11th

11th IFAC
IFAC Conference
Conference onon Control
Control Applications
Applications in
in
Marine Systems, Robotics, and Availablein
online at www.sciencedirect.com
11th
11th IFAC
Marine
IFAC Conference
Systems, on
Robotics,
Conference on and Vehicles
Control Applications
Vehicles
Control Applications in
Opatija,
Marine Croatia,
Systems, September
Robotics, 10-12,
and 2018
Vehicles
Opatija, Croatia, September 10-12, 2018
Marine Systems, Robotics, and Vehicles
Opatija,
Opatija, Croatia,
Croatia, September
September 10-12,
10-12, 2018
2018 ScienceDirect
IFAC PapersOnLine 51-29 (2018) 8–13

Development
Development of
of aa Trimaran
Trimaran ASV
ASV
Development
Development of
of aa Trimaran
Trimaran ASV
ASV
1 2 3 4 5
Igor
Igor S.
S. Silva
Silva11,, Fábio
Fábio Campopiano
Campopiano22,, Gabriel
Gabriel S.
S. V.
V. Lopes
Lopes33,, Aléxis
Aléxis K.
K. Uenojo
Uenojo44,, Humberto
Humberto T.
T. Silva
Silva55,, Eduardo
Eduardo L. L.
6 7 8
Igor S. Silva 1, Fábio Campopiano Pellini
Pellini 6, Alexander
2, Gabriel S. V. A. Alvarez
Lopes 7, Ettore
3, Aléxis K. A.
UenojoBarros
4, Humberto
8 T. Silva 5, Eduardo L.
Igor S. Silva , Fábio Campopiano 6, Alexander
, Gabriel S. V. A. Alvarez
Lopes 7, Ettore
, Aléxis A. Barros
K. Uenojo , Humberto
8 T. Silva , Eduardo L.
Pellini
Pellini6,, Alexander
Alexander A. A. Alvarez
Alvarez7,, Ettore
Ettore A.A. Barros
Barros8
1
1Mechatronics Engineering Department, Polytechnic School of Engineering,
1Mechatronics Engineering Department, Polytechnic School of Engineering,
1Mechatronics Engineering
University of
of Sao
Mechatronics
University
2
Sao Paulo,
Engineering SaoDepartment,
Paulo, Sao Paulo,
Paulo, Brazil,
Department,
Brazil,Polytechnic
(e-mail:
Polytechnic School
School ofof Engineering,
igor.santos.silva@usp.br)
Engineering,
(e-mail: igor.santos.silva@usp.br)
University
2Unmanned
University of
of
Unmanned Sao
Sao Paulo,
Vehicles
Paulo,
Vehicles Sao
Sao Paulo,
Laboratory,
Paulo,
Laboratory, Brazil,
Brazil, (e-mail:
Polytechnic
(e-mail:
Polytechnic igor.santos.silva@usp.br)
School of Engineering,
igor.santos.silva@usp.br)
School of Engineering,
2
2Unmanned Vehicles Laboratory,
Brazil,Polytechnic School
University
University of Sao
Sao Paulo,
3Unmanned
of Paulo, Sao Paulo,
Vehicles
Sao Paulo,
Laboratory, Polytechnic
Brazil, (e-mail: School ofof Engineering,
(e-mail: fabiocampopiano@hotmail.com)
fabiocampopiano@hotmail.com)
Engineering,
University
University of Sao
3Unmanned Paulo, Sao
Vehicles
of Sao Paulo, Paulo, Brazil,
Laboratory,
Sao Paulo, (e-mail:
Polytechnic
Brazil,Polytechnic fabiocampopiano@hotmail.com)
School of Engineering,
Engineering,
(e-mail: fabiocampopiano@hotmail.com)
3Unmanned Vehicles Laboratory, School of
University
University of Sao
3Unmanned
of
Unmanned Sao Vehicles
Paulo, Sao
Paulo,
Vehicles Sao Paulo, Brazil,
Laboratory,
Paulo,
Laboratory,Brazil, (e-mail: School
Polytechnic
(e-mail:
Polytechnic gabriel.souza.lopes@usp.br)
School of
of Engineering,
gabriel.souza.lopes@usp.br)
Engineering,
4
4Mechatronics Engineering Department, Polytechnic School of
University
University
4
of
of
Mechatronics Sao
Sao Paulo,
Paulo,
EngineeringSao
Sao Paulo,
Paulo, Brazil,
Brazil,
Department, (e-mail:
(e-mail:
Polytechnic of Engineering,
gabriel.souza.lopes@usp.br)
gabriel.souza.lopes@usp.br)
School Engineering,
Mechatronics
4University
Mechatronics
University of
of Engineering
Sao Paulo,
Engineering
Sao Paulo, Department,
Sao Paulo,
Department,
Sao Paulo, Polytechnic
Brazil, (e-mail:
Polytechnic
Brazil, (e-mail: School
School of
of Engineering,
alexis.uenojo@usp.br)
Engineering,
alexis.uenojo@usp.br)
5
University
5Unmanned
University
Unmanned of
of Sao
Sao Paulo,
Vehicles
Paulo,
Vehicles Sao
Sao Paulo,
Laboratory,
Paulo,
Laboratory, Brazil,
Brazil, (e-mail:
Polytechnic
(e-mail:
Polytechnic alexis.uenojo@usp.br)
School of Engineering,
alexis.uenojo@usp.br)
School of Engineering,
5
5Unmanned
6
University of
Unmanned
University Sao Vehicles
of Sao Paulo,
Paulo, Sao
Vehicles SaoLaboratory,
Paulo,
Laboratory, Polytechnic
Paulo, Brazil,
Brazil, (e-mail: School
(e-mail:
Polytechnic of
