Modeling and Control Issues for Autonomous Aerial Refueling for UAVs Using a Probe-Drogue Refueling System

A critical limitation for the current use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is represented by the lack of aerial refueling capabilities. This paper describes the results of an effort on the modeling of the UAV aerial refueling problem and on the design of the docking control scheme. The control of the docking maneuver is based on a fuzzy sensor fusion strategy featuring GPS and Machine Vision (MV) data. The design for a smooth docking maneuver under the presence of wake effects is performed; desirable performances were achieved with LQR-based control laws for the docking of the UAV to the probe–drogue refueling system. Simulations of the proposed docking scheme are presented and discussed.