ArduSailor is an autonomous sail boat project based on the Arduino platform. Using a modified Arduino Mega board (schematics under layout), ArduSailor can be programmed with a set of GPS waypoints that it can then sail to.
The platform is built around a simple, two-servo sail boat design, with a winch servo for sail plan control and a rudder servo for steering. The circuit layout included is for a modified Arduino Mega 2560, which includes:
- A 9DOF IMU (an Invensense MPU9250)
- A break-out for a weather vane (this circuit is also included)
- A microSD card
- Two servo breakouts
- Three power regulators (one to provide 6V for the servos, one to provide 3.3V for the rest and one MPPT solar charger for the LiPo)
- A GPS chip (Venus 638FPLx)
- A breakout for a UART-based camera module (currently unused)
- A battery input (currently running from a 3S LiPo battery pack)
- A breakout for the main UART port for logging (on my build I have this routed to a 433MHz radio module)
- ICSP header for programming
The included firmware operates off of a list of GPS waypoints, and is a very rudimentary implementation of a greedy algorithm for navigation. The pilot simply tries to point the boat as close to the next waypoint as it can, without falling into irons. Tacks are limited by a timer. A recent addition is stall control - if boat speed falls below a certain limit, it will fall off to beam reach (position itself with the wind coming in at a 90 degree angle) until it comes back up to speed. There is no cross-track correction
I've built several iterations of the circuit board, and it works reliably. When at speed, the navigation works .. somewhat. My current testing is in a sub-optimal body of water (a long, narrow channel), making certain tests difficult.
Here's what I need to tackle
- Finish debugging basic piloting and navigation.
- Add cross-track correction
- Add heel compensation
- Add camera module support
- Improve the navigation algorithm to include no-go zones
- Add wind speed sensor (hw)
I'd like to replace the pilot code entirely with AI. This should be reduce-able to an optimization problem... but that's a bit beyond me right now.
Enjoy!