Israeli students develop UAV on UAV refueling algorithm
Technicians at Technion use a camera attached to the end of a refueling pipe to calculate docking movement; in-air refueling a must if UAVs are to take on long-haul tasks
Despite our longstanding appreciation of UAVs, we have often noted that their operational utility has struggled by their inability to stay in the air for long-haul flights. The ideal solution, of course, is UAV on UAV in-flight refueling, but this requires a supply UAV large enough to carry sufficient fuel but also versatile enough to mate with another drone without assitance. (In-air refueling for normal planes requires manual docking, a process obviously impossible in a UAV.) In a major step forward, a team of students at Israel’s Technion University have succeeded in the second task by developing a special algorithm that controls a camera attached to the end of the refueling pipe. According to The Future of Things, “the camera focuses on a small red light that marks the target for it, calculates the distance between the pipe and the fuel opening, and instructs the small wings that guide the fuel pipe towards the opening.” The project was presented recently at the 47th Israel Annual Conference on Aerospace Sciences in Tel Aviv.
-read more in this The Future of Things report
