What the filing covers
Real-time advisories delivered to pilots and ATC for cooperative deconfliction of drone-aircraft conflicts. I filed this because conflict information has to reach the people handling the aircraft. The recipients are pilots and air traffic control. Real-time advisories support cooperative deconfliction of drone-aircraft conflicts. I focus on communicating the situation during the flight, when the people receiving it are managing active aircraft movement.
Why it matters now
Detecting a conflict is only part of the work. Pilots and controllers need information while they are handling the flight. Aircraft continue moving as the situation is assessed. An advisory needs to serve the current operation rather than wait for a later review.
A real-world example
Imagine a drone-aircraft conflict developing while a pilot and controller are handling an approach. Information about the conflict exists, but it needs to reach those people. An advisory brings the conflict into their current work. Its purpose is awareness and cooperative deconfliction during the situation.
I distinguish that communication from a record created for later examination. Tomorrow's review asks what happened. The people handling the flight need information about the conflict now. Both tasks matter, but the timing and recipient are different.
Consider the controller's and pilot's roles together. They are handling the crewed aircraft while the conflict develops. An advisory serves those human recipients. A cooperative command sent to an enrolled drone serves a different recipient and a different function. Keeping the distinction clear helps organize the communication around the people and aircraft involved.
Where it applies
Crewed aviation, air traffic operations and cooperative drone coordination are the relevant settings. I focus on the human-facing advisory within the broader drone-conflict problem. The task is to communicate conflict information to pilots and air traffic control while it is relevant to the flight.
For an operation evaluating this problem, I would begin with the recipient. Who is handling the aircraft, and what conflict information needs to reach them? I would then keep that communication distinct from detecting the drone, authenticating a command or preserving an event record.
Threat assessment can help explain a drone's significance within an active corridor. Command authentication addresses trust in instructions to participating drones. Evidence recording supports later examination. This work concerns the advisory that reaches pilots and controllers during the conflict itself.
The practical concern is straightforward: information about an active conflict belongs with the people managing the aircraft affected by it.
Status
U.S. provisional patent application, filed April 30, 2026; Status: Patent Pending; Sole inventor: Ross D. Blankenship.
Provisional applications establish a priority date; they are not examined.