Navigation system and method
First Claim
1. A navigation system for determining the position of an air, land or water vehicle with respect to a given set of coordinates, said system comprising:
- means for measuring the heading of said vehicle with respect to two intersecting directions and for generating output signals representative of the vehicle heading in each of said two directions;
a distance measuring means mounted on said vehicle to measure the distance traveled by said vehicle and to produce an output sample signal of a given duration for each unit of distance traveled by said vehicle;
means to gate each of said vehicle heading signals when an input pulse is applied thereto;
means for applying said sample signal from said distance measuring means to said gate means so that said vehicle heading signals are gated for a given duration each time a vehicle travels a predetermined distance;
first means for summing a first gated signal from said gating means;
means for producing a first directional command signal each time the sum of said first gated signals reaches a predetermined value;
second means for summing a second gated signal from said gating means;
means for producing a second directional command signal each time the sum of the second gated signals reaches a predetermined value;
visual indicator means for visually indicating the position of said vehicle with respect to a given set of coordinates, said indicator means including means coupled to said first directional comamand signal producing means for counting the number of signals generated and for visually indicating the number of said first directional command signals; and
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means coupled to said second directional command signal producing means for counting the number of signals generated thereby and for visually indicating the number of said second directional command signals.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A coordinate indicating and plotting system wherein compass heading signals are periodically integrated at frequencies related to the distance traveled by a water, air or land vehicle to obtain coordinate change signals for visual indication of vehicle coordinates. The coordinate change signals can be applied to a plotting system to record the path followed by the vehicle or applied to a counter to indicate the unit changes for the vehicle in each direction. Desirably, the compass heading signals are digitized by converting the heading signals into frequencies and the signals are integrated by summing the pulses for each output direction during each sampling period. A novel crescent-shaped opening whose width approximately follows a sine function between zero and 180° is positioned angularly on the compass card about the center of rotation thereof. Linear light sources on one side of the card and photometric detectors positioned in alignment with the light sources on the other side of the card measure the light passing through the crescent-shaped opening to produce signals representative of the heading components of the vehicle in each direction.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A navigation system for determining the position of an air, land or water vehicle with respect to a given set of coordinates, said system comprising:
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means for measuring the heading of said vehicle with respect to two intersecting directions and for generating output signals representative of the vehicle heading in each of said two directions; a distance measuring means mounted on said vehicle to measure the distance traveled by said vehicle and to produce an output sample signal of a given duration for each unit of distance traveled by said vehicle; means to gate each of said vehicle heading signals when an input pulse is applied thereto; means for applying said sample signal from said distance measuring means to said gate means so that said vehicle heading signals are gated for a given duration each time a vehicle travels a predetermined distance; first means for summing a first gated signal from said gating means; means for producing a first directional command signal each time the sum of said first gated signals reaches a predetermined value; second means for summing a second gated signal from said gating means; means for producing a second directional command signal each time the sum of the second gated signals reaches a predetermined value; visual indicator means for visually indicating the position of said vehicle with respect to a given set of coordinates, said indicator means including means coupled to said first directional comamand signal producing means for counting the number of signals generated and for visually indicating the number of said first directional command signals; and
;means coupled to said second directional command signal producing means for counting the number of signals generated thereby and for visually indicating the number of said second directional command signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification