Patent ID: 11887493
Assignee: TEXTRON INNOVATIONS INC.
Field: Control (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  B | IPC B  G

Claim 18:
19. A flight computer system comprising: a processor; and a memory accessible to the processor, the memory storing instructions that are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising:
flying into a proximity range of a second aircraft to be detected by the second aircraft and to request a new V-flight formation with the second aircraft;
enabling, upon the request being accepted, communication between the trailing and lead aircrafts;
determining in a first positioning, a first rate of energy dissipation of a first aircraft over a first interval;
determining, in a second positioning, a second rate of energy dissipation of the first aircraft over a second interval;
determining whether the second rate of energy dissipation is less than the first rate of energy dissipation; and
evaluating whether the first or the second positioning, relative to a second aircraft in the new flight formation with the first aircraft, is an optimal positioning, wherein the optimal positioning corresponds to a reduction in energy dissipation in comparison to an initial positioning or below a power dissipation rate threshold.