Binocular vision-based UAVs autonomous aerial refueling platform—pilots are no longer needed

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are invaluable in today's military and civilian initiatives. However, most unmanned systems are being designed to execute the long-running mission. Thus, it is necessary for UAVs to return to the base for refueling. Autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) is therefore an important capability for the future deployment of UAVs. Vision-based sensor and navigation system are widely used in AAR, while experiments are done for both probe-and-drogue refueling system and boom a