Air Force Wants Drones That Can Sense Other Airplanes' Intent

By Rebecca Boyle Posted 07.23.2010 at 1:43 pm 6 Comments

The Avenger General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

Future airplane flocks would require a trained corps of pilots who intimately know their aircraft and their partners’ flying habits. Drone flocks would be a different task, however. Drones are not as smart as pilots, and cannot tell what other aircraft will do. But the military would like to change that.

The Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio is asking engineers to design an algorithm that would allow drones to recognize the intent of other aircraft.

The main goal would be allowing drones to integrate with piloted planes for takeoff and landing. Drones would be able to link up with air traffic controllers and consult a database of airport procedures, and use algorithms to understand what other aircraft will do.

This proposal solicitation outlines the Air Force’s desires: unmanned aerial systems that can analyze airfield maps and air traffic control data, just like pilots do. They would use cameras to watch other aircraft and use this “intent data” to remove ambiguity.

“The developed algorithm(s), optimally, would require no more a priori information than a human pilot,” the Air Force says.

The Air Force gives an example of aircraft landing on parallel runways. To a drone, they look like they’re on a collision course before they bank and land. The drone does not know the plane’s course will change, however, so it perceives the other plane’s trajectory as a collision threat. An algorithm could help the drone process airfield maps and realize there’s no danger.

Danger Room points out that there are a few commercial benefits to this type of technology, especially as the nation's skies grow more crowded. FedEx, for one, has considered using flocks of drones led by a piloted plane, and an intent algorithm could make that possible.

[Danger Room]

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6 Comments

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ford2go

07/24/10 at 3:52 am

OK, so this is limited to operations around airports where there are defined rules. Possibly, it could work.

The cameras would then mostly verify that the other aircraft were behaving as expected -- e.g. turned off at the required point.

I would still worry about conditions and inclement weather.

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johnt007871

07/29/10 at 2:33 pm

You'd still have radar, gps and transponders and the like for when piloted planes run into poor weather. I'd expect a computer to sometimes see better as it is not limited to a visible spectrum.

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kregly999

08/07/10 at 6:12 am

I gotta say, I don't think turning autonomous aircraft lose in the skies is a really great idea. I know there are some cases that an autonomous U.A.V. would be just fine. For the most part, I believe unmanned vehicles are a fantastic idea. A plane without a pilot in it increases it's capabilities exponentially. I think the best idea , especially for the armed U.A.V.'s is that they have a pilot sitting in a room somewhere actually flying the plane. I don't think armed or even unarmed U.A.V.'s flying with piloted planes should be autonomous. You can't write code to make human decisions for the aircraft for all situations. Like I said, for some reconnaissance aircraft a pilot-less plane would be fine but for grouping together or integrating with manned aircraft a remote pilot should have the stick and the Pickle is hot switch and the Fire weapon command should be a human function.

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Sky_Jokiel

08/09/10 at 7:16 am

Hey, I have seen Stealth and autonomous airplanes equals destruction and a bad movie lol

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pngpearson

08/17/10 at 1:18 pm

really Sky_Jokiel? you're basing your opinion on the future of military aviation off of an exaggerated action film?

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