This is a heading hold test for the ArduPilotMega based (ArduBoat) sailboat autopilot. The boat is sailed manually on a reach and then heads downwind holding a heading of 0 degrees and performs a jibe.We have waypoint guidance working in hardware-in-the-loop, so we expect to do waypoint testing soon. We might have to figure out a better solution for our digital wind vane as the potentiometer from radio-shack is too sticky to detect light winds well. The digital weather station from sparkfun might be a good option.
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James,
I can't believe I missed this post back in December. Better late than never. I to am working on auto sailing a boat. for the wind vain I am using a US digital rotary encoder http://www.usdigital.com/products/encoders/absolute/rotary/shaft/ma3 I haven't put it on the water yet but so far messing in my basement I am impressed. I will send some photos of my stuff tomorrow (Its getting late). What I need next for the wind vain is a good way to average around a circle. If the vain is bouncing between 359 and 1 deg I need to average to 0 not 180.
James - I didn't know you have a J22. I think I need to come visit this summer ;)
Hey Ellison,
I love sailing. However, I think it will turn out to be just another one of those things that we humans think we are so great at, and which a machine could never do better, but which in fact can be done much better by a machine. Just a matter of time...
Of course, we are the lucky ones who get to make these things happen. I am continually envious of the great mathematicians and scientists of the past. Some days it seems like they already got to discover all the good stuff. Then I remember that it is looking at little questions like "how could I make this autopilot sail this boat better than I could" that will lead to the new, lasting ideas that this generation are remembered for.
I've had only basic sailing experience, but it seems to me that sailing is more of an art than science. You have to judge the wind direction all the time to try and optimize the best sail configuration. Could be interesting to see if a computer can be trained to sail better than a human crew.
Btw, good idea with the tether rope. Hate to have to get in that water to retrieve a wayward boat.
James, that could turn in to a really cool project. Objective: get it to beat a human "skipper" in a race. Lots of interesting possibilities! Do you know much about the relation between game theory and optimal control?
Hi James,
That's a great cool project! I really want to see it navigating on zigzag to windward, which is the most intriguing maneuver.
Why not using a rotary encoder on your wind vane? It tends to be less susceptible to friction than pots. Maybe you could even construct one with an older mouse encoder-wheel on bearings.
Cheers!
Here is the link to the digital wind vane I am thinking of getting. It seems a lot of users have already interfaced it to arduino on sparkfun but it is on backorder. You can get it here instead: https://www.argentdata.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=29&pr...
Here is the arduino code: http://home.comcast.net/~saustin98/misc/WeatherStationADC.txt