of Engineering,
humberto.trindades@usp.br)
School Engineering,
humberto.trindades@usp.br)
University
6Energy and
University
Energy and of
of Sao
Automation
Sao
Automation Paulo,
Paulo, Sao
Sao Paulo,
Engineering
Paulo,
Engineering Brazil,
Brazil, (e-mail:
Department,
(e-mail:
Department, humberto.trindades@usp.br)
Polytechnic School of
of Engineering,
humberto.trindades@usp.br)
Polytechnic School Engineering,
6
6Energy University
and Automation Engineering Department, Polytechnic School
Energy University of
7and Automation
Sao Paulo,
of SaoEngineering Sao Paulo, Brazil,
Department,
Paulo, Sao Paulo, (e-mail:
Brazil,Polytechnic School of Engineering,
of
elpellini@usp.br)
Engineering,
(e-mail: elpellini@usp.br)
University
7UnmannedofVehicles
University Sao
Sao Paulo, Sao
Sao Paulo,
Laboratory, Brazil,
Brazil, (e-mail:
Polytechnic Schoolelpellini@usp.br)
of Engineering,
Engineering,
7UnmannedofVehicles Paulo, Paulo,
Laboratory, Polytechnic (e-mail:
School elpellini@usp.br)
of
University
7Unmanned
Unmanned
University of
of Sao Paulo,
Vehicles
Vehicles
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo,
Laboratory,
Laboratory,
Sao Paulo, Brazil,
Polytechnic
Polytechnic
Brazil, (e-mail:
School
School
(e-mail: aalfonsoal@usp.br)
of
of Engineering,
Engineering,
aalfonsoal@usp.br)
8
8Mechatronics Engineering Department, Polytechnic School of
8
University
University
Mechatronics of
of Sao
Sao Paulo,
Paulo,
Engineering Sao
Sao Paulo,
Paulo,
Department, Brazil,
Brazil, (e-mail:
(e-mail:
Polytechnic of Engineering,
aalfonsoal@usp.br)
aalfonsoal@usp.br)
School Engineering,
8Mechatronics Engineering Department, Polytechnic School of
University
Mechatronics
University of of Sao Paulo,
Engineering Sao Paulo,
Sao Paulo, Department, Brazil, (e-mail:
Polytechnic
Sao Paulo, Brazil, School
(e-mail: of Engineering,
eabarros@usp.br)
Engineering,
eabarros@usp.br)
University
University of of Sao
Sao Paulo,
Paulo, Sao
Sao Paulo,
Paulo, Brazil,
Brazil, (e-mail:
(e-mail: eabarros@usp.br)
eabarros@usp.br)
Abstract: A trimaran is proposed as an autonomous surface vehicle aimed
Abstract: A trimaran is proposed as an autonomous surface vehicle aimed to
to oceanographic
oceanographic fieldfield
Abstract:
missions
Abstract:and
missions andA trimaran
research
A research onis proposed
navigation
trimaranonisnavigation
proposed of as
of an autonomous
autonomous
as autonomous
an autonomous surface
underwater
underwater vehicle
vehicles.
surfacevehicles. aimed
The
vehicle The to
paper
paper
aimed oceanographic
presents
to presents field
aa discussion
oceanographicdiscussion
field
missions
comparing
missions and
comparing and research
this kind
research
this on
of navigation
vessel
kind ofonvessel to
navigation theof autonomous
monohull
to theofmonohull
autonomous and underwater
catamaran
andunderwater vehicles.
types.
catamaran vehicles. The
Naval paper presents
architecture
The paper
types. Naval a
aspects
presents
architecture discussion
of
of the
a discussion
aspects the
comparing
vehicle
comparing
vehicle this
this kind
design
design are
kind of
of vessel
vessel to
are summarized,
summarized, to the
and monohull
and
the details
details on
monohull onand
thecatamaran
the
and hardwaretypes.
hardware
catamaran and Naval
Naval architecture
and software
types. software control aspects
aspects of
control architecture
architecture
architecture the
of are
the
are
vehicle
presented
presented design
as
vehicle design well.
as well.are summarized, and details on the hardware and software control
are summarized, and details on the hardware and software control architecture are architecture are
presented
presented as
as well.
well.
© 2018, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Keywords: ASV, ASV, control
control architecture,
architecture, trimaran,
trimaran, BMS,
BMS, photovoltaic
photovoltaic systems,
systems, embedded
embedded systems.
systems.
Keywords:
Keywords: ASV, control architecture, trimaran, BMS, photovoltaic systems, embedded
ASV, control architecture, trimaran, BMS, photovoltaic systems, embedded systems.
systems.

