Design of an Underactuated USV Catamaran

Abstract

The Sea2Future program was developed at ENIDH, since 2018, and it has involved the construction of an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) with the participation of students and teachers of this educational institution. This firstUSV, with two hulls, referred to as USV-enautica1, included a control system which allows it to carry out several functions autonomously and it was used to study the composite construction, the propulsion command and control architectures, the navigation algorithms, and the control systems. The challenge of designing a lightweight hull suitable for coastal and open ocean navigation is described and the implemented solution for the microcontroller and software operation, the sensors, the navigation, and the control systems are explained. The USV has successfully demonstrated its ability to be operated remotely, which is necessary to validate the hydrodynamic parameters, and afterwards the aim of autonomous operation.