Implementation of an Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Environmental Monitoring Applications

Environmental monitoring in inland waters is an important issue for adequate planning and management of this kind of territories. This paper shows the implementation of the concepts and strategies for a boat to follow a pre-established route through waypoints oriented to these water bodies. An extended Kalman filter is used to estimate orientation and position using the readings of an inertial unit fused with a magnetometer and GPS. The strategy shows to be valid in calm conditions, which is sufficient for the mission.