The Atlantis Project


This page details the Atlantis project, whose aim is the design, development, and  experimental testing of an autonomous wind-propelled marine craft. Functionally, such a vehicle is the marine equivalent of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and would serve similar purposes.


The Atlantis project has been able to demonstrate an advance in control precision of a wind-propelled marine vehicle from typical commercial autopilot accuracy of 100 meters to an accuracy of better than one meter with a prototype based on a modified Prindle-19 light catamaran. The project involves substantial innovations in three areas: wind-propulsion system, overall system architecture, and sensors.


The wind-propulsion system is a rigid wing-sail mounted vertically on bearings, mass balanced to allow free rotation in azimuth about a stub-mast. Aerodynamic torque about the stub-mast is trimmed using a flying tail mounted on booms aft of the wing. This arrangement allows the wing-sail to automatically attain the optimum angle to the wind, and weathervane into gusts without inducing large heeling moments.


The sensor system uses differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) augmented by a low-cost attitude system based on accelerometer- and magnetometer-triads for position and velocity measurements. Accurate attitude determination is required to create a synthetic position sensor that is located at the center-of-gravity (c.g.) of the boat, rather than at the Global Positioning System (GPS) antenna location. A high-performance estimator/controller was implemented and tested on the full-scale prototype. The identified controllers were able to perform remarkably well, in the presence of wind and waves, tracking the desired line to within 0.3 meters (~1 foot).




multimedia


  1. • Video of HarborWing HWT-X1 on open water test in Oahu, HI.

  2. • Video of Guidance, Navigation, and Control Seminar on Atlantis at Stanford.

  3. • Video of Segmented Control PID controller on Atlantis at UC Santa Cruz.

  4. • Atlantis Video from Thesis Defense

  5. • Thesis Defense Slides (pdf)



Publications


  1. (1)Elkaim, G., and Boyce, C. O., “Energy Scavenging and Aerodynamic Performance of a Rigid Wing Propulsion System for an Autonomous Surface Vessel,” ION Global Navigation Satellite Systems Conference, ION-GNSS 2008, Savannah, GA, Sept. 16-19, 2008 (pdf)

  2. (2)Elkaim,G.H., and Kelbley, R. J., “Control Architecture for Segmented Trajectory Following of a Wind-Propelled Autonomous Catamaran,” Journal of Control Science and Engineering, submitted June 2008, pending review. (pdf)

  3. (3)Elkaim, G. H., “Airfoil Section Design and Configuration Analysis of a Free-Rotating Wing-Sail for an Autonomous Marine Surface Vehicle,” AIAA Journal of Aircraft, 2008 (in press). (pdf)

  4. (4)Elkaim, G. H., “System Identification based Control of an Unmanned Autonomous Wind-Propelled Catamaran,” Control Engineering Practice, 2008, doi:10.1016/j.conengprac.2008.05.014 (in press). (pdf)

  5. (5)Boyce, C. O., Elkaim, G., “Control System Performance of an Unmanned Wind-Propelled Catamaran,” IFAC Conference on Control Applications in Marine Systems, IFAC CAMS 2007, Bol, Croatia, Sept. 19-21, 2007 (pdf)

  6. (6)Elkaim,G., Boyce, C. O., “Experimental Aerodynamic Performance of a Self-Trimming Wing-Sail for Autonomous Surface Vehicles,” IFAC Conference on Control Applications in Marine Systems, IFAC CAMS 2007, Bol, Croatia, Sept. 19-21, 2007 (pdf)

  7. (7)Elkaim, G. H., “The Atlantis Project: A GPS-Guided Wing-Sailed Autonomous Catamaran,” NAVIGATION, Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Vol. 53, No. 4, Winter 2006, pp. 237-247. (pdf)

  8. (8)Elkaim, G., Kelbley, R., “Station Keeping and Segmented Trajectory Control of a Wind-Propelled Autonomous Catamaran,” IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, IEEE CDC 2006, San Diego, CA, Dec. 13-15, 2006, pp. 2424-2429 (pdf)

  9. (9)Elkaim, G., Kelbley, R., “Direct Measurement Based H-infinity Controller Synthesis for an Autonomous Surface Vehicle,” ION Global Navigation Satellite Systems Conference, ION GNSS 2006, Fort Worth, TX, Sept. 22-24, 2006, pp. 1973-1982 (pdf)

  10. (10)Elkaim, G., Kelbley, R.., “Control Architecture for Segmented Trajectory Following of a Wind-Propelled Autonomous Catamaran,” AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, AIAA GNC 2006, Keystone, CO, Aug. 21-24, 2006 (pdf)

  11. (11)Elkaim, G., Woodley, B., Kelbley, R., “Model Free Subspace H-infinity Control for an Autonomous Catamaran,” ION/IEEE Position, Location, and Navigation Symposium, ION/IEEE PLANS 2006, San Diego, CA, Apr. 25-27, 2006, pp. 1005-1013 (pdf)

  12. (12)Elkaim, G., “An Autonomous Wing-Sailed Catamaran: Ph.D. Thesis,” Newsletter of the Junk Rig (and Advanced Cruising Rig) Association, Issue #44, Jan. 2005 (pdf)

  13. (13)G. Elkaim, “An Autonomous Wing-Sailed Catamaran, Part II: Wingsail Construction” CATALYST, Journal of the Amateur Yacht Research Society, Vol. 17, Sept. 2004, pp. 37-51 [not peer-reviewed] (pdf)

  14. (14)G. Elkaim, “An Autonomous Wing-Sailed Catamaran,” CATALYST, Journal of the Amateur Yacht Research Society, Vol. 16, April 2004, pp. 21-36 [not peer-reviewed] (pdf)

  15. (15)G. Elkaim, B. Parkinson, “System Identification for Precision Control of a GPS-Autonomous Catamaran,” Journal of Gyroscopy and Navigation, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2002, pp. 75-87 [in Russian] (pdf)

  16. (16)Elkaim, G., “System Identification for Precision Control of a WingSailed GPS-Guided Catamaran,” Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Stanford University, 2002. [Thesis (pdf)] [Defense Slides (pdf)] [Defense Video]

  17. (17)Elkaim, G., Parkinson, B., “System Identification for Precision Control of a GPS-Autonomous Catamaran,” 8th International St. Petersburg Conference on Integrated Navigation Systems, St. Petersburg, Russia, May 27-31, 2001 (pdf)


People


  1. • Gabriel Elkaim, Associate Professor, Computer Engineering, UCSC, 831.459.3054

  2. • Geoff Budd, Undergraduate, Computer Engineering, UCSC, 831.459.2140

  3. • Pavlo Manovi, Undergraduate, Computer Engineering, UCSC, 831.459.2140

  4. • Barbour Smith, Undergraduate, Computer Engineering, UCSC, 831.459.2140

Atlantis Project

description

multimedia

publications

PEOPLE