1.
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION between
between the the hulls)
hulls) thanthan the
the catamaran
catamaran ships.
ships. Increased
Increased roll roll
1.
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTIONconstitute a class of between
stability
between can
stability the
can hulls)
make
the make a
hulls)athanthan the
weighted catamaran
keel
the catamaran
weighted no ships.
longer Increased
necessary,
Increasedwhat
ships.necessary,
keel no longer roll
roll
what
Autonomous
Autonomous Surface Surface Vehicles
Vehicles (ASVs)
(ASVs) constitute a class of stability can make a weighted keel no longer necessary, what
is
is interesting
stability can make
interesting for missions
a weighted
for missions in shallow waters.
keel nowaters.
in shallow longer TheThe added
necessary, hulls
what
added hulls
Autonomous
Unmanned
AutonomousSurface
Unmanned Surface
Surface Vehicles
SurfaceVehicles
Vehicles(USVs)
Vehicles (ASVs)
(ASVs) that
(USVs) constitute
that has aa class
has energy
constitute classand
energy of
of
and is
is interesting
in
in trimaran
trimaran can
interesting for
for missions
can increasein
increase
missions shallow
inalso
shallow
also the waters.
the straightThe
straight
waters. The line
lineadded hulls
stability,
added hulls
stability,
embedded
Unmanned computer
Unmanned
embedded Surface power
Surface
computer Vehicles
Vehicles
power for autonomous
for (USVs)
(USVs)
autonomous that navigation.
that has energyThey
has energy
navigation. and
and
They in trimaran
however,
in trimaranthey
however, can
they increase
decrease
can increase
decrease alsoalsothe the straight
vessel
the thevessel
straight line stability,
manoeuvrability.
line stability,
manoeuvrability.
have been
embedded
embedded
have applied
applied to
been computer
computer missions
topower
power for in
for
missions aa number
autonomous of
of fields
fields such
number navigation.
autonomous
in navigation. They
They
such as
as however,
Reducing
however, wave
Reducing they
wave decrease
they resistance
decreaseproduces
resistance the
the vessel
produces noise manoeuvrability.
noise reduction,
vessel reduction, helping
manoeuvrability.
helping
have been
bathymetric applied
have been applied
bathymetric survey to missions
(Alves
surveyto(Alves
missions et in
al.,
et in a number
2006),
al.,a 2006), of fields
pollution
numberpollution such
such as
control,
of fields control, as Reducing
the stealth
Reducing
the wave
stealth wave resistance
navigation of
resistance
navigation produces
military
produces
of military noise
noise reduction, helping
vessels.
vessels. reduction, helping
bathymetric
coastal and
bathymetric
coastal survey
and inland
inland (Alves
surveywater
(Alves
water et
et al.,
defense
defense and2006),
al.,and pollution
oceanographic
2006), control,
pollution research
oceanographic control,
research the
the stealth
stealth navigation
navigation of military
ofdrove
military vessels.
vessels.
coastal
coastal and
(Caccia
(Caccia et
and inland
et al., 2003,water
2003,
inland
al., 2006,defense
2006,
water Bruzzone
defense
Bruzzone and
andet etoceanographic
al.,
al., 2011).
2011). In
oceanographic research
In addition,
research
addition, Those
Those characteristics drove the design decision for the
characteristics the design decision for the
(Caccia
ASVs
(Cacciacan
ASVs et
can al.,
help
et al., 2003,
the
help2003, 2006, Bruzzone
development
2006, Bruzzone
the development of et al.,
Autonomous2011). In addition,
Underwater
et al., 2011). Underwater
of Autonomous In addition, Those
Those characteristics
trimaran
trimaran in
in the
the U.S. drove
drove the
U.S. american
characteristics american design
thedefense decision
design agency
defense decision(DARPA)
agency for
for the
(DARPA) the
ASVs
ASVs can
Vehicles
Vehicles help
help the
can(AUVs),
(AUVs), development
thereducing costs of
costs
development
reducing forAutonomous
for
of investigatingUnderwater
investigating
Autonomous and
and testing
Underwater
testing trimaran
trimaran in
“Anti-Submarine
“Anti-Submarinein the
the U.S.
U.S. american
Warfare
american(ASW)
Warfare defense agency
agency (DARPA)
defense Continuous
(ASW) Continuous (DARPA)Trail
Trail
Vehicles
some
some of (AUVs),
the
of the
Vehicles systems
systems
(AUVs), reducing
that costs
compose
that compose
reducing costs forfor investigating
these
these vehicles. and
vehicles.
investigating and testing
testing “Anti-Submarine
Unmanned
Unmanned Vessel
“Anti-Submarine Warfare
Warfare (ASW)
Vessel (ACTUV)”
(ACTUV)” program. Continuous
program.
(ASW) In
In such
such program
Continuous program Trail
Trailaa
some
some ofof the
the systems
systems that
that compose
composeare these
these vehicles.
vehicles.or catamaran robotic
Unmanned
Unmanned
robotic autonomous
Vessel vessel
vessel was
Vessel (ACTUV)”
autonomous (ACTUV)” designed
was program.
designed In
program. to
to locate
In such and
and track
such program
locate program trackaa
Usually the ASVs in operation monohull
Usually the ASVs in operation are monohull or catamaran diesel
Usually the ASVs diesel submarines
robotic
robotic autonomous(Owens,
autonomous
submarines vessel
(Owens, 2017).
vessel was
was
2017). The
The vessel
designed
designed to
vessel is
is reported
to locate
locate and to
to be
and track
reported trackbe
type
type ships.
Usually
ships. ASVs in
