Dynamics of circularly towed cable systems, part 1: Optimal configurations and their stability

When a long cable. is towed in a circular flight path, the system can exhibit quasi-stationary solutions for which the cable tip appears to remain stationary relative to the orbiting aircraft. For applications involving pickup and delivery of payloads, tighter turns at high speeds lead to nearly stationary motion of the cable tip in an inertial frame. This work studies the dynamics of such a system, focusing on the stability and equilibria of solutions. A numerical analysis of the system is carried out using a discretized lumped mass model of the cable. By using constrained numerical optimization, practical towing solutions that achieve small motion of the towed body are obtained.