Patent ID: 8380425

Claim:
An autonomous collision avoidance system for an unmanned aerial vehicle comprising: a detect and track module configured to sense a potential object of collision and generate a moving object track for the potential object of collision; an inertial navigation system configured to provide information indicative of a position and a velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle; and an auto avoidance module configured to receive the moving object track for the potential object of collision and the information indicative of the position and the velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the auto avoidance module configured to utilize the moving object track of the potential object of collision and the information indicative of the position and the velocity of the unmanned aerial vehicle to determine a line of sight rate vector, and configured to calculate a zero effort miss distance as a function of the line of sight rate vector, the zero effort miss distance being a closest point of approach between the unmanned aerial vehicle and the potential object of collision, the auto avoidance module configured to compare the zero effort miss distance to a predetermined miss distance limit, the auto avoidance module configured to generate a guidance maneuver command that facilitates the unmanned aerial vehicle avoiding the potential object of collision by at least the predetermined miss distance limit based at least in part upon a determination that the zero effort miss distance is less than the predetermined miss distance limit.