Autonomous in-air wingtip docking of aircraft offers significant opportunity for system level performance gains for numerous aircraft applications. Several of the technical challenges facing wingtip docking of fixed-wing aircraft are addressed in this paper, including: close proximity aerodynamic coupling; mechanisms and operations for robust docking; and relative state estimation methods. A simulation framework considering the aerodynamics, rigid-body dynamics, and vehicle controls is developed and used to perform docking sensitivity studies for a system of two 5.5% scale NASA Generic Transport Model aircraft. Additionally, proof of- concept testing of a candidate docking mechanism designed to move the primary wingtip vortex inboard suggests the viability of such an approach for achieving robust docking.


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    Title :

    Technical Challenges Associated with In-Air Wingtip Docking of Aircraft in Forward Flight



    Conference:

    2019 AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition ; 2019 ; San Diego, CA, United States


    Publication date :

    2019-01-07


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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    Quinlan, Jesse / Pei, Jing / Cooper, John et al. | AIAA | 2019



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