Modeling, control and state-estimation for an autonomous sailboat

Abstract: During long time missions with autonomous sailboats electrical power is a limited resource. When making evaluations of power saving strategies it is important to have a good platform for simulations and experiments. In this thesis a model of a four meters long autonomous sailboat is presented and parameterized, several control strategies are developed and evaluated and state estimation algorithms for the wind and the sailboat are developed, all with the purpose of future studies of power management. The model that is used captures the main characteristics of a sailboat quite well, it is possible to use the model for controller development and state estimation. The model and the controllers are evaluated using simulations and experiments. The control strategy and state estimation algorithms shows promising results, but more experiments are needed to verify that simulations and the experiments are consistent in all conditions.