Systems and methods of the present invention are provided to generate a plurality of flight trajectories that do not conflict with other aircraft in a local area. Interventions by an air traffic control system help prevent collisions between aircraft, but these interventions can also cause an aircraft to substantially deviate from the pilot's intended flight trajectory, which burns fuels, wastes time, etc. Systems and methods of the present invention can assign a standard avoidance interval to other aircraft in the area such that a pilot's aircraft does not receive an intervention by an air traffic control system. Systems and methods of the present invention also generate a plurality of conflict-free flight trajectories such that a pilot or an automated system may select the most desirable flight trajectory for fuel efficiency, speed, and other operational considerations, etc.

An aircraft system for an own-ship aircraft includes an ADS-B unit configured to receive ADS-B messages with flight information from other aircraft over a plurality of time periods, the other aircraft including a first aircraft. The system further includes a database configured to store at least a portion of the flight information associated with the other aircraft over the plurality of time periods. The system further includes a processing unit configured to compare the flight information for a current time period to the flight information for a previous time period to identify missing flight information from the current time period relative to the previous time period, the missing flight information including the flight information associated with the first aircraft, and initiate an annunciation to an operator of the own-ship aircraft based on the missing flight information associated with the first aircraft.

A method for integrating a new navigation service is implemented in an avionics onboard system comprising a DAL+ core computer and a DAL peripheral computer for managing the application. The method of integration determines an optimal functional and physical distribution of the elementary functions FU(i) of the new service within the onboard avionics system over the set of possible distributions which minimizes a global cost criterion CG, dependent on several parameters, including at least the additional development cost of the elementary functions integrated within the digital DAL+ core computer, and carries out the integration of the new service.

A friend identification method includes steps of (a) targeting a specific ground location, (b) triggering an onboard Mark XIIA Mode 5 transponder, (c) issuing a reverse Mode 5 message to a responder, (d) receiving the reverse Mode 5 message at the responder, (e) decrypting the reverse Mode 5 message, and (f) responding to the reverse Mode 5 message if the specific ground location is within a predetermined radius from the responder.

A visual search assistance system and related operating method are disclosed. An exemplary embodiment of the method dynamically determines a desired line-of-sight vector from an occupant of a vehicle to a visual target, and dynamically determines, with an onboard tracking system of the vehicle, an actual line-of-sight vector for the occupant of the vehicle. The actual line-of-sight vector is temporally associated with the desired line-of-sight vector. The method compares the actual line-of-sight vector against the desired line-of-sight vector to obtain a difference measurement, and generates a notification when the obtained difference measurement exceeds a threshold value. The notification provides guidance to redirect a gaze direction of the occupant toward the visual target.

This disclosure is directed to systems and methods for aircraft collision avoidance with speed-based collision alert time thresholds. In one example, a system is configured to determine predicted trajectories for an own aircraft and a target aircraft. The system is further configured to determine whether a violation of protected airspace is predicted between the own aircraft and the target aircraft. The system is further configured to determine whether a predicted time to closest approach between the own aircraft and the target aircraft is less than an alert threshold time based on a speed of the own aircraft. The system is further configured to generate an alert output, in response to determining that a violation of protected airspace is predicted and that the predicted time to closest approach between the own aircraft and the target aircraft is less than the alert threshold time based on the speed of the own aircraft.

Systems and methods of the present invention are provided to generate a plurality of flight trajectories that do not conflict with other aircraft in a local area. Interventions by an air traffic control system help prevent collisions between aircraft, but these interventions can also cause an aircraft to substantially deviate from the pilot's intended flight trajectory, which burns fuels, wastes time, etc. Systems and methods of the present invention can assign a standard avoidance interval to other aircraft in the area such that a pilot's aircraft does not receive an intervention by an air traffic control system. Systems and methods of the present invention also generate a plurality of conflict-free flight trajectories such that a pilot or an automated system may select the most desirable flight trajectory for fuel efficiency, speed, and other operational considerations, etc.

Provided are a computer-implemented method, a computer program product, and a computer system for drone deployment for distributed asset maintenance and repair. Embodiments identify a fix for a problem at an asset and identify a drone to perform the fix. Embodiments generate an initial flight plan that describes a drone flight path for the drone, and embodiments generate an updated flight plan for the drone by updating the drone flight path using real-time air traffic data, real-time road traffic data, and real-time drone flight path conditions obtained from one or more edge devices. Embodiments generate an overall flight plan for the drone and one or more other drones using a predicted cost and a predicted period of time for the updated drone flight path. Embodiments send a drone flight path from the overall flight plan to the drone with instructions to fix the problem.

Various embodiments of a vision-guided unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system to identify and collect foreign objects from the surface of a body of water are disclosed herein. A vision system and methodology has been developed to reduce reflections and glare from a water surface to better identify an object for removal. A linearized polarization filter and a specularity-removal algorithm is used to eliminate excessive reflection and glare. A contour-based detection algorithm is implemented for detecting the targeted objects on water surface. Further, the system includes a boundary layer sliding mode control (BLSMC) methodology to reduce and minimize position and velocity errors between the UAV and object in the presence of modeling and parameter uncertainties due to variation in a moving water surface.

A method for providing an automated runway incursion alert comprises receiving, from a location sensor on board an aircraft, location sensor data for the aircraft. Location data is also received for target traffic. Based on the location sensor data for the aircraft, a location, a speed, and a direction of travel are determined for the aircraft. A location, a speed, and a direction of travel are determined for the target traffic based on the location data for the target traffic. The method further comprises determining that the aircraft meets one or more ownship alert criteria and determining that the target traffic meets one or more target traffic alert criteria. Based on determining that the aircraft meets the one or more ownship alert criteria and the target traffic meets the one or more target traffic alert criteria, a runway incursion alert is output.