Method of determining the position and velocity of a vehicle
First Claim
1. A method of determining the position and velocity of a vehicle independent of the vehicle path over a given terrain, comprising the steps of:
- generating by means of a navigation system and a terrain sensor position, altitude and vertical velocity signals representing an estimate of vehicle position and velocity while moving over the terrain,in response to the altitude and vertical velocity signals, generating by means of a terrain clearance estimator vehicle terrain clearance signals representing the vehicle clearance above the terrain along the vehicle path,generating in a computational processor a corrected vehicle position signal from the position and velocity signals of the navigation system, the terrain clearance signal of the clearance estimator and stored data of a terrain elevation map,generating in the computational processor a corrected vehicle velocity signal from the velocity signals of the clearance estimator, the terrain clearance signals, and the stored data of the terrain elevation map; and
inputting the corrected position signal and the corrected velocity signal to the vehicle navigation system to generate steering commands to a vehicle control unit.
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Abstract
Apparatus for determining the position and velocity of a vehicle over a given area as represented by stored data includes a radar terrain sensor responding to radar pulse returns and generating video signals to a terrain clearance estimator. Also input to the terrain clearance estimator are vehicle vertical position data and vertical speed data which along with the video output of the terrain sensor generates by means of a time of arrival estimator observed clearance signals which are sampled and input to a buffer. Also stored in the buffer are vehicle position and velocity signals from an inertial navigation system with the buffer data accessed by an error correction estimator. The error correction estimator responds to stored data to generate a sequence of position and velocity error correction signals each comprising three components. These error correction estimates of vehicle position and vehicle velocity are input to a data register which is accessed by the inertial navigation system to provide update information on the position and velocity of a vehicle.
47 Citations
4 Claims
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1. A method of determining the position and velocity of a vehicle independent of the vehicle path over a given terrain, comprising the steps of:
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generating by means of a navigation system and a terrain sensor position, altitude and vertical velocity signals representing an estimate of vehicle position and velocity while moving over the terrain, in response to the altitude and vertical velocity signals, generating by means of a terrain clearance estimator vehicle terrain clearance signals representing the vehicle clearance above the terrain along the vehicle path, generating in a computational processor a corrected vehicle position signal from the position and velocity signals of the navigation system, the terrain clearance signal of the clearance estimator and stored data of a terrain elevation map, generating in the computational processor a corrected vehicle velocity signal from the velocity signals of the clearance estimator, the terrain clearance signals, and the stored data of the terrain elevation map; and inputting the corrected position signal and the corrected velocity signal to the vehicle navigation system to generate steering commands to a vehicle control unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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Specification
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- Resources
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Current AssigneeE-Systems LLC
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Original AssigneeE-Systems LLC
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InventorsKeearns, Larry R.
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Primary Examiner(s)Smith, Jerry
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Assistant Examiner(s)Harkcom, Gary V.
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Application NumberUS06/577,761Time in Patent Office476 DaysField of Search364/450, 364/454, 364/456, 364/460, 343/5 CM, 343/5 MM, 343/7 TA, 343/9 R, 343/100 CLUS Class Current701/217CPC Class CodesG01C 21/005 with correlation of navigat...
