Drone air traffic control and flight plan management

A system comprising a computer processor, a computer-readable hardware storage medium, and program code embodied with the computer-readable hardware storage medium for execution by the computer processor to implement a method comprising:

• receiving a flight plan request for a drone, wherein the flight plan request comprises an identity of the drone, departure information for the drone, and arrival information for the drone, and the arrival information comprises one or more locations that the drone is programmed to perform one or more tasks at;
• constructing a flight plan for the drone based on the flight plan request, wherein the flight plan represents an executable flight plan for the drone that reduces air traffic congestion, and the flight plan comprises a sequence of four-dimensional (4D) cells representing a planned flight path for the drone;
• and
• for each 4D cell of the flight plan:
• determining whether an exclusive lock on behalf of the drone on the 4D cell is available;
• in response to determining an exclusive lock on behalf of the drone on the 4D cell is available, placing the exclusive lock on behalf of the drone on the 4D cell, thereby restricting use of air space within the 4D cell to the drone only;
• and
• in response to determining an exclusive lock on behalf of the drone on the 4D cell is not available, rerouting the flight plan around the 4D cell to a neighboring 4D cell, wherein the rerouting includes delaying take off of the drone;
• wherein flight of the drone to the one or more locations is controlled in accordance with the flight plan;
• and
• wherein, in response to receiving a report identifying a current location of the drone and determining the current location of the drone is inconsistent with the flight plan, rerouting the flight plan from the current location.

A computer program product comprising a computer-readable hardware storage device having program code embodied therewith, the program code being executable by a computer to implement a method comprising:

• receiving a flight plan request for a drone, wherein the flight plan request comprises an identity of the drone, departure information for the drone, and arrival information for the drone, and the arrival information comprises one or more locations that the drone is programmed to perform one or more tasks at;
• constructing a flight plan for the drone based on the flight plan request, wherein the flight plan represents an executable flight plan for the drone that reduces air traffic congestion, and the flight plan comprises a sequence of four-dimensional (4D) cells representing a planned flight path for the drone;
• and
• for each 4D cell of the flight plan:
• determining whether an exclusive lock on behalf of the drone on the 4D cell is available;
• in response to determining an exclusive lock on behalf of the drone on the 4D cell is available, placing the exclusive lock on behalf of the drone on the 4D cell, thereby restricting use of air space within the 4D cell to the drone only;
• and
• in response to determining an exclusive lock on behalf of the drone on the 4D cell is not available, rerouting the flight plan around the 4D cell to a neighboring 4D cell, wherein the rerouting includes delaying take off of the drone;
• wherein flight of the drone to the one or more locations is controlled in accordance with the flight plan;
• and
• wherein, in response to receiving a report identifying a current location of the drone and determining the current location of the drone is inconsistent with the flight plan, rerouting the flight plan from the current location.