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Adaptive formation rendezvous control for aerial refueling based on total energy method
Received date: 2025-10-30
Revised date: 2025-12-04
Accepted date: 2025-12-31
Online published: 2026-01-15
An adaptive control method based on total energy is proposed to address the formation rendezvous problem of the receiver and tanker aircraft in the aerial refueling scenario. The altitude and velocity instructions are transformed into the a relationship between kinetic and potential energy. Through the coordinated distribution of energy， the altitude and velocity are controlled， and the velocity loss and excessive angle of attack in the process of rapid climbing are avoided， which effectively prevents the occurrence of stall phenomenon and improves the stability of the tracking process. To enhance the robustness of the system， fuzzy logic is introduced to adjust the key parameters of the control system in real time. The simulation results show that the designed controller achieves the formation rendezvous of the receiver and tanker aircraft， avoids the velocity loss and excessive angle of attack， and has good system stability， which provides a stable and robust solution for the adaptive formation rendezvous of the receiver aircraft for aerial refueling.
Key words： aerial refueling; total energy; fuzzy logic; adaptive control; formation rendezvous
Yuhan ZHANG , Cheng XU , Hua JI , Mingjun WEI . Adaptive formation rendezvous control for aerial refueling based on total energy method[J]. ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA, 2026 , 47(S1) : 732997 -732997 . DOI: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2025.32997
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