Captive Trajectory System (CTS)

A Captive Trajectory System (CTS) is a specialized piece of equipment used primarily in wind tunnels to simulate the separation of objects from an aircraft or other parent body. The system is crucial for evaluating how external “stores” like fuel tanks behave aerodynamically as they are released from an aircraft.

MAE Robotics has developed the robotics and controls software architecture for the 8-DOF CTS Robot , as well as performing electrical and mechanical integrations to get the CTS operational. The CTS was designed to withstand supersonic wind loading upto Mach 1.5, and is able to precisely hold and move the store with 6 degrees of freedom in the test volume while also maintaining a high degree of positional accuracy.

We developed the full stack of controls software, from joint-level control to high-level motion planning algorithms, as well as performing detailed robotic and kinematic analyses, developing a fully-featured digital training environment, and a rich GUI for teleoperating the CTS System. The CTS is designed and tested to be integrated into a wind tunnel test section, with full information exchange performed in real-time with the wind tunnel control system.