Optical tracking system for aerial refueling

摘要

An aerial refueling system including a refueling drogue assembly (100) including a refueling drogue and a refueling hose (110) in captive relation with the refueling drogue and a drogue positioning system. The drogue positioning system including a radiation emitter (200), a radiation receiver (300) and a signal processor. Then the radiation emitter (200) is adapted to direct radiation to a positioning area (400) a defined distance from the radiation emitter, the radiation carrying a modulated location signal containing information corresponding to positions within the positioning area (400). The radiation receiver (300) is adapted to receive at least a portion of the emitted radiation carrying the modulated signal and output a signal to the signal processor indicative of the modulation of the location signal of the received radiation. And the signal processor is adapted to process the outputted signal and identify a position within the positioning area (400) indicative of the location in the positioning area of the received radiation.