Moving vehicle attitude measuring system
First Claim
1. An attitude measuring system for a moving vehicle, comprising:
- a plurality of fixed position antennas in said moving vehicle separated from each other by a known calibrated distance,a GPS receiver coupled to each of said fixed position antennas,each said GPS receiver adapted to receive the same GPS signals from a corresponding GSP satellite and simultaneously produce an output RF carrier signal,a phase comparator coupled to the individual RF carrier signal outputs from said receivers for comparing the RF carrier phase difference, between any two of said receivers and for producing digital phase difference signals based on the comparison,processor means coupled to said phase comparator for receiving said digital phase difference signals indicative of the line of sight pointing angles to the GPS satellite having a calculable known position,memory means coupled to said processor means and containing the latest pre-calibrated reference attitude information of the moving vehicle'"'"'s attitude, andmeans in said processor means for calculating a coordinate frame for determining the attitude of said plurality of antennas in space and for making a comparison with said pre-calibrated reference attitude information and for producing a true attitude value (θ
RPY) output signal based on said comparison and said digital phase difference signals to be applied as an input to a gyro bias calibration system or employed as a stand alone attitude signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for determining attitude of airborne vehicles or surface vehicles is provided with three fixed position antennas separated from each other by a predetermined calibrated distance. Each antenna is connected to a GPS receiver and the receiver outputs are coupled to a phase comparator which establishes the phase difference between the RF carrier signal of the three possible pairs of receivers. The outputs of the phase comparator are coupled to a preprogrammed dedicated processor that calculates a coordinate frame which fixes the attitude of the plurality of antennas in space. The processor then makes a comparison with a precalibrated reference attitude stored in an associated memory so that a true attitude value of roll, pitch and yaw may be calculated and employed to reposition the gyro of the moving vehicle.
93 Citations
6 Claims
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1. An attitude measuring system for a moving vehicle, comprising:
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a plurality of fixed position antennas in said moving vehicle separated from each other by a known calibrated distance, a GPS receiver coupled to each of said fixed position antennas, each said GPS receiver adapted to receive the same GPS signals from a corresponding GSP satellite and simultaneously produce an output RF carrier signal, a phase comparator coupled to the individual RF carrier signal outputs from said receivers for comparing the RF carrier phase difference, between any two of said receivers and for producing digital phase difference signals based on the comparison, processor means coupled to said phase comparator for receiving said digital phase difference signals indicative of the line of sight pointing angles to the GPS satellite having a calculable known position, memory means coupled to said processor means and containing the latest pre-calibrated reference attitude information of the moving vehicle'"'"'s attitude, and means in said processor means for calculating a coordinate frame for determining the attitude of said plurality of antennas in space and for making a comparison with said pre-calibrated reference attitude information and for producing a true attitude value (θ
RPY) output signal based on said comparison and said digital phase difference signals to be applied as an input to a gyro bias calibration system or employed as a stand alone attitude signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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Specification