Kiteboat Project

We have dramatically improved our true wind estimates by using better sensors that we have on hand. To decide which sensors to use in the future, we have graphed the effect of each type of sensor error on the true wind estimate. Using these values, we can predict the level of true wind accuracy that we can expect from candidate sensors. One thing that these plots make obvious is that small errors in apparent wind speed (lower-right plot) lead to very large errors in estimated true wind angle. Thus, it makes sense to keep our current GPS compass (with approximately 1 degree error), but to choose a new wind sensor with a very high windspeed accuracy.

The group of four plots show the predicted error in true wind speed and direction resulting from errors in AWA and AWS measurements. Each line shows the true wind error for a different amount of sensor error. The horizontal axis corresponds to the boat’s TWA, which has a significant effect on the error.

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