Sliced lens star tracker
First Claim
1. A star tracker having a field of view, the star tracker comprising:
- a database storing ephemeral data about a plurality of celestial objects;
a pixelated image sensor;
a lens slice disposed between the field of view and the pixelated image sensor, wherein the lens slice comprises an elongated diametric portion, less than all, of a conceptual conventional lens along an elongation axis perpendicular to an optical axis of the conceptual conventional lens, and encompassing the optical axis of the conceptual conventional lens, such that optical performance of the lens slice along the elongation axis is comparable to optical performance of the conceptual conventional lens and optical performance of the lens slice along a width axis perpendicular to the elongation axis is worse than the optical performance of the conceptual conventional lens; and
a processor coupled to the pixelated image sensor and to the database and configured to automatically estimate one or more of;
(a) attitude of the star tracker, (b) orientation of the star tracker or (c) location of the star tracker, based on;
(a) data from the pixelated image sensor generated as a result of an image of at least one celestial object in the field of view being projected onto the pixelated image sensor by the lens slice and (b) the ephemeral data in the database.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A star tracker includes a lens slice, a pixelated image sensor, an ephemeral database and a processor configured to estimate attitude, orientation and/or location of the star tracker based on an image of one or more celestial objects projected by the lens slice onto the pixelated image sensor. The lens slice is smaller and lighter than an optically comparable conventional lens, thereby making the star tracker less voluminous and less massive than conventional star trackers. A lens slice is elongated along one axis. Optical performance along the elongation axis is comparable to that of a conventional circular lens of equal diameter. Although optical performance along a width axis, perpendicular to the elongation axis, of a lens slice can be significantly worse than that of a conventional lens, use of two orthogonal lens slices provides adequate optical performance in both axes, and still saves volume and mass over a conventional lens.
13 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A star tracker having a field of view, the star tracker comprising:
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a database storing ephemeral data about a plurality of celestial objects; a pixelated image sensor; a lens slice disposed between the field of view and the pixelated image sensor, wherein the lens slice comprises an elongated diametric portion, less than all, of a conceptual conventional lens along an elongation axis perpendicular to an optical axis of the conceptual conventional lens, and encompassing the optical axis of the conceptual conventional lens, such that optical performance of the lens slice along the elongation axis is comparable to optical performance of the conceptual conventional lens and optical performance of the lens slice along a width axis perpendicular to the elongation axis is worse than the optical performance of the conceptual conventional lens; and a processor coupled to the pixelated image sensor and to the database and configured to automatically estimate one or more of;
(a) attitude of the star tracker, (b) orientation of the star tracker or (c) location of the star tracker, based on;
(a) data from the pixelated image sensor generated as a result of an image of at least one celestial object in the field of view being projected onto the pixelated image sensor by the lens slice and (b) the ephemeral data in the database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A navigation system, comprising:
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a database storing ephemeral data about a plurality of celestial objects; first, second and third star cameras, wherein each star camera of the first, second and third star cameras has a respective field of view and comprises; a respective pixelated image sensor; and a respective lens slice disposed between the respective field of view and the respective pixelated image sensor, wherein the respective lens slice comprises an elongated diametric portion, less than all, of a conceptual conventional lens along an elongation axis perpendicular to an optical axis of the conceptual conventional lens, and encompassing the optical axis of the conceptual conventional lens, such that optical performance of the respective lens slice along the elongation axis is comparable to optical performance of the conceptual conventional lens and optical performance of the respective lens slice along a width axis perpendicular to the elongation axis is worse than the optical performance of the conceptual conventional lens; and a processor coupled to the pixelated image sensor of each of the first, second and third star cameras and to the database and configured to automatically estimate one or more of;
(a) attitude of the navigation system, (b) orientation of the navigation system or (c) location of the navigation system, based on;
(a) data from the respective pixelated image sensors of the first, second and third star cameras generated as a result of an image of at least one celestial object in the field of view of one or more of;
the first, second and third star cameras being projected onto the respective pixelated image sensor by the respective lens slice or (b) the ephemeral data in the database. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification