A system for controlling the flight of aircraft includes an aircraft operated by a human pilot, one or more optionally piloted aircraft controlled by a processor, and a communication link between the aircraft. The optionally piloted aircraft receives data indicative of the position and flight path of the piloted aircraft, and is automatically controlled to maintain a predetermined range of separation distances from the piloted aircraft. Control of the optionally piloted aircraft may include machine reasoning computing functions based on a classification of data received by the communication link, data indicative of the current positions and three-dimensional flight paths of the aircraft, stored data from previously calculated positions and three-dimensional flight paths of the aircraft, and stored data from previously executed flight plans associated with the optionally piloted aircraft.
System and method for cooperative operation of piloted and optionally piloted aircraft
2020-02-11
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
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