Development of a Solar Autonomous Boat Navigation Guidance System for Future Swarm Unmanned-Surface-Vehicle Implementation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55981/jet.774Keywords:
digital compass, GPS, LoRa, navigation system, solar autonomous boat, swarmAbstract
Changes in the quality of the lake environment due to human activities demand efficient and sustainable monitoring solutions. This research designed a navigation guidance system for the solar autonomous boat that operates independently using solar energy and designed as a modular navigation unit to support future swarm-based cooperation between multiple vessels. The system relies on GPS ATGM336H and GY-271 digital compass sensor as positioning and direction determinants, controlled by a TTGO ESP32 LoRa microcontroller. Navigation data is processed in real-time and sent over the LoRa network to a central or intership gateway. This research focuses on the development and validation of the autonomous navigation core, providing the necessary guidance capabilities for integration into a swarm unmanned surface vehicle (USV) framework. The test results showed that the boat could follow the destination's direction with an accuracy of 92%, where most of the trajectory was within the pre-programmed directional tolerance. The average direction error was recorded at 5.4 degrees, within acceptable tolerance limits. The system can adaptively maintain a stable heading and respond to aquatic environmental conditions. By establishing this stable autonomous navigation baseline, the system provides a scalable platform for future swarm implementations aimed at improving large-scale environmental monitoring. This system is considered successful as an intelligent and sustainable autonomous navigation solution.
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