Control Algorithms for a Sailboat Robot with a Sea Experiment

Abstract

A sailboat robot is a highly nonlinear system but which control is relatively easy, however. Indeed, its mechanical design is the result of an evolution over thousands of years. This paper focuses on a control strategy which remains simple, with few parameters to adjust and meaningful with respect to the intuition. A test on the sailboat robot called Vaimos is presented to illustrate the performance of the regulator with a sea experiment. Moreover, the HardWare In the Loop (HWIL) methodology has been used for the validation of the embedded system. Last point is that this HWIL simulation compared to the real experiment is also a confirmation that the dynamic model used for control is correct.

A Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulator to Optimize Autonomous Sailboat Performance in Real Ocean Conditions

“…Since then, a few other HIL simulators have been described to support the development of autonomous sailboat controllers. For example, in [7], an HIL simulation is used to validate the embedded system of the sailboat robot, Vaimos. In the simulation, the sea state is not emulated and wind is considered constant with white noise.…”