dSail System

Some time ago i wondered if it was possible to monitor airflow and pressure differences directly on a sail (while sailing) using wireless sensor nodes. A big advantage could be to make the sail trim better and faster. So here is the concept: Download as pdf: PDF...

Prototypes

Here are some pictures of early stage prototyping.

Custom built air-flow sensor node prototype.	Hand soldered node prototype which measures and computes air-speed and absolute air-pressure.

First test and measurement sail run.	Logging onto a little Asus PC with skipper Axel.

Milling the new PCB layouts.	With help from our Raplab|ETHz colleagues.

PCB Prototype.	PCB Prototype with windsensor.

Calibrating the wind sensors.	In really strong winds. 100 km/h generated by this black windmachine.

Table full of our wireless sensor nodes.	Developing and moving our EmbeddedLab.

Testboat Class40 Racing in St. Malo - Atlantik/France.	The inside of the boat.

Installing the solar-powered wireless sensor nodes onto the sail.	Sensors attached on the sail.

Our analyse software.	More analysis software.

More analysis software.	More analysis software.

Action - Atlantic test drive.	Christoph Wartmann during the night shift.

More to come soon...we are currently working on it.

Feel free to mail me your comments: wartmann{at}arch.ethz.ch

by Christoph Wartmann
Assistant: Etienne Ribeiro