Real time heading sensors fusion and fault detection

Pia Mathias (1, 2) , Laurent D. Johann (1, 2) , Pierre Bomel (1, 2) , Hugo Kerhascoet (3)

1 Lab-STICC_SHAKER - Equipe Software/HArdware and unKnown Environment inteRactions
2 UBS - Université de Bretagne Sud
3 Madintec

In modern offshore racing, performance often depends on two main factors: a good autopilot and the right strategy decisions taken by the skipper. Some sensors are crucial to ensure the quality of those two keys of success, among which we can mention the heading sensors. Unfortunately, those sensors, whether magnetometers or GNSS based, are subject to disturbances and faults of various origins: magnetic disturbances from other devices, GPS fix or reception issues, sensor drift, etc.. . The aforementioned fault on sensors can cause autopilot's solution to diverge which can result in serious damages for the boat or the crew. Assurance of a valid measure is therefore a key point to ensure reliability of autopilot system and skipper's decisions. This paper presents a method to produce consistent values of true heading and yaw rate while detecting fault on sensors. The proposed solution relies on the hypothesis that sensors using different technologies and placed in different spots inside the boat will not be subject to identical and synchronised disturbances. Thus, by fusing intelligently the information coming from several sources, a continuous and consistent true heading measure can be maintained. A simple dynamic model for the heading and yaw rate is implemented and asynchronous filter update is done depending on available measures. The difference between the estimated state and the measure is used to determine whether a sensor is faulty or valid and the update is done consequently; then the information on sensors status and quality of the estimation can be propagated. Here, we detail the method able to detect faults on the heading sensors and to provide a substitution value if necessary. The proposed model is validated by test campaigns that were conducted using both data logs and on-board tests. Results show that we can improve and maintain true heading measure quality and detect and isolate faulty sensors.

Domaines: Electronique; Systèmes embarqués; Systèmes et contrôle [cs.SY]

Pia Mathias, Laurent D. Johann, Pierre Bomel, Hugo Kerhascoet. Real time heading sensors fusion and fault detection. Chesapeake Sailing Yacht Symposium, Mar 2022, Annapolis, United States. ⟨hal-03633619⟩