Robotic aircraft refueling: a concept demonstration

Author

Leahy, M.B., Jr. ; Milholen, V.W. ; Shipman, R.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., US Air Force Inst. of Technol., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

21-25 May 1990

Firstpage

1145

Abstract

A testbed has been developed to support experimental evaluation of the enabling technologies necessary for autonomous refueling. The goal of the refueling research project was to demonstrate the component technologies for a robotic-refueling concept. The project was divided into two areas: visual servoing and compliant control. The research accomplishments that lead to a successful concept demonstration are described. The refueling testbed is outlined. Visual servoing research is reviewed. Implementation and analysis of compliant control of the nozzle is presented. Research directions are discussed. Initial evaluations have successfully demonstrated algorithms for port detection, visual servoing, and compliant control of nozzle motion and insertion

Keywords

aerospace test facilities; aircraft; military systems; nozzles; robots; Air Force; aircraft control; aircraft refueling; autonomous refueling; compliant control; nozzle; refueling testbed; robotic-refueling; vision; visual servoing; Aircraft navigation; Aircraft propulsion; Fuels; Military aircraft; Motion control; Personnel; Robotics and automation; Robots; Space technology; Visual servoing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace and Electronics Conference, 1990. NAECON 1990., Proceedings of the IEEE 1990 National

Conference_Location

Dayton, OH

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NAECON.1990.112929

Filename

112929