Patent ID: 6926233

Claim:
A totally integrated system for automatic formation of flight control for vehicles, said system comprising: an automatic flight control system having a processor located on the vehicle to enable communications and control of any number of aircraft in a formation, a communications transceiver located on the vehicle that provides discrete communication links to the number of aircraft in formation, an aircraft communications bus protocol and message packet structure that provides an exchange of information between the number of aircraft in formation, a means for encrypting communications exchange between any number of aircraft in formation, a means for providing a computed formation zone that provides elemental positional information for the number of aircraft in formation; a means for selecting both formation flight pattern and spatial clearance between the number of aircraft in formation flight, a means for providing real-time display of aircraft and positions of the number of aircraft in formation, a means for providing a buffer zone with a relative formation point for any number of aircraft in formation, a means for polling the number of aircraft in formation for positional information, a means for providing flight guidance including an autopilot inputs to the number of aircraft in formation; a means for providing a dampening of the flight profile to the number of aircraft in formation, and an autopilot located on the vehicle, capable of receiving and transmitting inputs or outputs from the vehicle communications bus.