Autonomous Formation Flight tackground Many bird species fly in"V formation to take advantage of the up-wash field generated by adjacent birds, resulting in less nergy expended Analytical studies and recent AFF flight tests validate these observations AFF Objectives Validate drag reduction concept and prediction tools of a system of aircraft in formation in the fight environment Develop and evaluate sensor and control methodologies for Approach autonomous close formation flight Flight test autonomous station keeping control laws of pair of F-18 Validate drag benefits and wing tip vortex behavior using piloted flight tests Develop and validate advanced relative GPS system capable of 10 cm relative position accuracy Integrate updated sensors and advanced formation control laws to perform autonomous station keeping within the vortex wake of a lead aircraft Benefits Potential commercial fuel savings of $o 5 to 1 million per year per trailing aircraft Application to UAV Swarming, Aerial Refueling BELT Autonomous Formation Flight Page 5Autonomous Formation Flight Autonomous Formation Flight • Background – Many bird species fly in “V” formation to take advantage of the up-wash field generated by adjacent birds, resulting in less energy expended. – Analytical studies and recent AFF flight tests validate these observations. • AFF Objectives – Validate drag reduction concept and prediction tools of a system of aircraft in formation in the flight environment – Develop and evaluate sensor and control methodologies for autonomous close formation flight • Approach – Flight test autonomous station keeping control laws of pair of F-18 aircraft. – Validate drag benefits and wing tip vortex behavior using piloted flight tests. – Develop and validate advanced relative GPS system capable of 10 cm relative position accuracy. – Integrate updated sensors and advanced formation control laws to perform autonomous station keeping within the vortex wake of a lead aircraft. • Benefits – Potential commercial fuel savings of $0.5 to 1 million per year per trailing aircraft. – Application to UAV Swarming, & Aerial Refueling. Page 5 Autonomous Formation Flight Program NAS4-00041 TO-104