Stealth-Maneuver Generation for Non-Stealth Aircraft: A Control Barrier Function Approach

Aiming to address the vulnerability of non-stealth aircraft to radar detection due to inherent design limitations, this paper proposes a method to generate maneuvers that reduce an aircraft’s radar cross-section (RCS) value below a specified threshold. The proposed method employs control barrier fun...

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Main Authors: Mustafa Demir, Ege C. Altunkaya, Akın Çatak, Fatih Erol, Emre Koyuncu, İbrahim Özkol, Uğur Zengin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-05-01
Series:Aerospace
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/12/6/478
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author Mustafa Demir
Ege C. Altunkaya
Akın Çatak
Fatih Erol
Emre Koyuncu
İbrahim Özkol
Uğur Zengin
author_facet Mustafa Demir
Ege C. Altunkaya
Akın Çatak
Fatih Erol
Emre Koyuncu
İbrahim Özkol
Uğur Zengin
author_sort Mustafa Demir
collection DOAJ
description Aiming to address the vulnerability of non-stealth aircraft to radar detection due to inherent design limitations, this paper proposes a method to generate maneuvers that reduce an aircraft’s radar cross-section (RCS) value below a specified threshold. The proposed method employs control barrier functions and leverages the relationship between control inputs and the RCS. Due to confidentiality concerns, the required RCS database for the F-16 aircraft was generated through analyses performed using the created geometry. The results are compared with a virtual path that excludes RCS constraints and does not alter the aircraft’s attitude. Simulations reveal that <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>89.6</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> of the cases using the proposed method achieve a mean RCS value below the threshold, compared to only <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>1.26</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> for the virtual path. Moreover, the ratio of the time during which the RCS constraint is successfully met to the total simulation time averages over <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>78</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> across all simulations, demonstrating the method’s effectiveness in reducing the RCS value below the specified threshold.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2226-4310
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spelling doaj-art-e72f5698cdb046ec9514566bc58ee7322025-08-20T03:24:26ZengMDPI AGAerospace2226-43102025-05-0112647810.3390/aerospace12060478Stealth-Maneuver Generation for Non-Stealth Aircraft: A Control Barrier Function ApproachMustafa Demir0Ege C. Altunkaya1Akın Çatak2Fatih Erol3Emre Koyuncu4İbrahim Özkol5Uğur Zengin6Aerospace Research Center, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 34469, TürkiyeAerospace Research Center, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 34469, TürkiyeAerospace Research Center, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 34469, TürkiyeAerospace Research Center, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 34469, TürkiyeAerospace Research Center, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 34469, TürkiyeAerospace Research Center, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul 34469, TürkiyeTurkish Aerospace, Ankara 06980, TürkiyeAiming to address the vulnerability of non-stealth aircraft to radar detection due to inherent design limitations, this paper proposes a method to generate maneuvers that reduce an aircraft’s radar cross-section (RCS) value below a specified threshold. The proposed method employs control barrier functions and leverages the relationship between control inputs and the RCS. Due to confidentiality concerns, the required RCS database for the F-16 aircraft was generated through analyses performed using the created geometry. The results are compared with a virtual path that excludes RCS constraints and does not alter the aircraft’s attitude. Simulations reveal that <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>89.6</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> of the cases using the proposed method achieve a mean RCS value below the threshold, compared to only <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>1.26</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> for the virtual path. Moreover, the ratio of the time during which the RCS constraint is successfully met to the total simulation time averages over <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>78</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> across all simulations, demonstrating the method’s effectiveness in reducing the RCS value below the specified threshold.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/12/6/478low-observabilityradar cross-sectionsurvivability enhancementstealth motion planning
spellingShingle Mustafa Demir
Ege C. Altunkaya
Akın Çatak
Fatih Erol
Emre Koyuncu
İbrahim Özkol
Uğur Zengin
Stealth-Maneuver Generation for Non-Stealth Aircraft: A Control Barrier Function Approach
Aerospace
low-observability
radar cross-section
survivability enhancement
stealth motion planning
title Stealth-Maneuver Generation for Non-Stealth Aircraft: A Control Barrier Function Approach
title_full Stealth-Maneuver Generation for Non-Stealth Aircraft: A Control Barrier Function Approach
title_fullStr Stealth-Maneuver Generation for Non-Stealth Aircraft: A Control Barrier Function Approach
title_full_unstemmed Stealth-Maneuver Generation for Non-Stealth Aircraft: A Control Barrier Function Approach
title_short Stealth-Maneuver Generation for Non-Stealth Aircraft: A Control Barrier Function Approach
title_sort stealth maneuver generation for non stealth aircraft a control barrier function approach
topic low-observability
radar cross-section
survivability enhancement
stealth motion planning
url https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/12/6/478
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