As part of their investigation into the challenges associated with solving the “Hook-up problem space”, the Relative Motion Robotics rig commissioned by Cobham Mission Equipment at the University of Bristol, as part of ASTRAEA, is now fully functional. Linked to a Synthetic Environment, it is capable of acting as Hardware in the Loop (HWIL) when testing Hose and Drogue equipment and associated guidance sensors and systems. The HWIL is integrated with Tanker and Receiver models incorporating flight control systems and instructions, alongside models of turbulence, wake and bow wave modelling, which are all being developed as part of the ASTRAEA Autonomy and Decision Making project.

Select the robotics rig image (above) to view a video presentation of the system (43MB).