the Multihull
Multihull operation
in types,
operationlikeare
types, like are monohull
catamaran,
monohullcan
catamaran, or
or catamaran
can provide
provide aa
catamaran diesel submarines (Owens, 2017). The vessel is reported to
type ships. Multihull types, like catamaran, can
132
diesel
132 feet long and
feetsubmarines weighs
long and weighs (Owens, 135 tons,
1352017). with a range
Theavessel
tons, with of up
range isofreported to to be
10,000
up to 10,000 be
large deck
type ships.
large deck areaarea for
Multihull boarding
types, like
for boarding equipment. can provide
Moreover,
catamaran,Moreover,
equipment. waveaa
wave
provide 132
large deck area for boarding equipment. Moreover, 132 feet
miles.
miles. feet long
long and
and weighs
weighs 135 135 tons,
tons, with
with aa range
range of of up
up toto 10,000
10,000
resistance is
large deckis area
resistance reduced and
for and
reduced roll
boarding stability
equipment.
roll stability is increased in thewave
in
Moreover,
is increased the case
wave
case miles.
of the miles.
the multihull
resistance
resistance
of is
multihull vehicle.
is reduced
reduced and
and roll
vehicle. roll stability
stability is is increased
increased inin the
the case
case Unmanned
Unmanned trimarans trimarans have have alsoalso attracted
attracted the the attention
attention of of
of
of the
the multihull
multihull vehicle.
vehicle. researchers
Unmanned
Unmanned trimarans
researchers in China.
trimarans
in China. have There,
have also
There,also scale model
attracted
attracted
scale model the trimarans
the attention
attention
trimarans were
were of
of
Those
Those features
features also
also influence
influence the the design
design process
process ofof the
the real
real researchers in China. There, scale model trimarans were
developed
researchers for
developed for academic
in China.
academic research.
There, scale Qi
research. Qi
model et
et al.al. (2007),
trimarans
(2007),were for
for
Those
scale features
ships.
Those ships.
scale features also
For
Foralso influence
those vehicles,
influence
those vehicles,the design
however,
the however, process
design processanother
anotherof
of the
typereal
type
the of
real
of developed
example,
developedpresent
example, for
for academic
present the
the embedded
academic research.
embedded Qi
Qi et
hardware
research.
hardware andal.
etand the(2007),
al.the autopilots
(2007),
autopilots for
for
scale ships.
multihull
scale ships.
multihull is For
is For those
deserving vehicles,
attention
those vehicles,
deserving however,
recently,
attention however,
recently, the another
the type
type of
trimaran.
another
trimaran. A
of
A example,
of a 1.6
example, m present
length
of a 1.6 mpresent
length and the
and embedded
0.232
the embedded m
0.232 m beam hardware
beam vessel.
hardware and
vessel.and In the
Peng autopilots
and
the autopilots
In Peng Han
and Han
trimaran
multihullvessel
multihull
trimaran is
vessel includes
includes three
is deserving
deserving three hulls:
attention one
one central
hulls:recently,
attention recently, themain
the
central hull
hull and
trimaran.
trimaran.
main A
A
and of
of aa 1.6
(2009),
(2009), m
m length
1.6 the
the same
length and
and 0.232
same authors
authors0.232 m
m beam
present
present the vessel.
vessel. In
the embedded
beam embedded In Peng
hardware
Peng
hardwareand
and Han
and
Han
and
two smaller
trimaran
trimaran
two ones,
vessel
vessel
smaller called
includes
includes
ones, outrigger
three
called three hulls:
hulls:
outrigger hulls.
one central main hull
one central main hull and
hulls. and
(2009),
study on
(2009),onthe
study the same authors
manoeuvrability
same authors present
manoeuvrability present
for a the
larger embedded
model
the embedded
for a larger (4 hardware
model (4 hardwarem length
m length and and
two
two smaller
smaller ones,
ones, called
called outrigger
outrigger hulls.
hulls.
Trimarans
Trimarans can can provide
provide even even better better wavewave resistance
resistance study
study on
0.396
0.396 m
on manoeuvrability
m beam)
beam) weighting
weighting 143
manoeuvrability for
for aakg.
143 larger
kg. In
larger model
In Cheng
modelet
Cheng et(4 al.m
(4al. length
m(2010),
length it
(2010), and
it
andis
is
Trimarans
performance
performance
Trimarans can can provide
(depending
(depending even
mainly
providemainly on
evenon betterbetter
the wave
wave resistance
longitudinal
the longitudinal distance
distance
resistance proposed
0.396
0.396 m
proposed the
the use
m beam)
beam) of
of system
weighting
weighting
use system 143
143identification
kg.
kg. In Chengtechniques
In Cheng
identification et
et al.
al. (2010),
techniques applied
(2010), it
it is
applied is
performance
performance (depending
(depending mainly
mainly on on the the longitudinal
longitudinal distance
distance proposed
proposed the the use
use ofof system
system identification
identification techniques
techniques appliedapplied
2405-8963 © 2018, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Peer review under
Copyright responsibility of International Federation of Automatic Control.
Copyright ©© 2018
2018 IFAC
IFAC 8
8
10.1016/j.ifacol.2018.09.461
Copyright © 2018 IFAC 8
Copyright © 2018 IFAC 8
IFAC CAMS 2018
Opatija, Croatia, September 10-12, 2018
Igor S. Silva et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 51-29 (2018) 8–13 9

