Autonomous flight
Autonomous flight refers to the capability of an aircraft to aviate, navigate and communicate independently. Thus, an autonomous system is a system that can independently execute tasks without human supervision or intervention to one degree or another.
For airliners or aircraft, a complex suite of sensors such as radar, vision cameras, lidar, and many others, are combined with regularly updated maps, GPS navigation, computers that can process large amounts of real-time data, as well as software that provide adequate artificial intelligence to become autonomous. The aircraft have data linkage that enables efficient communication with outside systems.
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Bachrach, A., He, R., & Roy, N. (2009). Autonomous flight in unknown indoor environments. International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles.