Airbus achieves in-flight autonomous guidance and control of a drone from a tanker aircraft
@AirbusDefence #SmartMRTT #A4R #AirbusUpNext #DefenceMatters
Huelva, 28 March 2023 – Airbus Defence and
Space and the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Airbus UpNext, have achieved
in-flight autonomous guidance and control of a drone using an A310 MRTT.
In a first step
towards Autonomous Formation Flight and Autonomous Air-to-Air refuelling (A4R),
the technologies demonstrate a significant breakthrough for future aerial
operations involving manned and unmanned assets.
These cutting-edge, ‘Made in Europe’ solutions
could reduce crew fatigue and the potential for human error, as well as minimising
crew-training costs and providing more effective operations.
“The success of this first flight-test campaign
paves the way for developing autonomous and unmanned air-to-air refuelling
technologies,” said Jean Brice Dumont, Head of Military Air Systems at Airbus
Defence and Space. “Even though we are at an early stage, we have achieved this
within just one year and are on the right track for manned-unmanned teaming and
future air force operations where fighters and mission aircraft will fly jointly
with drone swarms.”
Known as Auto’Mate, the technologies were
integrated on an A310 MRTT flying testbed, which took off from Getafe, Spain,
on 21 March, and on several DT-25 target drones, acting as receiver aircraft
and flying from Arenosillo Test Centre (CEDEA) at Huelva, Spain.
Over the waters of the Gulf of Cadiz, the control
of the drone transitioned from a ground station to the A310 MRTT, autonomously
guiding the DT-25 to the in-flight refuelling position.
During almost six hours of flight test, the four
successively launched receivers were sequentially controlled and commanded
thanks to artificial intelligence and cooperative control algorithms, without
human interaction. The different receivers were controlled and guided until a
minimum distance of 150 feet (around 45 metres) from the A310 MRTT.
Auto’Mate Demonstrator technology focuses on three
pillars:
·
Accurate
Relative Navigation to precisely ascertain the relative position, speed and
attitudes between the tanker and the receiver;
·
Intra-Flight
Communication between platforms to allow information exchange among the
different assets, increasing the autonomy of the system of systems;
·
Cooperative
Control Algorithms to provide guidance, coordination, consensus and
collision-avoidance functionalities to the tanker and the receiver/s.
A second campaign is expected towards the end of 2023, exploring the use of navigation sensors based on artificial intelligence and enhanced algorithms for autonomous formation flight. In addition, there will also be two simulated drones flying in the vicinity of the A310 MRTT to demonstrate multi-receiver autonomous operations and collision-avoidance algorithms.
To download audiovisual material to complement this announcement please click here.
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