System and method for calculation and display of formation flight information on augmented reality display device

A method for identifying a leading aircraft on a trailing aircraft augmented reality display and arranging formation flight information on the trailing aircraft augmented reality display accordingly comprising:

• forming a subsequent couple using computing devices, wherein a computing device on the leading aircraft is a lead computing device and a computing device on the trailing aircraft is a trail computing device;
• determining the location of the leading aircraft on the trailing aircraft augmented reality display using data from the lead computing device, data from the trail computing device, and data from one or more gyroscopes and/or one or more compasses associated with the trailing augmented reality display;
• determining the size of the leading aircraft on the trailing aircraft augmented reality display using data from the lead computing device and data from the trail computing device;
• and
• arranging formation flight information for a virtual overlay on the trailing aircraft augmented reality display such that the formation flight information does not obstruct the view of the leading aircraft.

A method for visualizing the real-time status of a formation flight on a hardware display operatively coupled to a specified computing device comprising:

• collecting position, altitude, and inertial data for each aircraft in formation flight using one or more computing devices;
• transmitting collected aircraft data to a specified computing device in the formation flight;
• processing the collected aircraft data to generate a real-time formation flight visualization and data summary;
• and
• displaying the formation flight visualization and data summary on a hardware display operatively coupled to the specified computing device in the formation flight.

A system for calculating and displaying formation flight information in an aircraft, using an augmented reality display device, the system comprising:

• one or more augmented reality display devices wearable by a pilot of an aircraft, each located with a different aircraft in the formation, each augmented reality display device comprising a display screen at least partially transparent which is configured to display formation flight information;
• one or more computing devices, each located within a different aircraft in the formation, to include at least one aircraft in the formation containing an augmented reality display device, each computing device comprising and/or operatively connected to;
• data capture means for obtaining aircraft position, orientation, altitude, and velocity data;
• a data analysis module for determining aircraft relative position and velocity;
• a communication module for:
• transmitting and receiving data with a computing device in a second aircraft;
• and
• transmitting and receiving data with an operatively coupled augmented reality display device;
• and
• a virtual overlay program for displaying information relating to aircraft relative position and velocity on the screen of the operatively coupled augmented reality display device.