Modeling and simulation of a time-varying inertia aircraft in aerial refueling

Studied in this paper is dynamic modeling and simulation application of the receiver aircraft with the time-varying mass and inertia property in an integrated simulation environment which includes two other significant factors, i.e., a hose–drogue assembly dynamic model with the variable-length property and the wind effect due to the tanker’s trailing vortices. By extending equations of motion of a fixed weight aircraft derived by Lewis et al., a new set of equations of motion for a receiver in aerial refueling is derived. The equations include the time-varying mass and inertia property due to fuel transfer and the fuel consumption by engines, and the fuel tanks have a rectangle shape rather than a mass point. They are derived in terms of the translational and rotational position and velocity of the receiver with respect to an inertial reference frame. A linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller is designed based on a group of linearized equations under the initial receiver mass condition. The equations of motion of the receiver with a LQR controller are implemented in the integrated simulation environment for autonomous approaching and station-keeping of the receiver in simulations.