Software sets sail for the America's Cup
A
The Mathworks product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Sep 14, 2004
Matlab is being used by the design team at GBR Challenge, the company behind the British entry to the 2007 America's Cup, to help maximise the performance of the yacht.
Matlab is being used by the design team at GBR Challenge, the company behind the British entry to the 2007 America's Cup, to help maximise the performance of the yacht.
Previous years' entries have shown that, by trading-off one parameter against another, a minuscule increase in boat speed can mean the difference between winning and losing a race.
The design team is therefore using Matlab for live analysis of boat strain and weather data to make crucial real-time decisions about changing the mast and rig setup to maximise boat speed.
This would be very difficult and time-consuming to undertake using a standard spreadsheet or C code and could make an all-important difference in the competition.
During training, salient data are taken from various optical-fibre-based devices that measure strain on the boat, as well as various sensors that measure boat speed, wind speed and direction.
Fibre optics change their refractive index when put under strain, and so the strain can be measured by measuring the change in wavelength of the light transmitted.
The data are read via a wireless LAN connection into data files, which can then be quickly and easily manipulated in Matlab on a support boat.
The results can be visually displayed in a variety of different ways to help the team make quick decisions about changing the yacht's setup.
The GBR Challenge design team uses a combination of core Matlab and additional functions from the Statistical Toolbox for analysing and displaying these data.
When the location of a forthcoming America's Cup regatta is known, the team will also use Matlab to identify key statistical averages in historic local weather data so that they can adjust the boat's setup to perform to the highest possible standard in average conditions for the location.
"Matlab is incredibly quick to use and to learn how to use, much faster than using either a standard spreadsheet or C code", said Dr Richard Pemberton, GBR Challenge design team member.
"We can write it to do exactly what we want, and the online resources such as www.matlabcentral.com have been invaluable as a source of bits of free code from other Matlab users - about half of all our programming has been taken from it".
The America's Cup is the world's premier yacht racing contest and boasts the oldest trophy in sporting history.
For the first time since its inception in 1851, the event is coming to Europe, consisting of a four-year regatta programme.
GBR Challenge was set up in 2000 to rectify a 15-year lapse in British participation in this event.
After only 20 months of preparation, the company managed to deliver a credible performance in the October 2002-March 2003 America's Cup and have high hopes for the next four years.
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