Fuzzy guidance controller for an autonomous boat

A fuzzy guidance controller is developed for waypoint following guidance on a small autonomous boat. The boat is a prototype vehicle developed at the MIT Sea Grant College Program and is designed to perform autonomous oceanographic research. The fuzzy controller is programmed in C and down-loaded to a small onboard computer for execution. Navigation data is found in real-time using a digital compass and a differentially corrected GPS receiver. The fuzzy controller was found to be relatively easy to develop, simple to tune, and robust to external disturbances. Field test results are presented and show that the guidance controller performed well on complex paths