Autonomous mission profile planning

A method for planning a mission profile in real time, comprising:

• ascertaining a plurality of target information, including a target location, a target velocity, and a target location error;
• and
• autonomously determining a pattern including a trace from the ascertained target information, including:
• projecting along a target axis a direction opposite a target heading defined by the target velocity a distance of at least twice the target location error to establish an intersection of the target axis with the target location error;
• projecting left and right relative to the target axis from the intersection a distance at least as great as one-half the target location error to determine a pair of possible start points;
• selecting the possible start point closest to the platform;
• determining a dispense point;
• laying out a trace from the selected start point;
• and
• translating the trace along a heading defined by the target velocity a distance determined by the elapsed time of travel for the platform to the dispense point and for a vehicle from the dispense point to the start point.

An apparatus for use in planning a mission profile in real time, comprising:

• a receiver capable of receiving a plurality of target information, the target information including a target location;
• a computing device;
• and
• a program storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by the computing device, perform a method for autonomously determining a pattern from the target information.

An apparatus for planning a mission profile in real time, comprising:

• a receiver capable of receiving a plurality of target information, the target information including a target location;
• a computing device;
• and
• a program storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by the computing device, perform a method for autonomously determining a pattern from the ascertained target information, the method including:
• projecting along a target axis a direction opposite a target heading defined by the target velocity a distance of at least twice the target location error to establish an intersection of the target axis with the target location error;
• projecting left and right relative to the target axis from the intersection a distance at least as great as one-half the target location error to determine a pair of possible start points;
• selecting the possible start point closest to the platform;
• determining a dispense point;
• laying out a trace from the selected start point;
• and
• translating the trace along a heading defined by the target velocity a distance determined by the elapsed time of travel for the platform to the dispense point and for a vehicle from the dispense point to the start point.

An apparatus capable of planning a mission profile in real time, comprising:

• a platform, including
• a receiver capable of receiving a plurality of target information, the target information including a target location;
• a first computing device;
• and
• a first program storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by the computing device, perform a method for autonomously determining a pattern from the ascertained target information, the method including:
• projecting along a target axis a direction opposite a target heading defined by the target velocity a distance of at least twice the target location error to establish an intersection of the target axis with the target location error;
• projecting left and right relative to the target axis from the intersection a distance at least as great as one-half the target location error to determine a pair of possible start points;
• selecting the possible start point closest to the platform;
• determining a dispense point;
• laying out a trace from the selected start point;
• and
• translating the trace along a heading defined by the target velocity a distance determined by the elapsed time of travel for the platform to the dispense point and for a vehicle from the dispense point to the start point;
• and
• a vehicle, including:
• a second program storage device capable of being encoded with the pattern by the first computing device;
• and
• a second computing device capable of implementing the pattern encoded on the second program storage device through control of the vehicle.