Vibration-Based Anemometer Design for Mini Autonomous Sailboat

Yu Chen, Yangming Zai, Guoyin Lao, Xuening Zhang, Kaiwen Xue, Huihuan Qian

Abstract: Wind perception is crucial for autonomous sailboat which has features of long distance operation. Previously, anemometers based on thermal dynamics, acoustics or cup-vane anemometer have already been widely used, but they are generally large in size. This paper starts with vibration mechanics to develop a new kind of anemometer which is particularly suitable for mini-sized autonomous sailboats. An IMU which is fixed to one end of a non-rigid body, such as spring. The non-rigid body will vibrate if it is exposed to wind field. Physical quantities related to vibration can reflect different wind speeds. We modeled the new design and developed a prototype with a low cost. Experiments are conducted to collect data. Based on curve fitting of the experiment data, the wind speed is estimated with a mean error at 0.35 m/s for measuring range from 0 to 10.7 m/s.