Patent ID: 8000847

Claim:
A flight control system for controlling the flight of an unmanned aircraft through windshear conditions, the system comprising: means for measuring values of selected flight performance states of the aircraft; a control system for operating flight control devices on the aircraft based at least in part on control inputs from a ground station and a preprogrammed flight path associated with a current mission; and a windshear detection system located on the aircraft, the windshear detection system using at least some of the measured values of the selected flight performance states to calculate a gust wavelength during flight for comparison to pre-determined values in a table for determining whether windshear conditions exist, the windshear detection system having a subsystem configured with a reverse system parameter identification function and a reverse spectral density function for calculating the gust wavelength; wherein the reverse system parameter identification function computes a plurality of covariance aircraft parameters through residual computation; and wherein the reverse spectral density function uses the plurality of covariance aircraft parameters to compute the gust wavelength; wherein the control system is configured to activate a recovery system for operating at least one of the flight control devices in response to an output of the windshear detection system, wherein the control system activates the recovery system based at least in part on communications with the ground station, and wherein the control system is configured to select from a plurality of options if communications with the ground become unavailable, wherein the options include continuing with the current mission and the options include returning to a preprogrammed position.