Patent ID: 8600602

Claim:
An aerial vehicle comprising: a vehicle management system configured to navigate the aerial vehicle; and a redundant processing unit comprising a first processor and a second processor, wherein the first processor is configured to: receive a mission plan comprising a flight plan and a contingency plan, validate the mission plan by at least determining the mission plan includes the flight plan, after determining the mission plan is valid, execute the mission plan by at least providing the mission plan to the vehicle management system, wherein the vehicle management system is configured to direct the aerial vehicle to travel along the flight plan, and synchronize the first processor and the second processor, and wherein the second processor is configured to: detect a failure of the first processor by at least one of failing to receive synchronization data from the first processor in an appropriate format or within a threshold time interval, detecting a software error in the first processor, or detecting unavailability of resources of the first processor, and, responsive to detecting the failure of the first processor, receive the mission plan, validate the mission plan, and execute the mission plan.