UAV Route Planning for Mitigating Traffic Encounters

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory data storage storing program instructions executable by the processor to carry out operations comprising:
• receiving data for one or more aircraft currently flying within an airspace, wherein the received data comprises, for each of the one or more aircraft, a current position and at least one aircraft parameter;
• determining, based on the current position and the at least one aircraft parameter, an initial volume for each of the one or more aircraft;
• determining, based on the current position and the at least one aircraft parameter, a predicted future trajectory for each of the one or more aircraft;
• determining, based on the predicted future trajectory and the initial volume, an extended volume for each of the one or more aircraft;
• determining, based on the extended volume determined for each of the one or more aircraft, a composite extended volume space;
• and
• planning a flight path for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) through the airspace based on the composite extended volume space.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program instructions executable by a processor of a device to cause the device to carry out operations comprising:

• receiving data for one or more aircraft currently flying within an airspace, wherein the received data comprises, for each of the one or more aircraft, a current position and at least one aircraft parameter;
• determining, based on the current position and the at least one aircraft parameter, an initial volume for each of the one or more aircraft;
• determining, based on the current position and the at least one aircraft parameter, a predicted future trajectory for each of the one or more aircraft;
• determining, based on the predicted future trajectory and the initial volume, an extended volume for each of the one or more aircraft;
• determining, based on the extended volume determined for each of the one or more aircraft, a composite extended volume space;
• and
• planning a flight path for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) through the airspace based on the composite extended volume space.