Flight Test Evaluation of Image Rendering Navigation for Close-Formation Flight

Sean M. Calhoun, John Raquet, Joe Curro

Abstract:	This paper describes the flight test evaluation of an image-based relative navigation system for close-formation aerial refueling applications. The system under test relies on an Electro-Optical (EO) camera and a set of Embedded Inertial Global Position Systems (EGI) to determine a precise relative position vector between a KC-135R tanker and a Lear jet receiver aircraft surrogate. The system was developed by the Advanced Navigation Technology (ANT) Center at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in support of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Automated Aerial Refueling (AAR) program. The AAR program is developing various technologies and procedures for the purpose of demonstrating automated refueling concepts for USAF manned and unmanned aircraft. Flight test execution was based around standard aerial refueling profiles, focusing mainly on operations near the tanker (less than 2km). The main objective related to the EO system was to collect precisely time-tagged imagery and inertial data to perform a post-flight feasibility evaluation, focusing mainly on relative navigation accuracy and service robustness. Results presented from the flight tests show very good performance, supporting the claim that this approach is a potential candidate for precise formation flight and aerial refueling applications, at least from an accuracy perspective. The paper includes discussions on some challenges encountered as part of the post-test analysis. This includes processing time and, depending on the correspondence approach, convergence on local minimums and/or maximums.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 25th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2012) September 17 - 21, 2012 Nashville Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, TN
Pages:	826 - 832
Cite this article:	Calhoun, Sean M., Raquet, John, Curro, Joe, "Flight Test Evaluation of Image Rendering Navigation for Close-Formation Flight," Proceedings of the 25th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2012), Nashville, TN, September 2012, pp. 826-832.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In