@ boat alexandra
(This sounds great but is rather vauge on how to actually implement it. I can compute fourier transform of the various inertial measurements, and this does indeed show peaks at various frequencies. These frequencies vary greatly depending on the sea-state, the boat, and the angle it is sailing.)
You cannot (??? my opinion, not a fact) use Fourier as these are not train waves in the understanding of Fourier transform. These are NOT two or more wave trains overlapping. The wave data as seen say at NOAA represents estimated averages, while actual waves in the ocean are individual data points that are distributed around these averages in a quasi normal way. This is to say the majority of actual waves will be anything from 1 to 3 deltas away from the average - whether you take their amplitude (maybe 3 deltas), period (less
delta here maybe 1) or direction (delta ?, no idea, probably 10 when cross swell is coming in).
There is a very simple
experiment that proves my point: Take real data from any ocean buoy and run the Fourier, then take the same data but a different slot, run Fourier again. Bingo. gigo. Run such a test one day, if just for fun.
If your boat were sailing a virtual ocean rippled by virtual waves which are like compound sound waves (delta 0 in the compounds) then off course Fourier would do and you could make the AP use the data to act accordingly.
(... This type of logic is thrown at me constantly. It is not valid at all. The real reason NKE or whomever didn't do this, is they don't know how or have not put enough effort to succeed. It is not that it can't be done. ...)
Wave data / course optimisation is calculated externally for NKE. I believe
MaxSea or Adrena do the calculation for averages (swell, secondary waves, etc) and allows for it in the suggested routing. Then this routing is plugged into NKE and the AP tries to do the rest of the job based on actual behaviour of the boat. NKE has always been at the forefront, just look at how early the implemented g sensors.
Imho: if the
core is fast enough to calculate a g model of boat behaviour specific in any time frame and
monitor for drift, then g data could be judged against tilt and then possibly maybe a fast and powerful enough arm could preset the
rudder for the incoming wave. Just think of how a drone
core reacts to windgusts: acceleration + tilt = reaction. Marry this with a real time created wave patter model ...
Yes. I know drones now have 'wave sensors' now (they see the objects around them, or at least ahead of them)
To sum up:
1) I am not 100% sure we need to see the actual waves to react to them. I am convinced seeing just the nearest wave would be very nice though, much as at now we seem limited by our choice of relevant sensors (range! - the wave can be a distance off, + problems with bouncing any wave off a slanted
water slope ...)
2) I seriously doubt that Fourier or anything can be applied to de-compose real sea wave conditions (train) into 2 or 3 sub-trains. Simply because such sub-trains do not exist in the realm of compound wave analysis.
I am open to more input on 2) as my knowledge is based on education gained over 30 years ago, before we had PC on every researcher's desk.
I greatly admire your job. And beyond the job I admire your attitude of sharing what you have learned.