Question: How does your software work to program aircrafts?

James Vokes answered on 19 Mar 2012:

A lot of the software to actually fly the UAV (take off- landing etc.) has already been programmed because flying planes is an exact science. If you think about auto-pilots in commercial planes then you know this is true. The software I’m working on is helping to control how the UAV talks to the ground. There are 2 ways to control the UAV, one is to send out constant messages like a radio aerial. Positive: You don’t have to know where the UAV is to send a message. Negative: Since the signal is being sent out everywhere the signal has to be quite powerful to reach the UAV (imagine a soap bubble, the bigger the bubble the bigger the surface area of the bubble and the more soap you would need). The second way to communicate is to point a radar dish at the UAV Positive: A lot less power needed which means a clearer signal. Negative: You have to know exactly where the UAV is in order to point the dish at it (imagine trying to hit a bullseye with a pool cue held right at the end). We use both of these, simultaneously, to control the aircraft.