| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 342357360 | Determining attitude (IPC) | 13 |
| 20110068975 | GNSS ULTRA-SHORT BASELINE HEADING DETERMINATION SYSTEM AND METHOD - A heading determination system comprises an inertial measurement unit (IMU) coupled with at least two GNSS receivers, each receiver paired with and receiving signals from a corresponding GNSS antenna, wherein the GNSS antennas are separated by an ultra-short baseline. The heading determination system receives signals broadcast by a plurality of GNSS satellites and calculates the phase difference in the signal seen among the separate GNSS antennas. Using this phase difference information, derived from comparing the signals received from a plurality of GNSS satellites, along with attitude data generated by the IMU, the heading determination system calculates a highly-accurate heading solution. A method is provided for determining a heading of a system including an IMU coupled with at least two GNSS receivers, with each receiver being paired with and receiving signals from a corresponding GNSS antenna and the antennas being separated by an ultra-short baseline. | 03-24-2011 |
| 20110090113 | SHORT AND ULTRA-SHORT BASELINE PHASE MAPS - A system for generating and utilizing a look-up mechanism consisting of one or more phase difference error maps, tables and/or mathematical models calculates the respective maps, tables and/or models by placing a short baseline or ultra-short baseline antenna array in a known location and known orientation, determining angles of incidence of incoming GNSS satellite signals with respect the antenna array and calculating expected carrier phase differences between respective pairs of antennas, calculating measured carrier phase differences between the respective pairs of antennas, and determining carrier phase difference errors using the expected and measured carrier phase differences. The carrier phase difference errors are then recorded in the look-up mechanism, with the maps and, as appropriate, look-up tables for the respective pairs of antennas being indexed by angles of incidence. Thereafter, the system utilizes the look-up mechanism when determining the unknown orientation of the antenna structure. For respective pairs of antennas, the system enters the look-up mechanism based on angles of incidence determined from a calculated orientation, and uses the retrieved values in the calculation of a corrected orientation, to compensate for phase distortion. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20120068884 | GPS-based roll rate and roll angle measurement in the absence of jamming - A system and method for determining the roll rate and roll angle of a spinning platform by using the measured phase and/or amplitude differences between the GPS satellite signals received on two or more antennas. The measured signal differences and the navigation solution from a GPS receiver are processed in a roll filter to obtain the desired information. Data from non-GPS measurement sources is optionally provided to update the navigation solution. Although of wide applicability, the invention is uniquely suited to the measurement of roll rates and roll angles of fast spinning platforms with small baselines in the presence as well as in the absence of jamming, and where the antennas are separated from each other by distances that are a fraction of the GPS signal wavelength. | 03-22-2012 |
| 20120319895 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCURATELY DIRECTING ANTENNAS - A system for accurately directing a directional antenna, that includes a calibration system for finding the current azimuth of the antenna and a rotation sensor attached to the antenna, for measuring deviations from the current azimuth of the antenna. The calibration system includes a first GPS receiver located at the antenna's position; a second GPS receiver located adjacent to a visible object at a minimal distance from the antenna and in an arbitrary direction with respect to the first GPS receiver; rotatable optical means positioned adjacent to the antenna in an initial direction being parallel to the current direction of the antenna, the optical means being coupled to a meter for measuring the angle between the current direction and the direction to the visible object by rotating the optical means until seeing the visible object and means for calculating a first azimuth from the position of the first GPS receiver to the position of the second GPS receiver and the current azimuth of the antenna by subtracting the angle from the first azimuth. | 12-20-2012 |
| 20130135146 | METHOD FOR DIRECTED ANTENNA ALIGNMENT THROUGH AUGMENTED REALITY - A system for aligning two ground-based antennae ( | 05-30-2013 |
| 20130328716 | HANDHELD ANTENNA ATTITUDE MEASURING SYSTEM - An antenna attitude measuring system includes internal and external electrical components providing data for recording and displaying on a handheld device. The data can be transmitted to a database for access by a network operator. The antenna attitude can be adjusted for maximizing telecommunications network performance. The system includes an AISG compliant tilt sensor system mounted in-line between a telecommunications antenna enclosure and a communications cable, and positioned to measure the elevation tilt and slant of a telecommunications antenna enclosure relative to a reference axis. The system includes the ability to connect to and remotely control a plurality of remote electrical tilt control units through only a single connection. | 12-12-2013 |
