AUTONOMOUS CONTROL FOR AUTOMATED AERIAL REFUELING WITH MINIMUM-TIME RENDEZVOUS

As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) increase in capability, the ability to refuel them in the air is becoming more critical. Aerial refueling will extend the range, shorten the response times, and extend the loiter time of UAVs. Executing aerial refueling autonomously will reduce the command and control, logistics, and training efforts associated with fielding UAV systems. Currently, the Air Force Research Laboratory is researching the various technologies required to conduct automated aerial refueling (AAR). One of the required technologies is the ability to autonomously rendezvous with the tanker. The goal is to determine the control required to fly an optimum rendezvous using numerical optimization and to design a feedback controller that will approximate that optimal control. The problem was defined such that the UAV receiver must rendezvous in minimum time, with a known tanker path. The results of the rendezvous controller developed were compared to the calculated optimal control.