System and method for cooperative operation of piloted and optionally piloted aircraft

摘要

A system for controlling the flight of aircraft includes an aircraft operated by a human pilot, one or more optionally piloted aircraft controlled by a processor, and a communication link between the aircraft. The optionally piloted aircraft receives data indicative of the position and flight path of the piloted aircraft, and is automatically controlled to maintain a predetermined range of separation distances from the piloted aircraft. Control of the optionally piloted aircraft may include machine reasoning computing functions based on a classification of data received by the communication link, data indicative of the current positions and three-dimensional flight paths of the aircraft, stored data from previously calculated positions and three-dimensional flight paths of the aircraft, and stored data from previously executed flight plans associated with the optionally piloted aircraft.