Impressive Project

A Virtual Wind Sensor Based on a Particle Filter

Wind sensors are essential components of any sailboat, meanwhile they are also one of its most compromised and exposed elements. This paper introduces a novel approach that allows to estimate wind direction and speed based on the application of a particle filter technique that relies on a model dynamics of the sailboat. The proposal incorporates elitism and particle re-initialization to improve filter convergence. Extensive simulation results prove that this approach is capable of providing acceptable estimates of wind conditions at a modest computational cost.