System and method of automatic piloting for in-flight refuelling of aircraft, and aircraft comprising said system

• US 8,712,608 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2010
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alenia Aeronautica SPA (Leonardo S.p.A.)
• Original Assignee: Alenia Aeronautica SPA (Leonardo S.p.A.)
• Inventors: Pepicelli, Geremia, Bava, Renzo, Portaro, Gaetano
• Primary Examiner(s): Jen, Ian
• Application Number:
  US12/968,692
• Publication Number:
  US 20120059536A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,231 Days
• Field of Search: 701/3, 701/4, 701/476, 342/357.32, 342/357.52, 244/135.A, 244/135.B, 244/135.R
• US Class Current: 701/11
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 39/00 Refuelling during flight filling or emptying fuel tanks B64D37/14
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/25 Fixed-wing aircraft VTOL aircraft B64U10/20
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2201/20 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/34 In-flight charging photovoltaics B64U50/31
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00

Abstract

An automatic-piloting system configured for being set on a receiver aircraft and for controlling operations of in-flight refuelling of said receiver aircraft, comprising: first detection means, set on the receiver aircraft and configured for acquiring first geometrical information associated to a first detection area and a second detection area belonging to a tanker aircraft, the first and second detection areas being linked together by a geometrical relation known to the automatic-piloting system; processing means, configured for determining, on the basis of the first geometrical information acquired, first position information associated to a relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft; and an automatic-pilot device coupled to the processing means and configured for varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the first position information.

Claims

1. An automatic-piloting system configured for being arranged on a receiver aircraft for controlling an in-flight refuelling operation of the receiver aircraft, comprising:

a first detector, arranged on the receiver aircraft and configured for acquiring first geometrical information associated to a first detection area and a second detection area belonging to a tanker aircraft, said first detection area being related to said second detection area by a geometrical relation known to the automatic-piloting system;

a processor, configured for determining, on the basis of the first geometrical information acquired, first position information associated to a relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft; and

an automatic-pilot device coupled to said processor and configured for varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the first position information.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first detector comprises an optical device of a passive type.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said first detector and said processor are further configured for co-operating so as to acquire images of the tanker aircraft and to execute an operation of automatic recognition of said first and second detection areas.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein said processor is further configured for executing an operation of automatic recognition of the tanker aircraft and/or of portions of the tanker aircraft.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said processor is moreover configured for determining said first position information by executing a first operation of triangulation on the basis of the first geometrical information acquired.

6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a positioning device, configured for supplying position co-ordinates of the receiver aircraft and a transceiver device configured for receiving position co-ordinates of the tanker aircraft, and wherein the processor is moreover configured for calculating second position information of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft on the basis of said flight parameters of the receiver aircraft and of the tanker aircraft, said automatic-pilot device being configured for varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of said first and second position information.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the processor is moreover configured for:

associating a first reliability factor (C_RIGHT;

C_LEFT), indicating the accuracy of the first position information, to the first position information, obtaining first weighted position information; and

associating a second reliability factor (C_GPS), indicating the accuracy of the second position information, to the second position information, obtaining second weighted position information,

said automatic-pilot device being configured for varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of said first and second weighted position information.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the processor is moreover configured for calculating a conditional expected value of the relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft conditioned with respect to the first and second weighted position information to obtain first filtered position information, said automatic-pilot device (2) being configured for varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of said first filtered position information.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the processor, in order to calculate said conditional expected value, is configured for executing an operation of Kalman filtering.

10. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a second detector arranged on the receiver aircraft (1) and configured for acquiring second geometrical information associated to the first and second detection areas, said processor being further configured for:

determining, on the basis of the first and second geometrical information acquired by means of the second detection means, third position information associated to a relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft,

said automatic-pilot device being configured for varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the third position information.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein said processor is further configured for executing a second operation of triangulation on the basis of the second geometrical information.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the first and second detectors are passive optical devices configured for operating in stereoscopy.

13. An automatic-piloting method for controlling in-flight refuelling operations of a receiver aircraft, comprising the steps of:

detecting, via a first detector arranged on the receiver aircraft, first geometrical information associated to first and second detection areas belonging to a tanker aircraft, said first detection area being related to said second detection area by a geometrical relation known to the automatic-piloting system;

determining, on the basis of the first geometrical information detected, first position information associated to a relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft; and

varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the first position information.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the step of detecting first geometrical information comprises acquiring in a passive way one or more optical signals identifying said first detection area and/or said second detection area.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

acquiring one or more images of the tanker aircraft and/or of portions of the tanker aircraft; and

executing an operation of automatic recognition of the tanker aircraft and/or of portions of the tanker aircraft on the basis of said acquired images.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein said step of determining comprises executing, by the receiver aircraft, a first operation of triangulation on the basis of the first geometrical information acquired.

17. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

acquiring, by the receiver aircraft, its own position co-ordinates;

receiving, by the receiver aircraft, position co-ordinates of the tanker aircraft;

determining, on the basis of said position co-ordinates of the first and tanker aircraft, second position information associated to a relative position of the receiver aircraft (1) with respect to the tanker aircraft,

said step of varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the first position information comprising varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of said first and second position information.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

associating a first reliability factor (C_RIGHT;

C_LEFT), indicating the accuracy of the first position information, to the first position information, obtaining first weighted position information;

associating a second reliability factor (C_GPS), indicating the accuracy of the second position information, to the second position information, obtaining second weighted position information; and

varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of said first and second weighted position information.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising the step of calculating a conditional expected value of the relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft conditioned with respect to the first weighted position information and to the second weighted position information to obtain first filtered position information, said step of varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the first and second weighted position information comprising varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of said first filtered position information.

20. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

detecting, by a second detector, arranged on the receiver aircraft, second geometrical information associated to the first and second detection areas;

determining, on the basis of the second geometrical information, third position information associated to a relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft; and

said step of varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft further comprising varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the third position information.

21. The method according to claim 18, further comprising the steps of:

associating a third reliability factor (C_LEFT;

C_RIGHT), indicating the accuracy of the third position information, to the third position information to obtain third weighted position information,

said step of varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the third position information comprising varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of said third weighted position information.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein the step of detecting second geometrical information comprises acquiring in a passive way one or more optical signals identifying said first and/or second detection areas.

23. The method according to claim 20, wherein said step of determining comprises executing, by the receiver aircraft, a second operation of triangulation on the basis of the first and second geometrical information acquired via the second detector.

24. The method according to claim 21, further comprising the step of calculating a conditional expected value of the relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft conditioned with respect to the first, second, and third weighted position information, obtaining second filtered position information, said step of varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the first, second, and third weighted position information comprising varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of said second filtered position information.

25. The method according to claim 20, wherein the step of acquiring second geometrical information associated to the first and second detection areas comprises detecting signals of a visible and infrared type.

26. The method according to claim 20, further comprising the steps of acquiring the first and second geometrical information in stereoscopy.

27. The method according to claim 26, further comprising the steps of:

determining, on the basis of the first and second geometrical information acquired in stereoscopy, fourth position information associated to a relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft; and

associating a fourth reliability factor (C_STEREO), indicating the accuracy of the fourth position information, to the fourth position information to obtain fourth weighted position information,

the step of varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the first, second, and third position information further comprising varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of said fourth weighted position information.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein said determination step comprises executing a third operation of triangulation on the basis of the first and second geometrical information acquired in stereoscopy.

29. The method according to claim 27, further comprising the step of calculating a conditional expected value of the relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft conditioned with respect to the first, second, third, and fourth weighted position information, obtaining third filtered position information, said step of varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the first, second, third, and fourth weighted position information comprising varying the flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of said third filtered position information.

30. The method according to claim 19, wherein said step of calculating a value comprises executing an operation of Kalman filtering.

31. The method according to claim 13, further comprising, prior to the step of detecting first geometrical information, the steps of:

governing the flight path of the receiver aircraft towards an area of encounter between the receiver aircraft and the tanker aircraft;

in the case where the tanker aircraft is not present in the area of encounter, automatically governing the flight of the receiver aircraft so that the receiver aircraft awaits arrival of the tanker aircraft within the area of encounter or in the proximity thereof; and

in the presence of the tanker aircraft in the area of encounter, automatically governing the flight of the receiver aircraft so that the receiver aircraft arranges itself on the tail of the tanker aircraft.

32. The method according to claim 31, further comprising the step of exchanging position data between the receiver aircraft and the tanker aircraft for verifying the simultaneous presence of the first and tanker aircraft within the area of encounter.

33. The method according to claim 31, wherein the step of automatically governing the flight of the receiver aircraft so that the receiver aircraft will set itself on the tail of the tanker aircraft comprises:

governing the flight of the receiver aircraft on the tail of the tanker aircraft at an altitude lower than the altitude of flight of the tanker aircraft; and

increasing progressively the altitude of flight of the receiver aircraft keeping it on the tail of the tanker aircraft.

34. An aircraft, comprising an automatic-piloting system configured for being arranged on a receiver aircraft for controlling an in-flight refuelling operation fo the receiver aircraft, comprising:

a first detector, arranged on the receiver aircraft and configured for acquiring first geometrical information associated to a first detection area and a second detection area belonging to a tanker aircraft, said first detection area being related to said second detection area by a geometrical relation known to the automatic-piloting system;

a processor, configured for determining, on the basis of the first geometrical information acquired, first position information associated to a relative position of the receiver aircraft with respect to the tanker aircraft; and

an automatic-pilot device coupled to said processor and configured for varying flight parameters of the receiver aircraft on the basis of the first position information.