An Autonomous Fixed-Wing UAV Shipboard Recovery System

Among the many autonomous guidance and control challenges facing DoD and industry today is the safe, reliable shipboard recovery of fixed wing UAVs. Leveraging our autonomous landing research conducted for the Air Force Research Laboratory, GenevaAerospace proposes an autonomous shipboard recovery solution using a hybrid control system structure that combines trajectory synthesis guidance with line-of-sight rate guidance to provide precision control to recovery using an integrated GPS aidedrelative navigation solution. Employing the principals of terminal homing guidance, the design is ideally suited to facilitate recovery on a moving ship deck. The concept will take advantage of the precision positioning offered by the relative navigationsolution and precision path regulation offered by the hybrid control system to capture the UAV via a mechanically simple cable arresting system, enabling recovery on very small deck platforms. We will demonstrate that the recent technology advances inminiaturized GPS receivers, micro-electromechanical sensors (MEMS), spread-spectrum communications transceivers, and single-board computers all combine to offer a small, light-weight, robust, and affordable hardware architecture to address the shipboardrecovery problem. When integrated with the proposed guidance, navigation, and control software, this hardware architecture will provide an excellent integrated system solution with a very small logistics footprint. According to the Office of theSecretary of Defense (OSD) UAV roadmap, the US DoD will invest over $4 billion in UAVs over the next decade. This will include a substantial investment in autonomous control systems technologies that significantly enhance the operational utility of UAVs byallowing a few, or even a single, operator(s) with minimal training to effectively manage and control groups of vehicles. The introduction of a lightweight, safe, and robust precision shipboard recovery system for fixed wing UAVs will provide a much neededcapability that will enable the US maritime forces to take advantage of the many systems that will be introduced over the next decade. Proven, reliable autonomous landing technologies could also benefit the general aviation industry.