to the manoeuvrability investigation. In summary, in these Table 1. Vehicle Particulars

papers the vehicle is viewed as a scale model prototype for
control and manoeuvrability studies. Main hull
Length (mm) 2200
In this work, it is proposed an ASV for missions in Beam (mm) 352
oceanography and as a platform for investigations on AUV Draft (mm) 121
navigation. Focus is on the vehicle design, and its Side hull
subsystems. Vehicle characteristics and naval architecture Length (mm) 1450
aspects are presented in section 2 and 3, exposing further
Beam (mm) 233
aspects of the trimaran advantage over the other hull type
USVs. The embedded electronics and the control architecture Draft (mm) 80
are presented in section 4, emphasizing a multifunctional
processing board design and the energy management system
integrating batteries and a solar panel. Manoeuvre operations The embedded equipment arrangement was also a concern
are described in section 5. Conclusions and that led to the trimaran solution. As shown in Fig. 2, the
Acknowledgements are presented in sections 6 and 7, trimaran side hulls carry the propulsion and energy systems,
respectively. which include the battery packs and the battery management
system (BMS). The main hull was allocated with the
2. VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS processing unit, the navigation sensors and the steering
The ASV should operate as a platform to test navigation system. The dashed lines in the figure correspond to the
algorithms under development and to board payload vehicle bulkheads.
equipment such as oceanographic sensors. The following
requirements were considered to achieve the desired
operational condition:
• Operational speed between 0.5 and 2 m/s;
• System autonomy of 3 hours at 2 m/s with battery
and solar panels;
• Payload capacity of, at least, 30 kg;
• More than 0.5 m2 of deck area to install cell solar
panels;
• Vehicle dimensions and structures to simplify
transport, launching and recovery;
• Capacity to accomplish pre-programmed
manoeuvres such as turning, berthing, zig-zagging
and heading control.
A trimaran vehicle was designed with a main hull and two
side hulls, as shown in Fig. 1. The vehicle particulars are
described in Table 1.

Fig 2. Trimaran arrangement.

3. NAVAL ARCHITECTURE ANALYSIS

Fig 1. ASV concept drawing and main dimensions.
During the initial design phase of the vehicle, it was made
comparisons of the stability and resistance between
monohull, catamaran and trimaran. The hulls considered were
from the NPL series (Bailey, 1976) with same design
displacement and, for the multihulls, with the same overall
beadth. The monohull does not have sufficient transversal
stability, presenting negative transversal metacentric height
(GMT) when fully loaded. In Fig. 3, the comparison between
the GMT of the catamaran and trimaran vehicles are made in
function of the draft. The vertical dashed lines indicate the
draft for the designed displacement.

9
IFAC CAMS 2018
Opatija, Croatia, September 10-12, 2018
10 Igor S. Silva et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 51-29 (2018) 8–13

30

25

20

Resistance (N)
15

10

0
1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2
Speed (m/s)

Trimaran (ā=572 mm) Trimaran (ā=660mm)

