Navigating a UAV under remote control and manual control with three dimensional flight depiction

A system for navigating a UAV, the system comprising:

• means for receiving in a remote control device a user's selection of a GUI map pixel that represents a waypoint for UAV navigation, the pixel having a location on the GUI;
• means for mapping the pixel's location on the GUI to Earth coordinates of the waypoint;
• means for transmitting the coordinates of the waypoint to the UAV;
• means for reading a starting position from a GPS receiver on the UAV;
• means for piloting the UAV, under control of a navigation computer on the UAV, from the starting position to the waypoint in accordance with a navigation algorithm;
• and
• means for changing from piloting the UAV under control of a navigation computer on the UAV to piloting the UAV under manual control;
• and
• while piloting the UAV under manual control:
• means for reading from the GPS receiver a sequence of GPS data representing a flight path of the UAV;
• and
• means for depicting the flight of the UAV with 3D computer graphics, including a computer graphic display of a satellite image of the Earth, in dependence upon the GPS data.

A computer program product for navigating a UAV, the computer program product comprising:

• a recording medium;
• means, recorded on the recording medium, for receiving in a remote control device a user's selection of a GUI map pixel that represents a waypoint for UAV navigation, the pixel having a location on the GUI;
• means, recorded on the recording medium, for mapping the pixel's location on the GUI to Earth coordinates of the waypoint;
• means, recorded on the recording medium, for transmitting the coordinates of the waypoint to the UAV;
• means, recorded on the recording medium, for reading a starting position from a GPS receiver on the UAV;
• means, recorded on the recording medium, for piloting the UAV, under control of a navigation computer on the UAV, from the starting position to the waypoint in accordance with a navigation algorithm;
• and
• means, recorded on the recording medium, for changing from piloting the UAV under control of a navigation computer on the UAV to piloting the UAV under manual control;
• and
• while piloting the UAV under manual control:
• means, recorded on the recording medium, for reading from the GPS receiver a sequence of GPS data representing a flight path of the UAV;
• and
• means, recorded on the recording medium, for depicting the flight of the UAV with 3D computer graphics, including a computer graphic display of a satellite image of the Earth, in dependence upon the GPS data.