Design and optimization of the software system for a self-driving boat

The aim of this thesis is to present a complete software architecture and design of the software system used to control and coordinate various components of a self-driving boat. The software architecture and implementation of this system need to be able to integrate different modules and functionalities for disparate purposes. The main objective is capturing, processing and serving data from different sensors, like cameras, as well as to control the actual navigation of the boat with motors and actuators. It also needs to be able to live share the data for live navigation and storing it for future review. The focus of this thesis will be on the software design and architecture, how @ROS:long allowed to implement the modularity needed for this project and the actual implementation of a module for image and video capturing and serving. To test the architecture of the system there will also be the implementation of a simple webserver that reads the image data from the cameras and serves it on a web page accessible on the local network. The system was also built and deployed on the field in the canals of Chioggia, Italy, to evaluate its design peculiarities and evaluate its reliability in a real-world environment.