Design and Control of an Autonomous Electric Catamaran Boat

This research considers the design and implementation of an autonomous electrically powered boat (e-boat). Mechanical structure and electronic design of this autonomous eboat are carried out. The catamaran type is chosen as the base of this e-boat. The mechanical design is done using SolidWorks and the manufacturing is done using 3D printing. A flight controller is used to control and maneuver the e-boat. The e-boat is steered using a differential thruster actuated using two motors mounted at each of the two hulls of the catamaran. ArduPilot, an open-source autopilot software usually used for the automated guided vehicles to achieve autonomy, is exploited to implement the PID control algorithm being designed and to monitor the boat status from a ground station. Tests have been conducted to evaluate the design, functionalities and performance of the e-boat. The results are discussed in this paper and some recommendations are presented.