ETD

• comfort
• comfort evaluation
• luxury yacht
• measuring system
• on board comfort
• Smart node
• vibration monitoring

The thesis project involved the design, development, implementation, and validation of a vibration monitoring system for the assessment of onboard comfort on luxury yachts. The concept of this project originates from a collaboration between SailADV s.r.l. and the Department of Information Engineering of University of Pisa.
The development of the Smart Node System started from an analysis of vibrations and the effects they have on humans. A comparison on main naval classifications bodies has been made, finding a common line to be followed for the development of the comfort index algorithm.
The design process was based on a set of specifications provided by the company, concerning: the system architecture, selected components, interfacing with pre-existing systems, and the monitoring node functionalities. These specifications were critically analyzed and compared with solutions reported in the literature, to assess their validity, confirm them, and, where necessary, refine them to achieve the most suitable overall solution.
The Smart Node System was initially developed using the evaluation boards of the main components to preliminary verify the main design choices. Then, a custom data acquisition electronic board has been designed and implemented. Moreover, it has been verified and characterized with particular emphasis on the calibration of the data acquisition device.
Finally, a custom algorithm for comfort assessment was developed in accordance with the main standards in naval sector.