Electronic design of a free – running ship model

Abstract

Within the scope of this thesis, the hull form of Sancar, a Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) operated by Turkish Petroleum Corporation, was taken as a reference for the development of a dynamic positioning (DP) system and an original electronic system was designed for this purpose. The model, similar to the previous examples, was constructed from wood and equipped with electronics. Although the software required for the electronic and mechanical parts to work as a whole was developed by the Marine Robotics Laboratory team at ITU Faculty of Naval Architecture and Ocean Sciences, it is outside the scope of this thesis. The ship has a propulsion system consisting of two propellers, total of four thrusters, two at the bow and two at the stern, and two rudders. The main engines in the planned DP system consist of Flipsky brand, torque-based, brushless motors with a closed-loop control method, and these motors are controlled by VESC drives. In addition, the thrusters at the bow and stern of the ship are supported by lower-power motors. Due to the ship model is unmanned, a land station is also designed to manage the ship operation. The communication infrastructure, power distribution and signal management between the electronic systems on the model ship and the land station are explained in detail. The ship communicates with the land station via Wi-Fi modems via remote control. The ship's Wi-Fi modem is equipped with a omnidirectional antenna, while the land station uses a 120-degree directional antenna. The ship's motion control is carried out by control signals sent to the motor drivers via a microcontroller. The model includes GPS and IMU sensors to provide real-time data to the positioning system, and the data from these sensors is processed by the NVIDIA AGX Orin computer. A FlySky brand remote control is also used for manual control and security measures. There are two lithium-ion batteries with 6S10P configuration on the ship for power management. The power required by the electronic systems is provided by regulating and isolating them via DC/DC converters. A central electronic control box has been designed to ensure the safe and integrated operation of all electronic systems. The designed electronic system can easily adapt to different mission scenarios and sensor needs with its modular structure, thus increasing the expandability and longterm usability of the system. The microcontroller-based structure used in the hardware layer prepares the ground for fast and accurate operation of artificial intelligence algorithms with its high-precision data acquisition and real-time processing capacity. In this context, subcomponents such as communication interfaces, power management circuits and sensor integration modules have been optimized to increase the performance of the system. The overall design of the electronic system has been structured to both consider energy efficiency and increase environmental durability. In addition, the synchronous operation of the modules used in the system with the software increases fault tolerance and ensures stability. Thanks to its modular architecture, the system allows easy upgrades and modifications without requiring a complete redesign, making it adaptable to different mission profiles and hardware configurations. This flexibility also facilitates the integration of additional sensors, control units, or communication protocols depending on the specific requirements of future applications. Moreover, the use of industry-standard components and communication protocols improves interoperability and simplifies the transition from prototype-level implementations to real-world deployments. As a result, this electronic infrastructure not only meets today's need, but also prodives scalable, reliable and high performance foundation for autonomous marine vehicles to be developed in the future. When evaluated in terms of both academic research and industrial applications, it can be said that this system offers a sustainable and strategic solution in autonomous marine technologies.