Trimaran (ā=880mm) Catamaran
Fig 3. GMT in function of draft. Monohull

In Fig. 4, it is presented comparison among five possible

solutions, including three different trimarans with different
longitudinal distances between the main hull and the side hull
(ā). Frictional resistance was estimated according to the data
presented on the NPL series (Bailey, 1976), and for the wave
resistance and interaction between hulls, it was adopted the
formulation presented by Dubrovsky (2001).
It is noticeable that an increase of the longitudinal distance
between hulls (ā) on the trimaran causes reduction on total
resistance. However, the vehicle manoeuvrability has a small
decreasing as well. On Table Z it is shown the ratio between
the vehicle turning radius (R) and main hull length (L)
predicted using the formulation presented by Zhang (1997).
For the purpose of this vehicle, however, the increase on the
turning radius is not relevant. The best performance of the
trimaran vessel is demonstrated at the design speed (2 m/s).
Table 2. Turning radius over overall length on the
trimaran
Longitudinal distance (ā) R/L
572 mm 4,5
660 mm 5
880 mm 6,3
Even though the monohull solution presents one of the lowest
total resistance, it does not have transversal stability. Also, it
has less deck area compared to the multihull solutions and it
presents less manoeuvrability at low speeds.
With regard to the multihulls, their results are quite similar
because both have transversal stability and close total
resistance. Therefore, the chosen solution was the trimaran
due to its lower total resistance with appropriate choice of
longitudinal distance, safer arrangement separating the
energy and propulsion system from the payload and the
processing unit. Furthermore, with only one rudder in the
main hull, the steering system on the trimaran is less complex
than that in the catamaran.
Fig 4. Total resistance in function of speed.
4. TRIMARAN EMBEDDED SYSTEM
The Fig. 5 shows the simplified diagram of the trimaran
embedded system, as well as the distribution of its
subsystems into the hulls. The central hull allocates three
Micro Controller Unit (MCU) boards for the vehicle’s
control, navigation and communication. Each side hull
allocates batteries, a solar panel and the Battery Management
System (BMS). A Controller Area Network (CAN) bus is
responsible for establishing parallel communications between
all the modules and a controller node (Main MCU), which
takes the vehicle’s major decisions. A similar architecture
was also implemented in the AUV Pirajuba and it has been
proven to be effective in critical and real time systems (Freire
et al., 2018).
4.1 Micro Controller Unit – MCU board
The MCU board architecture is based on a 32 bits ARM
Cortex M4F microcontroller, with single precision hardware
Floating Point Unit (FPU), with clock up to 180 MHz, 256
kB of RAM, at least 1.0 MB of FLASH, in a high pin count
package. Its main functionalities are summarized below:
• Digital signal processing capabilities and enough
computational power, with at least 90 MIPS, 32 kB
of RAM and 128 kB of FLASH;
• Low energy consumption and flexible clock
configurations, allowing low energy standby
situations, up to high performance modes;
• External communication interfaces, including
Control Area Network (CAN), EIA RS-232, EIA
RS-422 and Ethernet;
• Board-to-board and board-to-peripheral
communications through Serial Peripheral Interface
(SPI), Inter-integrated Circuit (I2C) protocol and
Universal Synchronous Asynchronous Receiver
Transmitter (USART) interfaces;

