Fault-tolerant control system design of an autonomous surface vehicle= Diseño de un sistema de control tolerante a fallos para un vehículo autónomo de superficie

Abstract

In the last years, the development of the Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs) has increased rapidly dueto their multiple advantages, such as keeping human life away from dangerous situations and hazardous environments or carrying out systematic tasks. An ASV is a vehicle that operates on the surface of the water without a crew, using onboard sensing, guidance and autopilot capabilities. This thesis will discuss the design and implementation of a control system for a low cost ASV, t hat can be used in environmental monitoring and assessment tasks of coastal water areas, giving a special importance to the falut tolerance of the system. A guidance, navigation and control system designed for an azimuth thruster is developed and tested; this set is implemented to be installed in a kayak hull, though it could be used in small boats as well.