Aerial refueling systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024375785-A1
Application number	US-202318314664-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 9, 2023
Priority date	May 9, 2023
Publication date	Nov 14, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed herein is methods, systems, and aircraft for performing refueling operations. A method of controlling pilot director lights includes generating, using a camera of a tanker aircraft, a two-dimensional ( 2 D) image of a receiver aircraft and a refueling boom of the tanker aircraft, determining a 2 D position of a boom receptacle on the receiver aircraft within the 2 D image, determining a three-dimensional ( 3 D) position of the boom receptacle with regard to an origin location of the camera of the tanker aircraft, moving the 3 D position of the boom receptacle to have a boom pivot origin to produce a moved 3 D position of the boom receptacle, and controlling one or more pilot director lights based on the moved 3 D position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
generating, using a camera of a tanker aircraft, a two-dimensional (2D) image of a receiver aircraft and a refueling boom of the tanker aircraft; determining a 2D position of a boom receptacle on the receiver aircraft within the 2D image; determining a three-dimensional (3D) position of the boom receptacle with regard to an origin location of the camera of the tanker aircraft; moving the 3D position of the boom receptacle to have a boom pivot origin to produce a moved 3D position of the boom receptacle; and controlling one or more pilot director lights based on the moved 3D position.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the receiver aircraft within the 2D image to produce a determined receiver aircraft; generating a bounding box enclosing at least part of the determined receiver aircraft; and determining keypoints on the determined receiver aircraft within the bounding box.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the 2D position of the boom receptacle is further based on the keypoints.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the method further comprises tracking the moved 3D position of the boom receptacle to produce a tracked 3D position; and controlling the one or more pilot director lights is further based on the tracked 3D position.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the moved 3D position of the refueling boom includes a pitch value, a role value, and a telescope value based on a boom axis.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein controlling the one or more pilot director lights is further based on the pitch value, the role value, or the telescope value.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein controlling the one or more pilot director lights is further based on a receiver contact envelope.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the receiver contact envelope comprises:
an upper pitch angle value; a lower pitch angle value; a left roll angle value; a right roll angle value; an inner telescope length value; and an outer telescope length value.

9 . A tanker aircraft comprising:
a refueling boom; a plurality of pilot director lights; a camera configured to generate a two-dimensional (2D) image of an in-flight refueling operation between a receiver aircraft and the tanker aircraft; a processor; and non-transitory computer readable storage media storing code, the code being executable by the processor to perform operations comprising:
determining a 2D position of a boom receptacle on the receiver aircraft within the 2D image;
determining a three-dimensional (3D) position of the boom receptacle with regard to origin location of the camera;
moving the 3D position of the boom receptacle to have an origin of the refueling boom to produce a moved 3D position of the boom receptacle ( 108 ); and
controlling one or more of the pilot director lights based on the moved 3D position.

10 . The tanker aircraft of claim 9 , wherein the code is further configured to cause the processor to:
determine the receiver aircraft within the 2D image to produce a determined receiver aircraft; generate a bounding box enclosing at least part of the determined receiver aircraft; and determine keypoints on the determined receiver aircraft within the bounding box.

11 . The tanker aircraft of claim 10 , wherein determining the 2D position of the boom receptacle is further based on the keypoints.

12 . The tanker aircraft of claim 10 , wherein the code is further configured to cause the processor to:
track the moved 3D position of the boom receptacle to produce a tracked 3D position; and control the one or more pilot director lights is further based on the tracked 3D position.

13 . The tanker aircraft of claim 9 , wherein the moved 3D position of the refueling boom includes a pitch value, a role value, and a telescope value based on a boom axis.

14 . The tanker aircraft of claim 13 , wherein controlling the one or more pilot director lights is further based on the pitch value, the role value, or the telescope value.

15 . The tanker aircraft of claim 14 , wherein controlling is further based on a receiver contact envelope.

16 . The tanker aircraft of claim 15 , wherein the receiver contact envelope comprises:
an upper pitch angle value; a lower pitch angle value; a left roll angle value; a right roll angle value; an inner telescope length value; and an outer telescope length value.

17 . An automated refueling system comprising:
a plurality of pilot director lights; a camera configured to generate a two-dimensional (2D) image of a device associated with in-flight refueling operation between a receiver aircraft and a tanker aircraft; a processor; and non-transitory computer readable storage media storing code, the code being executable by the processor to perform operations comprising:
determining a 2D position of a boom receptacle on the receiver aircraft within the 2D image;
determining a three-dimensional (3D) position of the boom receptacle with regard to origin location of the camera that generated the 2D image;
moving the 3D position of the boom receptacle to have an origin of a refueling boom to produce a moved 3D position of the boom receptacle; and
controlling one or more pilot director lights based on the moved 3D position.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the processor further performs operations comprising:
determining the receiver aircraft within the 2D image to produce a determined receiver aircraft; generating a bounding box enclosing at least part of the determined receiver aircraft; and determining keypoints on the determined receiver aircraft within the bounding box.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein determining the 2D position of the boom receptacle is further based on the keypoints.

20 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the processor further performs operations comprising:
transforming the moved 3 D position of the refueling boom to a pitch value, a role value, and a telescope value based on a boom axis; and controlling the one or more pilot director lights is further based on the pitch value, the role value, the telescope value, or a receiver contact envelope, the receiver contact envelope comprises:
an upper pitch angle value;
a lower pitch angle value;
a left roll angle value;
a right roll angle value;
an inner telescope length value; and
an outer telescope length value.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Evans Sherry
• Ametsitsi Julian
• Jang Jung Soon
• Lis Krystof
• O'Shea Daniel
• Miyamoto Daniel

Classifications

• B64D39/00 Primary

  Refuelling during flight · CPC title

• B64D47/08

  Arrangements of cameras · CPC title

• B64D47/02 Primary

  Arrangements or adaptations of signal or lighting devices · CPC title