Autonomous unmanned sailing vessel

1. An unmanned, autonomous vessel comprising;

a primary hull;

a rigid wing rotationally coupled with said primary hull, wherein the rigid wing freely rotates about a rotational axis of the rigid wing;

at least one controller configured to maintain a desired heading;

at least one sensor;

a control surface element configured to aerodynamically control a wing angle of the rigid wing based on a force exerted by wind on the control surface element;

a rudder, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a rudder position and generate a signal to position the rudder to the rudder position; and

a keel coupled with the primary hull at a first end of the keel, wherein the keel comprises ballast sufficient to provide a positive righting moment sufficient to cause the primary hull to passively right from any position outside of a normal operating range to a position within the normal operating range, wherein the normal operating range includes orientations of the primary hull where the rigid wing is capable of generating lift.

2. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , wherein the at least one controller maintains the desired heading during navigation by:

receiving data from the at least one sensor;

based on the data received from the at least one sensor, calculating a desired control surface angle based on data from the at least one sensor; and

generate a signal to position the control surface element based on the desired control surface angle.

3. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 2 ,

wherein the data comprises a compass reading and a wing angle;

wherein calculating the desired control surface angle comprises estimating a wind direction using a sailing model, the compass reading, the wing angle, and a current control surface angle.

4. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , further comprising:

a first outrigger hull configured to provide a first additional righting moment when the primary hull is rotated in a first direction about its primary axis; and

a second outrigger hull configured to provide a second additional righting moment when the primary hull is rotated in a second direction about its primary axis,

wherein the ballast is sufficient to passively right the primary hull from any position given the first additional righting moment and the second additional righting moment.

5. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises one or more environmental sensors.

6. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises one or more of a compass and a GPS receiver, a wing angle sensor and an accelerometer.

7. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises one or more of a temperature sensor and a moisture sensor.

8. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises one or more chemical sensors.

9. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor comprises one or more sensors that are communicatively coupled with a logging device configured to store data collected by the one or more sensors.

10. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , further comprising at least one communication device communicatively coupled with one or more sensors of the at least one sensor, wherein the at least one communication device is configured to transmit data collected by the one or more sensors.

11. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , further comprising one or more communication devices capable of two-way communication including at least one of: a satellite device, a radio device, and a wireless device.

12. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to respond to one or more obstacles comprising at least one of weather, unauthorized areas, and other vessels.

13. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 12 , wherein the controller is further configured to detect the one or more obstacles based on data from one or more sensors of the at least one sensor.

14. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , further comprising:

a payload bay configured to receive a payload device; and

a payload unit positioned at least partially in the payload bay.

15. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 14 , wherein the payload device comprises at least one of equipment, sensors, monitoring devices, communication devices and weapons.

16. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 14 ,

wherein the payload bay includes at least one outlet that allows at least a portion of the payload device to access at least one of air or water,

wherein the portion of the payload device comprises a sensor.

17. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 14 , further comprising a lower bulb coupled with a second end of the keel and a second end of the rudder,

wherein the first end of the rudder is coupled with the primary hull,

wherein the lower bulb comprises the payload bay.

18. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 ,

wherein the control surface element is disposed on a tail,

wherein the rigid wing is coupled with a boom comprising a first end and a second end,

wherein the second end of the boom extends from a trailing edge of the rigid wing, and

wherein the second end of the boom is coupled with the tail.

19. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 18 ,

wherein the first end of the boom extends from a leading edge of the rigid wing, and

wherein the first end of the boom is coupled with a counterweight configured to dynamically balance the rigid wing, the boom and the tail with respect to the rotational axis of the rigid wing.

20. The unmanned, autonomous vessel of claim 1 , wherein the rotational axis is selected to statically balance the rigid wing with respect to the rotational axis of the rigid wing.