Range safety tracking and data processing system

• US 5,689,420 A
• Filed: 10/23/1995
• Issued: 11/18/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Robert J. Brewster
• Original Assignee: Robert J. Brewster
• Inventors: Brewster, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): ZANELLI, MICHAEL J
• Application Number:
  US08/546,608
• Time in Patent Office: 757 Days
• Field of Search: 364/449, 364/460, 364/424.06, 364/516, 364/439, 364/449.7, 342/357, 342/76, 340/989, 340/991, 102/206, 102/215
• US Class Current: 701/14
• CPC Class Codes: F41G 7/001 Devices or systems for testing or checking
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile

Abstract

A universal use of the global positioning system GPS! network that is both low cost and versatile. It can be adapted for use in existing military and commercial missiles. Its modular design makes it extremely useful in various types of missiles and aircraft. The independent tracking system consists of a GPS receiver to collect data from 4 to 6 GPS satellites, computer s! data processor s!, data transmitter, data receiver and power supply. The GPS satellites are sampled at a high rate to meet user engineering, metric, and Range Safety data requirements. Data are processed using standard least squares fit or Kalman filter data processing algorithms. The resulting EFG EFG or XYZ earth centered time tagged vector is transmitted to a receiving station on the earth'"'"'s surface or other vehicle.. This type vector was selected because it includes time, is universal, has a standard format, and is easily transmitted. Range Safety requires all their data be time correlated and must be received within a 600 millisecond time frame. The universal vector format allows instant use for tracking instrument drive, Range Safety display and engineering sampling. This greatly reduces current restrictions on delayed data, data format, mission turnaround time and the need for expensive ground data processing workstations. These cost reductions are necessary to keep the U.S. commercial GPS users competitive with those in other countries.

Claims

1. A system for providing status information of an airborne vehicle to control flight, initiate destruct commands, and provide data to ground stations, said system comprising:

a receiver on board said airborne vehicle for receiving navigation signals from global positioning satellites (GPS);

at least one computer on board said airborne vehicle, connected to said receiver and interfaced with preexisting on board computers, sensors, and data packages, for determining status information of said airborne vehicle and formatting said status information into EFG EFG earth centered coordinates; and

a "C" band transceiver on board said airborne vehicle and connected to said at least one computer for transmitting said formatted status information to a ground station.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said status information includes position, velocity, and time data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said formatted status information received by the ground station is used for at least one of analysis, instrumentation acquisition, display, recordation, and destruct initiation.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said airborne vehicle further includes an on board destruct package.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said at least one computer determines whether said status information indicates a need for transmitting a hard wired destruct command to said on board destruct package.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein said ground station further includes a Range Safety device for transmitting a destruct command to said on board destruct package.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said "C" band transceiver is capable of being actuated from a ground station.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said ground station includes a "C" band type radar capable of active or passive tracking of one or more targets.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said airborne vehicle further includes an on board Inertial Guidance (IG) means for providing position and velocity data, and said at least one computer combines the GPS and IG data to provide two independent sources of position and velocity information.

10. A method for providing status information of an airborne vehicle to control flight, initiate destruct commands, and provide data to ground stations, said method comprising:

receiving navigation signals from global positioning satellites (GPS);

determining status information of said airborne vehicle based on the received GPS signals and data obtained from on board computers, sensors, and data packages;

formatting the status information into EFG EFG earth centered coordinates; and

transmitting the formatted status information to a ground station using a "C" band data link.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the airborne vehicle includes an Inertial Guidance (IG) means, said method further comprising:

combining said GPS navigation signals and signals generated by the IG means to provide two independent sources of position and velocity data.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the airborne vehicle includes a destruct package, said method further comprising:

initiating a hard wired destruct command if a need to destruct is indicated by the determined status information.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the airborne vehicle includes a destruct package, said method further comprising:

transmitting a destruct command from a Range Safety device located at a ground station via said "C" band data link.