Trajectory shaping autopilot-guidance design for civil autonomous aerial refueling

Integrated Guidance-Autopilot design for autonomous mid-air rendezvous for the purpose of civil aerial refueling is addressed here. The objective of the Tanker air-craft is to position itself in a predetermined location relative to the Receiver which maintains straight and level flight. The problem is formulated so that the coupling between the relative kinematics and the dynamic model of the Tanker airframe is taken into account. Inspired by intercept problems, a linear quadratic optimal control problem with terminal path angle and path angular rate constraints is posed and solved. The ability to achieve mid-air rendezvous is demonstrated using numerical simulation and performance is evaluated.