Drone Flight Planning Algorithm

A swarm of aircraft path plan to take advantage of the efficiency gain from flying together as a formation. I first explain how birds take advantage of one another to reduce induced drag and the challenges associated with applying this method to aircraft today. I then explain why it is difficult to predict formation flight paths and the algorithm I came up with to solve it. I then show the python function working with pygame and finish off with some conclusions about how an algorithm like this could be useful to implement formation flight swarm behavior in the future. Thanks for watching! If you have any questions about my implementation or otherwise, feel free to ask. I glossed over a lot of details for the sake of brevity. Sources: 1:    • Birds gliding through bubbles reveal aerod...   2: Lissaman PB, Shollenberger CA. Formation flight of birds. Science. 1970 May 22;168(3934):1003-5. doi: 10.1126/science.168.3934.1003. PMID: 5441020. 3:    • WW1 Flight School - United States Air Serv...   4: https://www.air-and-space.com/Wing%20... 5:    • Airbus Commercial Aircraft formation fligh...   6:    • Zipline Keynote 2023 | The Best Delivery E...   7:    • The AutoLoader & curbside pickup | Drone d...   8:    • Exploring the Cutting-Edge: Switchblade 30...   9:    • A Unique RC Aircraft! | Morphing Winglet Q...   10:    • Chasing the VTOL Tail-sitter Mini QBiT!   11:    • Watch how Amazon is preparing for safe dro...   12: P. E. Hart, N. J. Nilsson and B. Raphael, "A Formal Basis for the Heuristic Determination of Minimum Cost Paths," in IEEE Transactions on Systems Science and Cybernetics, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 100-107, July 1968, doi: 10.1109/TSSC.1968.300136. 13: Karaman, Sertac, and Emilio Frazzoli. "Sampling-based algorithms for optimal motion planning." The international journal of robotics research 30.7 (2011): 846-894. Relevant Formation Flight Papers: 14: Xu, Jia, et al. "Aircraft route optimization for formation flight." Journal of Aircraft 51.2 (2014): 490-501. 15: Shen, He, et al. "ENERGY-SAVING FORMATION FLIGHT." 16: Xu, Jia, et al. "Aircraft route optimization for heterogeneous formation flight." 53rd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference 20th AIAA/ASME/AHS Adaptive Structures Conference 14th AIAA. 2012. 17: Mahboubi, Zouhair, et al. "Camera based localization for autonomous UAV formation flight." Infotech@ Aerospace 2011. 2011. 1658.