Patent ID: 6908061

Claim:
An aircraft system comprising: an aircraft having communication means and propelling means that operates according to instructions that are given; a base station having control means and communication means capable of communicating with the aircraft; and earth-based position measuring means for measuring a position of the aircraft, wherein: the control means includes instruction forming means for forming the instructions including a flight instruction for controlling a route of the aircraft based on the position of the aircraft that is measured by the position measuring means, and causes the communication means to send the instructions to the aircraft; the position measuring means includes distance measuring means for measuring distances between the aircraft and a plurality of measurement points to determine positional relationships between the aircraft and the measurement points; the distance measuring means includes at least one ultrasonic wave generator provided at least at one of the aircraft and the measurement points for generating ultrasonic waves and at least one ultrasonic wave detector provided at least at one of the aircraft and the measurement points for detecting the ultrasonic waves emitted from the at least one wave generator, and calculates distances between the aircraft and the measurement points based on times from generation of the ultrasonic waves by the at least one ultrasonic wave generator to arrival of the ultrasonic waves at the at least one wave detector; and the aircraft includes obstacle detecting means for detecting an obstacle located in a traveling direction of the aircraft, and the aircraft system further includes obstacle avoiding means for controlling the propelling means to change the route of the aircraft to avoid an obstacle upon the obstacle detecting means detecting the obstacle.