Synchronizing Test Encounter Entry for Multiple Autonomous Aircraft

Autonomous systems must safely and consistently operate in the national airspace; thus, developers must exhaustively test all interactions among the systems and other aircraft. Testing must include air-to-air encounters at many different geometries and altitudes to capture the wide range of possible real-life scenarios. As well, all encounters must be synchronized in time in order to achieve the desired interaction at a given encounter point of interest. We propose an algorithm that can generate trajectories for multiple autonomous aircraft from any start poses to any end poses, allowing any encounter geometry to be realized from any initial geometry without requiring additional effort by the pilot. Inefficiencies are thus removed from the test process, the pilot’s workload is lessened, and the margin of safety is increased. We successfully implemented this algorithm on two autonomous aircraft as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Integration of Automated Systems project.