Landing on an aircraft carrier is a tricky and dangerous business because the complex movements of both aircraft and ship must be taken into account.For example, an aircraft carrier might be heaving, swaying and pitching at the same time as the aircraft is pitching, yawing and rolling, yet the pilot has to land one neatly on the other.
Handing that difficult task to a computer has proven difficult. One reason is that the signal between ship and aircraft might be lost at any time due to intentional jamming or unintentional interference.
James Waid and colleagues from US firm Honeywell International say that automated landings are possible if the flight computer has access to GPS measurements of both ship and aircraft.
In the event of a loss of signal between ship and aircraft, or between GPS devices and GPS satellites, the system is able to extrapolate the data to determine whether a safe landing solution exists and if not, aborts the landing.
Read the automated aircraft-carrier landing patent application.
Justin Mullins, New Scientist consultant