Error-free integration pointing and tracking
First Claim
1. A method of tracking a remote object using a sensor positioned by a servomechanism, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) predetermining, for said servomechanism, servo lag in accordance with one or more of object acceleration, velocity or position,(b) tracking said object with said sensor, and in the course of said tracking generating an estimate of acceleration, velocity and position of said object,(c) based on said predetermining step, generating a quantity representing servo lag from one or more of the estimates of acceleration, velocity and position from step (b), and(d) modifying said estimated position by said quantity generated in said step (c).
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Accused Products
Abstract
An error-free pointing and tracking system is disclosed which separates the functions of pointing and tracking. Beginning with an initialized trajectory for an object, a sensor is positioned and deviations of the object position with respect to the sensor are noted. To the extent these deviations are trended, the gain of a trajectory correction algorithm is adjusted. Based on the adaptive gain trajectory correction algorithm, a new position estimate is determined. The new position estimate is corrected for servo lag error by referring to a predefined correlation between at least the acceleration term of the trajectory and prerecorded servo lag error. The position estimate, corrected for servo lag is used to then point the sensor.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of tracking a remote object using a sensor positioned by a servomechanism, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) predetermining, for said servomechanism, servo lag in accordance with one or more of object acceleration, velocity or position, (b) tracking said object with said sensor, and in the course of said tracking generating an estimate of acceleration, velocity and position of said object, (c) based on said predetermining step, generating a quantity representing servo lag from one or more of the estimates of acceleration, velocity and position from step (b), and (d) modifying said estimated position by said quantity generated in said step (c). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of tracking a remote object using a sensor positioned by a servomechanism which servomechanism includes an encoder for generating signals representing sensor pointing, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) tracking said object with said sensor by; (a1) generating, from an output of said sensor, signals representing a difference between object position and sensor pointing, (a2) in the event a difference of said step (a1) is a trended difference; (a3) using said difference to correct a trajectory estimate, where each trajectory estimate includes terms for acceleration, velocity and position, (a4) estimating an object position based on a trajectory estimate, where said trajectory estimate is either a trajectory estimate corrected as recited in step (a3) or a prior trajectory estimate if no trajectory correction per step (a3) is required, (a5) correcting said estimated position based on a predetermined system error model to generate a corrected estimated position, (b) comparing said corrected estimated position of said object with said encoder generated signals, and (c) indicating presence of a servo lag error in the event said corrected estimated position disagrees with said encoder generated signals. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. A method of tracking a remote object using a sensor positioned by a servomechanism, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) predetermining, for said servomechanism, servo lag in accordance with one or more of object acceleration, velocity or position, (b) tracking said object with said sensor, and in the course of said tracking generating an estimate of acceleration, velocity and position of said object, (c) generating, from said sensor, a sequence of signals, each signal in said sequence representing a difference between object position and sensor pointing, (d) detecting a manuever by the object being tracked by testing the differences generated in said step (c) to determine if said differences represent a trended difference, (e) revising said estimates of acceleration, velocity and position of said object in light of a manuever detected in said step (d), (f) based on said predetermined step, generating a quantity representing servo lag from one or more of the estimates of acceleration, velocity and position from step (b) or step (e) in the event a manuever is detected, and (g) modifying said estimated position by said quantity generated in said step (c). - View Dependent Claims (13)
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Specification