An integrated on-board route planner for helicopter applications

A description of the IBM in-flight route planner and its integration on the STAR (System Testbed for Avionics Research) UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter is provided. The route planner processes operator inserted waypoint and threat data and computes a set of sequential turn points that avoid enemy threat locations. These turn points are then provided to the CALAHF (Computer Aiding for Low Altitude Helicopter Flight) system for precision path generation and tracking. The authors provide a description of route planner functions and discuss its hardware configuration. They also discuss current status as well as some potential performance improvement features not included in the STAR version