Testing An Unmanned Wingman

Dangerous missions, like spying on enemy installations, may be the future job of pilot-less planes flown remotely with simple voice commands.  

Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing software that allows a pilot to control an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flying in nearby formation.

"The pilot essentially treats the UAV as a wingman," said Mario Valenti from MIT.

Valenti and his colleagues tested their programs this past June at Edwards Air Force Base. A pilot in a Boeing F-15 fighter jet (pictured above, center) issued mission-level commands in everyday English - as in, "fly to Task Area B" - to a Lockheed T-33 trainer fighter jet (pictured above, left).  The T-33 executed the instructions, while maintaining a trajectory safe from threats.

As a precaution, there was a crew aboard the T-33 during the flight demonstration, but there are plans to use the actual UAV (pictured above, right) in upcoming tests. 

Besides translating a pilot's voice into computer commands, the new guidance system - developed with funds from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - also has software that can determine the shortest safe path to a destination, as well as deal with data changes that arise during a mission.

-- Michael Schirber

Credit: MIT