10
 IFAC CAMS 2018
Opatija, Croatia, September 10-12, 2018
Igor S. Silva et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 51-29 (2018) 8–13 11
• Plenty of digital and analogue inputs and outputs,
with flexible electrical standards, voltage levels and
signals bandwidths;
• Internal power supply for board voltages and
references;
• Withstands Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) levels found
inside the vehicle, due to high frequency and high
voltage switched converters, electric drives and
motors. During the battery charge and discharge process, the SOC
External interfaces have protections and isolation barriers to
deal with EMI/EMC issues, such as Electrostatic Discharge
(ESD) protections, resettable and conventional fuses,
optocouplers, isolated converters and magnetic decoupling
(Ethernet).
Fig 5. Simplified diagram of trimaran embedded system.
All functionalities were conditioned with components and
special mating connectors on both sides of the board,
allowing a compact size, with secure handling and
interconnection with other vehicle components.
4.2 Battery Management System - BMS
The electric energy of the ASV is supplied by a redundant
power system, constituted of separate battery packs
connected in parallel and distributed between both side hulls.
The safe connection of each pack and the monitoring of the
parameters of all the cells are assured by the BMS positioned
in each side hull.
11
The proposed BMS contemplates the following main
functions: cell balancing for each battery pack and solar
charging control featuring Maximum Power Point Tracking
(MPPT) function. A real time communication with the MCU
boards is provided through the CAN bus, feeding them with
data about each battery State Of Charge (SOC), temperature,
voltage, and current, while signaling the detection of water
inside the hulls, since Liquid Level Sensors (LLEs) are
connected to each BMS.
variation is different in each battery pack cell. This
phenomenon, called cell unbalancing, is caused by both
intrinsic and extrinsic differences among cells (Qi, J., & Lu,
D. D. C., 2014), which leads to the sub use of total battery
capacity. This problem is solved by the use of cell balancing
techniques.
A Photovoltaic (PV) cell is nonlinear and its voltage versus
current characteristic curve is affected by solar radiation,
temperature and load conditions (Hua, C., & Shen, C., 1998).
There is a unique point on the PV array characteristic curve
where the solar panel delivers its maximum power and thus,
leads the entire PV system to operate at maximum efficiency.
However, when a PV array is directly connected to a load, the
system’s operating point will hardly coincide to the point of
maximum power (Rokonuzzaman, M., & Hossam-E-Haider,
M., 2016). To guarantee operation as close to this point as
possible, a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)
technique were adopted. Fig. 6 shows the simplified power
system scheme of the ASV present in each side hull.
Fig. 6 - Simplified ASV power system scheme.
4.3 Control Architecture
The embedded software architecture was designed so that all
functionalities could be implemented in five microcontroller
boards, taking into consideration aspects related to safety,
reliability and scalability.
The hybrid control architecture, chosen for this development,
preserves the advantages of hierarchical architectures such as
stability and controllability while maintaining the flexibility
and portability of heterarchical architectures, which allows
modifications in boards, algorithms or sensors without the
need of radical adaptations (Valavanis et al., 1997).
IFAC CAMS 2018
Opatija, Croatia, September 10-12, 2018
12 Igor S. Silva et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 51-29 (2018) 8–13
The Main MCU board is responsible for executing the
manoeuvres, which can be pre-programmed with the
parameters received by the Graphical User Interface (GUI) or
manually commanded by a joystick. It also receives energy
consumption data from the BMS and limits the vehicle’s
speed through the thruster’s drivers if the energy already
consumed reaches a specified threshold. Thus, the vehicle
could limit its maximum velocity to consume less energy in
order to complete the manoeuvre while keeping
communication functionalities intact. Moreover, it acts like
the controller node participating actively in the status of the
other boards through its own state machine.
The Communication MCU board controls the data exchange
between the vehicle and the environment using different
modems. In order to maintain a complete log from the
vehicle’s condition, the board stores all the real time CAN
bus data into a SD Card. The Radio is the device responsible
for establishing the communication between the vehicle and
the GUI. Therefore, all manoeuvre parameters, data from
sensors and outputs from navigation algorithms can be
transmitted in real time at medium range. Furthermore, the
Wi-Fi modem can be used in close ranges to download large
amounts of data in a few seconds, including all the
information written in the SD Card.
As the trimaran was designed to operate mainly in coastal
waters, where the cellular signal is active and strong, it
carries a 2G modem so the operator can retrieve information
about the vehicle’s position and initiate simple manoeuvres
through Short Message Service (SMS). This service is
essential in situations where the vehicle is out of range from
the radio and it is a low cost solution in comparison with
satellite communication services from companies such as
Iridium and Globalstar.
The Sensors/Navigation MCU board handles all sensors and
computes the navigation algorithms responsible for
estimating the vehicle’s trajectory, using sensors such as the
Doppler Velocity Logger (DVL), Compass and Inertial
Measurement Unit (IMU). Similar to the BMS board, it also
manages the safety of the central hull with one LLE in the
bow and one in the stern, notifying the system about possible
flood problems while measuring the central hull’s
temperature. Furthermore, following current and future
concerns about accidents with unmanned vehicles (Campbell
et al., 2012), the ASV architecture was designed considering
the addition of an ultrasonic sensor, capable of detecting
objects on its front. This information can be used to stop the
vehicle immediately in order to avoid collisions with boats
and floating structures.
4.4 Software Development and Analysis Tools
The embedded software code is written in C language and it
follows MISRA C 2004 guidelines, which specifically focus
on the safe use of C language in critical systems. The rules
are typically based on expert opinion and can be targeted
towards multiple goals, such as reliability, portability or
maintainability (Boogerd, C. and Moonen, L., 2008). The
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Eclipse and the
GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain, which contains the GCC
12
compiler and other tools necessaries to work with ARM
Cortex-M and Cortex-R processors, were chosen for this
project.
Furthermore, J-Link and GNU debugging tools alongside the
SWD 4 pins interface on the boards are essential to analyse
the software and verify each step of its operation (Vermeulen,
2008). This enables a more accurate observation of the results
