Flight technical control management for an unmanned aerial vehicle

A method comprising:

• receiving at a first processor of a redundant processing unit of an aerial vehicle a mission plan, wherein the mission plan comprises a flight plan and a contingency plan;
• determining, by the first processor, that the mission plan is valid, wherein determining the mission plan is valid comprises determining the mission plan includes the flight plan;
• after determining the mission plan is valid, executing by the first processor the mission plan by at least providing the mission plan to a vehicle management system of the aerial vehicle, the vehicle management system being configured to navigate the aerial vehicle, wherein the vehicle management system is configured to direct the aerial vehicle to travel along the flight plan;
• and
• synchronizing, by the first processor, the first processor with a second processor of the redundant processing unit of the aerial vehicle;
• detecting, by the second processor, failure of the first processor by at least one of:
• failing, by the second processor, to receive synchronization data from the first processor in an appropriate format or within a threshold time interval,
• detecting, by the second processor, a software error in the first processor,
• or detecting, by the second processor, unavailability of resources of the first processor;
• and
• responsive to detecting the failure of the first processor:
• receiving, by the second processor, the mission plan,
• validating, by the second processor, the mission plan, and
• executing, by the second processor, the mission plan.