Enhanced unmanned aerial vehicle flight with situational awareness for moving vessels

A method of operating an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising a flight control system and an electromechanical system coupled with the flight control system, wherein the method comprises:

• the flight control system computing flight instructions for an electromechanical system of the unmanned aerial vehicle, wherein computing the flight instructions comprises:
• tracking a position of a beacon that is in motion;
• monitoring a difference between an actual position of the unmanned aerial vehicle and a desired position of the unmanned aerial vehicle relative to the position of the beacon;
• monitor an error between a velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle and a velocity of the beacon;
• determining a computational weighting of flight objectives for computing the flight instructions, wherein the computational weighting is based at least on whether the difference between the actual position and the desired position exceeds a threshold, the error between the velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle and the velocity of the beacon, and a rate of change of the error, and wherein the flight objectives comprise a velocity objective and a position objective, and wherein the velocity objective comprises matching the velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle to the velocity of the beacon;
• and
• commanding the electromechanical system based at least on the one or more flight objectives;
• and
• the electromechanical system maneuvering the unmanned aerial vehicle based on the flight instructions from the flight control system.

A computing apparatus comprising:

• one or more computer readable storage media having program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors of a flight control system on-board an unmanned aerial vehicle, direct the flight control system to at least:
• track a position of a beacon that is in motion;
• monitor a difference between an actual position of the unmanned aerial vehicle and a desired position of the unmanned aerial vehicle relative to the position of the beacon;
• monitor an error between an actual velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle and a velocity of the beacon;
• determine a computational weighting of flight objectives for computing flight instructions, wherein the computational weighting is based at least on whether the difference between the actual position and the desired position exceeds a threshold, the error between the actual velocity and the velocity of the beacon, and wherein the flight objectives comprise a velocity objective and a position objective, and wherein the velocity objective comprises matching the actual velocity to the velocity of the beacon;
• and
• generate flight instructions for an electromechanical system of the unmanned aerial vehicle based at least on the flight objectives and the computational weighting.