generated by the software and aids in the detection of
possible incorrect implementations.
4.5 GUI Software
The graphical interface source code is written in C++
language with the cross-platform software framework Qt,
granting high performance and portability to the code.
The GUI is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive so an
intensive training to operate the vehicle becomes
unnecessary. Moreover, it is installed on a rugged computer
that is capable to withstand harsh conditions of operation.
Besides the functionalities already mentioned, a map is
included to display real-time tracking of the ASV, allowing a
quantitative comparison between the approximated position
from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and the
output from the navigation algorithms. A similar GUI was
also developed and tested for the AUV Pirajuba.
5. MANOEUVRE
The vehicle has two different operation states: remote
controlled and autonomous manoeuvre. In the remote
controlled mode, the control surface input comes from a
human operator with a joystick that has the possibility to
change the propellers rotation and the rudder deflection. In
the autonomous mode, the vehicle moves according pre-
programmed manoeuvres that are updated by a base station
that communicates through Radio-Frequency (RF).
With the background acquired developing the AUV Pirajuba
manoeuvres software and with the objective to improve it, a
different manoeuvre software is proposed for the ASV to give
the operator more flexibility and accessibility (Freire et al.,
2018). Instead of having fully pre-programmed manoeuvres
with configurable parameters, to achieve the best mission
result, the ASV applies only parts of pre-programmed
manoeuvres such as turning, zig-zagging and heading control.
Besides that, the vehicle is also capable of reaching
waypoints.
In the manoeuvre mode, the vehicle only finishes the current
mission when one of the following occurs:
• Manoeuvre is completed: the vehicle has concluded
all tasks or the configurable time ended;
• Terminator command is received: the operator sends
through RF from the base station;
• Critical errors are identified: configurable navigation
restrictions are met. This could happen when the
navigation error surpasses the acceptable;
• Navigation restrictions are exceeded: the navigation
error surpasses acceptable values.
IFAC CAMS 2018
Opatija, Croatia, September 10-12, 2018
Igor S. Silva et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 51-29 (2018) 8–13 13
In order to increase the vehicle awareness, it has multiple
error detectors implemented in every module. In situations
when the error affects the mission integrity, which is called
critical error, the main MCU manages to stop the mission
until the error is fixed. Some examples of critical errors are:
communication failure between modules, high board
temperature, and battery voltage below recommended
minimum value.
6. CONCLUSION
Trimaran vessels are becoming attractive recently, specially
for military manned or unmanned applications. ASVs for
civilian applications, such as oceanographic missions, can
also take advantage of this geometry combining the
advantages of monohull and catamaran type vessels. The
embedded system described was based on former
developments validated in an AUV control architecture
(Freire et al., 2018), extending its capabilities to the
embedded energy management system.
7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to Finep (contract number
10973/2004), and CAPES (grant “Aux. 2001/2014 Cimar”).
The authors wish also to thank ST Microelectronics for
supporting and supplying of samples and components for the
project.
REFERENCES
Alves, J., Oliveira, P., Oliveira, R., Pascoal, A., Rufino, M.,
Sebastiao, L., & Silvestre, C. (2006, June). Vehicle and
mission control of the DELFIM autonomous surface
craft. In Control and Automation, 2006. MED'06. 14th
Mediterranean Conference on (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Bailey, D. The NPL High Speed Round Bilge Displacement
Hull Series: Resistance, Propulsion, Manoevring and
Seakeeping Data. Royal Institution of Naval Architects,
1976.
Boogerd, C., & Moonen, L. (2008, September). Assessing the
value of coding standards: An empirical study.
In Software Maintenance, 2008. ICSM 2008. IEEE
International Conference on (pp. 277-286). IEEE.
Bruzzone, G., Bruzzone, G., Bibuli, M., & Caccia, M.
(2011). Autonomous mine hunting mission for the
Charlie USV. In OCEANS, IEEE-Spain (pp. 1-6).
Caccia, M., Bono, R., Bruzzone, G., Spirandelli, G. B. E., &
Stortini, G. V. A. (2003). Design and preliminary sea
trials of SESAMO: an autonomous surface vessel for
the study and characterization of the air-sea
interface. CNR-IAN, Technology. Report.
Caccia, M. (2006). Autonomous surface craft: prototypes and
basic research issues. In Control and Automation.
MED'06. 14th Mediterranean Conference on (pp. 1-6).
Campbell, S., Naeem, W., & Irwin, G. W. (2012). A review
on improving the autonomy of unmanned surface
vehicles through intelligent collision avoidance
manoeuvres. Annual Reviews in Control, 36(2), (pp.
267-283).
Cheng, H., Yang, S., Ma, L., Cui, J., & He, Y. (2010,
August). Primary research on trimaran unmanned
vessels. In 2010 Second International Conference on
13
Intelligent Human-Machine Systems and
Cybernetics (pp. 252-254). IEEE.
Dubrovsky, V., & Lyakhovitsky, A. (2001). Multi-Hull
Ships.[Sl].
Freire, L. O; Oliveira, L. M; Vale, R. T. S; Medeiros, M;
Diana, R. E. Y; Lopes, R. S. M; Pellini, E. L and de
Barros, E. A. (2018). Development of an AUV control
architecture based on systems engineering concepts.
Ocean Engineering, (Vol. 151, pp. 157-169).
Hua, C., & Shen, C. (1998). Comparative study of peak
power tracking techniques for solar storage system.
In Applied Power Electronics Conference and
Exposition. APEC'98. Conference Proceedings.,
Thirteenth Annual (Vol. 2, pp. 679-685).
Owens, K. (2017). Navy anti-submarine drone-ship conducts
minehunting testing. [online] Defense Systems.
Available at:
https://defensesystems.com/articles/2017/05/04/seahunt
er.aspx [Accessed 02 Feb. 2018].
Peng, Y., & Han, J. (2009, June). Design and modeling of
Unmanned Trimaran Surface Vehicles. In Information
and Automation, 2009. ICIA'09. International
Conference on (pp. 751-756). IEEE.
Qi, J., Peng, Y., Wang, H., & Han, J. (2007, July). Design
and implement of a trimaran unmanned surface vehicle
system. In Information Acquisition, 2007. ICIA'07.
International Conference on (pp. 361-365). IEEE.
Qi, J., & Lu, D. D. C. (2014). Review of battery cell
balancing techniques. In Power Engineering Conference
(AUPEC), Australasian Universities (pp. 1-6).
Rokonuzzaman, M., & Hossam-E-Haider, M. (2016). Design
and implementation of maximum power point tracking
solar charge controller. In Electrical Engineering and
Information Communication Technology (ICEEICT),
3rd International Conference on (pp. 1-5).
Valavanis, K. P., Gracanin, D., Matijasevic, M., Kolluru, R.,
& Demetriou, G. A. (1997). Control architectures for
autonomous underwater vehicles. IEEE Control
Systems, 17(6), 48-64.
Vermeulen, B. (2008). Functional debug techniques for
embedded systems. IEEE Design & Test of
Computers, 25(3).
Zhang, J. Design and hydrodynamic performance of trimaran
displacement ships. PhD Thesis, Dept of Mechanical
Engineering, University College London, 1997.