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Remote alignment system

  • US 5,729,234 A
  • Filed: 09/23/1996
  • Issued: 03/17/1998
  • Est. Priority Date: 09/23/1996
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for determining the attitude of a relatively moving object from first and second position measurements made at itself and at another object, said apparatus comprising:

  • a first object having a first coordinate system including mutually orthogonal x,y and z coordinate axes;

    a second object, remote from said first object, and which may be in compound motion relative thereto, said second object having a second coordinate system including mutually orthogonal r,s and t coordinate axes, which may not correspond with said first coordinate system;

    a reference object displaced from both said first and second objects;

    signal generating means coupled to said first, second, and reference objects for generating, first and second position signals representative of the position of said reference object relative to said first and second objects, respectively, and a third position signal representative of the position of said second object relative to said first object at a first instant of time, and for generating fourth and fifth position signals representative of the position of said reference object relative to said first and second objects, respectively, at a second instant of time at which said second object is at a different position relative to said first object than at said first instant, and a sixth position signal representative of the position of said second object relative to said first object, said first, third, fourth and sixth position signals being measured in said first coordinate system, and said second and fifth position signals being measured in said second coordinate system, and;

    processing means coupled to said signal generating means for estimating the position of said second object relative to said reference object based upon said first and third reference signals, and for comparing said estimate of said position of said second object relative to said reference object with said second position signal for generating first and second angles of a three-angle transformation matrix representative of the attitude of said second coordinate system relative to said first coordinate system, and for estimating said third angle of said transformation matrix from said fourth, fifth, and sixth position signals.

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