What is it about?
Several boom air to air refueling phases have been already automated. Most of them have a unique solution (exactly align the boom to the receptacle) or a common solution that satisfies a wide range scenarios. Approach phase inside air to air refueling does not present these characteristics due to the variability of solutions for diverse scenarios, resulting in the necessity of a decision-making system. Thus, a decision-making algorithm has been developed to make choices in real-time depending on the scenario, modeling somehow the decisions that a human boom operator would make.
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Why is it important?
It has been demonstrated that a decision-making model is applicable to approach phase inside boom air to air refueling operation. Once this capacity has been demonstrated by means of manned and offline simulations, the next step will be to evaluate this system in dedicated flight test development flights.
Perspectives
Compared to other applications, in-flight refueling has barely been automated. This work gives a solution inside the complex automation of the boom air to air refueling operation, paving the way for future autonomous in-flight refueling.
Ignacio Romo Martinez
Airbus Group NV
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Decision-Making modelling application to Air to Air refueling approach phase, January 2024, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
DOI: 10.2514/6.2024-2749.
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