| 20130342395 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USING GPS INTERFEROMETRY TO DETERMINE ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS - A method and system for determining bending angle and/or the presence of atmospheric ducting on a moving vehicle, including receiving a first GPS signal from a first GPS satellite having an apparent position less than 10 degrees above the horizon; determining a true position of the first GPS satellite from information encoded in the first GPS signal; the first and second antennae receiving GPS signals from a plurality of GPS satellites located more than 15 degrees above the horizon; determining an orientation of a baseline between the first and second antennae based on a phase difference of a carrier frequency of the GPS signals from a plurality of GPS satellites positioned at least 15 degrees above the horizon; determining an apparent position of the first GPS satellite from the first GPS signal and the baseline orientation; and determining the bending angle by calculating the difference between the elevation angle of the apparent position and the elevation angle of the true position of the first GPS satellite. | 12-26-2013 |
| 20140266875 | CRANE BOOM POINTING ANGLE DETERMINATION - Methods and systems are disclosed for determining a working arm point angle of the crane. A Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver antenna is disposed on a point along a boom assembly of the crane configured to pivot about a pivot point. A location of the pivot point is received. A working arm of the crane is rotated about the pivot point to point in a current direction. A current location of the GNSS receiver antenna is determined. A current working arm pointing angle relative to a reference direction for the current direction of the working arm is determined based on the current location of the GNSS receiver antenna and the location of the pivot point. | 09-18-2014 |
| 20140320339 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRACKING POWER MODULATION - Apparatus and methods determine the rotational position of a spinning object. A satellite positioning system can be used to determine the spatial position of an object, which in turn can be used to guide the object. However, when the object is spinning, such as an artillery shell, then the rotational orientation should be known in order to properly actuate the control surfaces, such as fins, which will also be spinning. | 10-30-2014 |
| 20150145720 | COARSE ATTITUDE DETERMINATION FROM GNSS ANTENNA GAIN PROFILING - Systems and methods provide coarse attitude determination without inertial sensor input. An attitude determination module can be configured to compare receiver-calculated values with expected values based on an antenna gain pattern. The differences between calculated and expected values can be used to generate an attitude plane. Platform attitude can be determined from the inclination of the attitude plane with respect to a horizontal reference plane. By way of example, platform roll and pitch can be determined for a receiver unit mounted on an agricultural vehicle. The roll and pitch values provided by the ADM can be used to improve the accuracy of receiver-calculated geo-positions. | 05-28-2015 |
| 342357370 | Using carrier phase measurements; using long or short baseline interferometry (IPC) | 3 |
| 20110090114 | ULTRA SHORT BASELINE GNSS RECEIVER - A GNSS receiver utilizes an antenna structure that two or more antennas that are spaced apart from their neighboring antennas by less than 1 wavelength of a GNSS satellite carrier signal of interest. The receiver calculates the orientation of the antennas directly from differences in the carrier phase angles measured at the two antennas, without resolving integer carrier cycle ambiguity. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20130169477 | Single antenna GPS measurement of roll rate and roll angle of spinning platform - System and method for determining the roll rate and roll angle of a spinning platform. The IQ amplitude and/or phase characteristics of GPS signals received at a single receiver antenna are measured using the signals output directly by a correlator that is driven at the satellite tracking frequency used for forming the navigation solution. The roll rate and roll angle are determined in real time by a Roll filter, which is preferably an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) employing probabilistic data association, whose inputs include the measured IQ characteristics and the navigation solution. Data from non-GPS measurement sources is optionally provided to update the navigation and/or roll solution. | 07-04-2013 |
| 342357380 | Carrier phase ambiguity resolution; floating ambiguity; LAMBDA [Least-squares AMBiguity Declaration Adjustment] method) | 1 |
| 20150015436 | METHOD FOR CALIBRATING SPATIAL ERRORS, AND METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ESTIMATING THE ATTITUDE OF A VEHICLE - A method for calibrating spatial errors induced by phase biases having a detrimental effect on the measurements of phase differences of radio signals received by three unaligned receiving antennas of a vehicle. An inter-satellite angular deviation of a pair of satellites is estimated in two different ways: on the basis of the respective positions of the vehicle and of the satellites to obtain a theoretical inter-satellite angular deviation; and on the basis of the respective directions of incidence of the satellites relative to the vehicle, which are determined from phase measurements, to obtain an estimated inter-satellite angular deviation. The space errors are estimated on the basis of said theoretical and estimated inter-satellite angular deviations. Also, a method and system for estimating the attitude of a vehicle, in particular a spacecraft. | 01-15-2015 |
