Electronic moth hydrofoil control

A semester of progress designing and testing an automatic electromechanical hydrofoil control system for the International Moth sailboat class.
Code, components, and schematics all available here:
drive.google.com/drive/folder...

[@DannyBokma]

So awesome! We will be attempting to implement something similar on our solar boat this year ( dutch solar boat ), recently found a very promising radar chip ( from Acconeer ).

[@dacarls]

Electronics guys do not know about" Gflex epoxy for such attaching jobs". Or waterproof seals. Oh dear.

[@willtwilson]

This was a great project! 👏

[@Papersheepp]

Damn we need this on the mach2 at MIT :)

[@artyomsyomushkin1104]

Very good work, but you need to redesign the system on a bit different principle:
- instead of potentiometer use contactless water distance measurement sensor - capacitive or radar-based. These are much more reliable and accurate. You can put two for redundancy.
- add MEMS accelerometer and MEMS gyroscope to measure vertical speed and angles. This would significantly improve performance in challenging conditions, like high waves ride-through.
- the processing cycle time should be less than 10ms for good reaction times and you need a really real-time processing. Perhaps Arduino is a bit too weak here, which has negative impact on performance.

[@bakedgoodz5586]

Use a depth laser up front instead of the wand for less drag

[@koejoe]

Boom!

[@20runninginthebackground]

Yep

[@gastonbarouille767]

Great projet !!! Worked flawlessly! Can you tell me the brand and model of the speedometer that appear at 1.48? Whe are waiting for the second video!

[@dylantorquerol]

Hi Gaston, glad you liked the project. The speedometer is a Velocitek SpeedPuck.

[@Don-xy8cy]

I fly radio controller helicopters (big ones) and I thought, "He should put a gyro inline with the servo" and that would continuously alter the angle of attack without any input required.

[@NE-Explorer]

Whats the math for the controller?

[@WinWindowS.K.Julian]

I may be missing something here... Why would this be any better than a mechanical rha that is currently implemented on moths?

[@gastonbarouille767]

It's just an electronic version. Mechanical system is simplier an more realiable

[@WinWindowS.K.Julian]

@@gastonbarouille767 I know the vid shows an electrical one... I'm asking why they are doing it while it seems to have no benefits with a few (but important) drawbacks

[@dylantorquerol]

Hi, thanks for the question. As others have mentioned above, software-enabled systems are generally considered to be more flexible to modify and capable of solving more complex control problems than a purely-mechanical approach. Just as aircraft control systems started out as purely-mechanical in the early 20th century, most modern aircraft controls are now software-enabled systems to improve the performance, stability, and efficiency of the aircraft in challenging conditions. Hydrofoils and sailboats are facing a similar, improved future. Of course, any early prototype, such as the one I made in this video, is likely to have limitations, especially when water and electricity are in close proximity. Improved fabrication techniques would resolve these simple challenges.

[@artyomsyomushkin1104]

Electronic system with appropriate sensors can have much better performance than mechanical on waves - e.g. it will eliminate typical moth fails.
It also allows "controlled take-off" e.g. less drag on small speeds and rapid take off when necessary speed reached. This will allow foiling with less wind, when standard moth will not take-off at all.

[@GrumpyOldMan9]

A sailing boat that needs a battery to function properly. Next, please.

[@NE-Explorer]

Your life already depends on batteries.