Systems and methods for collaboratively controlling at least one aircraft
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorRegina I. Estkowski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An unmanned vehicle management system includes an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) control station controlling one or more unmanned vehicles (UV), a collaborative routing system, and a communication network connecting the UAS and the collaborative routing system. The collaborative routing system being configured to receive flight parameters from an operator of the UAS control station and, based on the received flight parameters, automatically present the UAS control station with flight plan options to enable the operator to operate the UV in a defined airspace.
Claims20
A method for generating a flight plan for one or more unmanned aircraft, said method comprising:
- receiving, by a collaborative routing system, a plurality of flight parameters from one or more unmanned aircraft system control stations that are configured to control the one or more unmanned aircraft;
- automatically generating, by the collaborative routing system, a plurality of flight plan options for the one or more unmanned aircraft;
- automatically presenting, by the collaborative routing system, the plurality of flight plan options on a display of the one or more unmanned aircraft system control stations;
- selecting, through at least one input device of the one or more unmanned aircraft control system stations, one of the plurality of flight plan options;
- and
- operating the one or more unmanned aircraft in a defined airspace based on the selected one of the plurality of flight plan options.
A vehicle management system configured to control operation of one or more aircraft within a defined airspace, said vehicle management comprising:
- one or more unmanned aircraft system control stations configured to operate the one or more unmanned aircraft within the defined airspace, wherein the one or more unmanned aircraft system control stations comprises at least one display and at least one input device;
- and
- a collaborative routing system in communication with the one or more unmanned aircraft system control stations, wherein the collaborative routing system includes at least one processor that is configured to receive flight parameters from the one or more unmanned aircraft system control stations and automatically present a plurality of flight plan options to operate the one or more unmanned aircraft on the at least one display, and wherein the at least one input device is configured to be used to select one of the flight plan options from the plurality of flight plan options,
- wherein the one or more unmanned aircraft are configured to be operated in the defined airspace based on the selected one of the flight plan options.
A method for generating a plurality of mutually feasible flight plans for a plurality of aircraft, said method comprising:
- receiving, by a collaborative routing system from a first aircraft system control station that is configured to control a first aircraft, a first set of flight parameters for controlling an operation of the first aircraft;
- receiving, by the collaborative routing system from a second aircraft system control station that is configured to control the second aircraft, a second set of flight parameters for controlling an operation of the second aircraft;
- using the collaborative routing system to generate a mutually feasible set of flight plan options for the first and second aircraft;
- selecting, through at least one input device of the first or second aircraft system control stations, a mutually feasible set of flight plan options;
- and
- operating one or both of the first and second aircraft in a defined airspace based on the selected mutually feasible set of flight plan options.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.