collected during the process. The data from the microcontroller can be read by the SBC and will be stored and plotted using CSV files. This can be used to visualize a graphical or live representation of previous data obtained from the controller and for storing relevant data.

The SBC can be used for basic or advanced visualization of data. Advanced visualization includes the prediction of data for the upcoming stretch of travel based on previous data. Suggested SBC is a BeagleBone AI board based system. 

                                                                              2) SINGLE MICROCONTROLLER-BASED AUTOPILOT

By using a main microcontroller such as the powerful STM32H7B3I, a single uC-based system can be designed so that graphics, ADC and other peripherals can be integrated without loss of speed or performance. The driving here is the use of a powerful microcontroller that can support Arduino form factor and multiple connectivities.

The best example for implementation is the Discovery Kit from ST (STM32H7B3I-DK), which has the Cortex M7 processor interfaced with a TFT LCD, UCB connectors for OTG and host, USART etc. This suggestion is from my previous road-testing experience with the STM32H7B3I board. Since ST offers Touch GFX  software and the open source IDE for software development, it is very easy to develop the Autopilot system.