Bluenav
Simulation of an antonomous vessel
The project at a glance
As part of a call for projects launched by Voies Navigables de France, BlueNav, a company specialized in electrification solutions for leisure boats, initiated the construction of the BlueBoat, a 12-ton vessel designed for autonomous navigation on inland waterways.
To anticipate the testing phases and develop navigation algorithms before the physical boat was available, BlueNav turned to the expertise of the Cyber-Physical Systems team at CATIE.
The goal was to design a simulation environment capable of reproducing the vessel’s behavior and its interactions with the environment.
Achievements
- Early validation of navigation, heading control, and Dynamic Positioning System (DPS) algorithms
- Increased robustness of the developed solutions
- Continuous integration of new features into the simulator
- Significant time savings in prototyping and validation
- Long-term adoption of the simulator by the R&D teams as a testing and validation tool
CATIE contribution
- Development of a realistic and customizable simulator based on the vessel’s plans
- Physical modeling of the boat and its interactions with the river environment (wind, waves, currents)
- Integration of simulated sensors (GPS, thermal cameras, LiDAR, etc.) and software interfaces
- Technical support for tool adoption and integration into BlueNav’s development processes