IV.
C ONCLUSIONS
Fig. 4. Control System State Machine
maintain speed in a given wind direction. Once the way-point
is within a given dead-band the state transitions to DOWN-
WIND or CROSSWIND depending on the wind direction at
this point. In the case of an upwind way-point the TURN state
falls through to the UPWIND state once the boat is slightly
less the 45 degrees to the wind.
The DOWNWIND state sets the sails full out and the
CROSSWIND state sets the sails to maintain speed.
The UPWIND state sets the sails to maintain speed as well
but offsets the desired heading to way-point to maintain a
heading more than 45o to the wind. Once the heading to the
way-point reaches more than 90o the state is transitioned to
TURN.
In all of the wind states the rudders are kept stationary. A
counter is incremented each time a wind state is run and
when it overflows the CORRECTION state is run which
increments the rudder to maneuver the boat back to the
way-point heading. This limitation is imposed to limit the
movement of the rudder and give the boat some time to
respond. Additionally if the boat speed drops below the
threshold in any of the wind states the state is transitioned
back to the INIT state.
The RECOVERY state runs when all of the way-points are
gone or when radio communications are lost. In this state the
rudder is put hard to port until the distance to the last way-
point or last position before communications loss reaches a
threshold. The state then transitions back to TURN and the
boat maneuvers back to the recovery way-point or last known
position.
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Due to sensor misalignments and some mechanical failures
the proposed state machine is in the process of being tested.
The data-logging has been very useful in debugging the state
machine and other systems.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Project costs amounted to approximately $25 000 (includ-
ing travel to competition in Annapolis), including a $10 000
contribution from the Angus Bruneau Student Life Fund, as
well as donations from Mad Rock Marine Solutions, OP
Fibreglass, Napa Paint and $10 000 of personal contribution
from team members. MUN Sailbot would like to thank all
those who have supported the project and all students involved
with the effort.
R EFERENCES
[1] SNAME. ”Sailbot Class Rules”
Internet:http://www.sname.org/SailBot/Bylaws/
ClassRules/ , Aug.17,2011 [Oct.11,2011].
[2] USNA. ”The 5th International Robotic Sailing Competition”
Internet:http://www.usna.edu/Users/naome/phmiller/
SailBot/SailBot.htm , Sept.1,2011 [Oct.10,2011]
[3] ISAE. ”The ISAE Microitransat[sic] Challenge” Internet:http://
websites.isae.fr/microtransat?lang=en , [Oct.11,2011]
[4] Andrew Safer. ”Student-Built Sailbot Competes in Maryland.”
Internet:http://www.oceansadvance.net/
feature-stories/student-built-%E2%80%9Csailbot%
E2%80%9D-competes-maryland , Aug.10,2011 [Oct.10,2011].
[5] MunSailbot. ”Google Code Repository”
Internet:http://code.google.com/p/munsailbot ,
Oct.7,2011 [Oct.11,2011].
[6] MunSailbot. ”Mun Sailbot Wiki Page”
Internet:http://www.munsailbot.com/wiki/ , Oct.7,2011
[Oct.11,2011].
[7] Scott Craig, Justin Tanner, Dr. Mantis Cheng . ”A Real Time Operating
System.”
Internet:http://webhome.csc.uvic.ca/˜mcheng/466/
spring.2010/handouts/RTOS/report/index.html ,
Sept.26,2007 [Oct.10,2011].