Earlier this year, [rctestlight] created an active hydrofoil RC boat, but found that the actual performance was very lacking. Fortunately, for him and us, he continued to adjust it, and one adjustment suddenly turned it from a nightmare into a dream.
This adjustment adds the aircraft model of ardupilot. The design has three servo devices, and each servo device drives the foil angle under one of the three buoys. The ship is propelled by a propeller mounted near the top. If you know a lot about ardupilot, you will notice that the active hydrofoil does not appear in the list of supporting platforms. You are right. [rctestlight] pointed out that these three servo systems actually play the role of underwater aircraft. The first two are ailerons and the last one is elevator. Except for one thing, the pilot knows how to handle everything through a strictly controlled circuit; No altitude data.
So he stole a technique he had previously developed for his ground effect aircraft and used a distance sensor to let the pilot know how to adjust. He replaced lidar with sonar sensor because it can deal with water better. When he took it to the lake, he was surprised that it worked very well. The initial goal of active stability is to make efoil immune to rough sea water. We regret that it has not achieved that noble goal. A single sonar sensor can well track the waves ahead, but it can not deal with the complex waves emitted to it. Perhaps some kind of sensor fusion algorithm can provide the necessary data with real elasticity. But we like to watch the foil slide across the water. It’s hard to remember that it’s actively flying, not just floating on the water.
Others tried 3D printing hydrofoil boats, but failed, while others succeeded. We like [rctestlight] to come back and finish the game and leave as a champion. Video after break.