An Aircraft Towing and Taxiing System Based on Pilot Control Mode

Abstract

The evolving aviation industry places higher demands on the aircraft towing and taxiing process, which relies heavily on the cooperation between the pilot and the tractor driver traditionally because there is no information exchange between the aircraft and the tractor. An aircraft towing and taxiing system based on pilot control mode is proposed aiming at the inefficiency and complexity of the above-mentioned work mode. An angle sensor is installed between the nose landing gear and the tractor, the tractor can perceive the direction that the pilot wants to go when the pilot is steering the steering wheel, and tow the aircraft forward along its heading angle automatically. According to the simulation and experiments, it is verified that the proposed pilot can complete the aircraft towing and taxiing operation through the active perception and autonomous control of the tractor, which solves the problem of no information interaction between the aircraft and the tractor.