Development of A New Helicopter Aerial Refueling System

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In collaboration with Wilderness North Group of Companies in Thunder Bay, Ontario, the objective of this proposed NSERC Alliance Grant project is to develop new technology and intelligent tools for Helicopter Aerial Refueling (HAR), used for commercial applications such as in-fly exploration, and unlimited search and rescue. HAR has clear advantages in general missions such as: 1) to carry extra payloads such as personnel or cargo, 2) to extend search and rescue missions, and 3) to reduce costs by carrying less fuel. Different from military HAR that uses fast and super tankers, the developed HAR system will use a multi-purpose and cheap tanker aircraft, FuelBoss AT-802. To achieve this goal, advanced research and development will be undertaken in multidisciplinary fields. Specific projects include the following: 1) a new refueling pod and control system will be developed for the FuelBoss tanker, which can handle possible pumping losses due to the altitude and head losses; 2) New techniques will be proposed to model the HAR system and the hose-drogue aerial refueling system; 3) Smart sensor data acquisition systems will be developed for wireless data acquisition in the form of GPS, vibration, force, etc. for HAR modeling and control; and 4) An intelligent control system will be developed to adaptively manipulate the aerial drogue corresponding to different aerodynamic flight conditions to improve drogue stability. The developed HAR will generate a revolutionary solution in helicopter refueling, with a simplistic design ideal for a better match to helicopter speeds and volume requirements, combined with lower wake turbulence. It will provide a dynamic HAR solution to the Royal Canadian Air Force for unlimited fighter patrols throughout Canada's North and the Arctic without fully relying on aerial refueling support from the US Air Force.