Distributed location detection algorithms using IoT for commercial aviation

Detecting precise location of aircraft during the entire flight duration is a challenge in the domain of commercial aviation. Using radar and other available technology, flights operating entirely over land can be tracked easily. However, with long haul intercontinental flights, where majority of the flight path is over water bodies and out of range of radar, detecting the location of aircraft at all times is a challenge. In recent times, there have been disasters in commercial aviation, where an aircraft has gone missing. This has a huge social and financial impact on the specific airline and commercial aviation in general. Therefore, in this paper we study the problem of location detection for commercial aircraft and methods to improve location detection over any terrain the flight path traverses. We propose techniques based on the Internet-of-things (IoT) model for aircraft, where the aircraft can communicate with each other within a certain range. We introduce distributed algorithms to detect location using such methods that work effectively when the aircraft is outside the range of radar and on an oceanic route. Our results show that using the proposed methods, the precise location of all aircraft, including those intercontinental flights, can be tracked to a higher degree. Techniques to minimize the communication overhead introduced due to the proposed methods are also provided.