Positioning and data integrating method and system thereof
First Claim
1. A positioning and data integrating method, comprising the steps of:
- (a) performing GPS processing and receive GPS measurements, including pseudorange, carrier phase, Doppler shift, and time from a global positioning system processor, and passing said GPS measurements to a navigation processing board of a central navigation processor;
(b) receiving inertial measurements, including body angular rates and specific forces, from an inertial measurement unit, converting said inertial measurements into digital data of body acceleration and rotation by an IMU interface and preprocessing board, and sending said digital data of body acceleration and rotation to said navigation processing board and a control board via a common bus;
(c) receiving an earth'"'"'s magnetic vector measurement from a magnetometer and a pitch and roll angle from a navigation board through said common bus, computing a magnetic heading angle using said earth'"'"'s magnetic vector measurement and said pitch and roll angle by a north finder interface and processing board, and sending said magnetic heading angle to said navigation processing board through said common bus;
(d) performing an inertial navigation system (INS) processing using an INS processor;
(e) blending an output of said INS processor and said GPS measurements in a Kalman filter;
(f) feeding back an output of said Kalman filter to said INS processor to correct an INS navigation solution;
(g) injecting said velocity and acceleration data from said INS processor into a signal processor of said global positioning system processor to aid said code and carrier phase tracking of said global positioning system satellite signals;
(h) injecting said output of said signal processor of said global positioning system processor, said output of said INS processor, said output of said Kalman filter into a carrier phase integer ambiguity resolution module to fix a global positioning system satellite signal carrier phase integer ambiguity number (i) outputting said carrier phase integer number from said carrier phase integer ambiguity resolution module into said Kalman filter to further improve said positioning accuracy; and
(j) outputting said navigation data which are platform velocity, position, heading, and time data from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus.
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Abstract
An improved positioning and data integrating process and system can substantially solve the problems encountered in system integration for personal hand-held applications, air, land, and water vehicles, wherein an integrated global positioning system/inertial measurement unit, enhanced with optional other devices to derive user position, velocity, attitude, and body acceleration and rotation information, and distributes these data to other onboard systems, for example, in case of aircraft application, flight management system, flight control system, automatic dependent surveillance, cockpit display, enhanced ground proximity warning system, weather radar, and satellite communication system.
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Citations
74 Claims
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1. A positioning and data integrating method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing GPS processing and receive GPS measurements, including pseudorange, carrier phase, Doppler shift, and time from a global positioning system processor, and passing said GPS measurements to a navigation processing board of a central navigation processor;
(b) receiving inertial measurements, including body angular rates and specific forces, from an inertial measurement unit, converting said inertial measurements into digital data of body acceleration and rotation by an IMU interface and preprocessing board, and sending said digital data of body acceleration and rotation to said navigation processing board and a control board via a common bus;
(c) receiving an earth'"'"'s magnetic vector measurement from a magnetometer and a pitch and roll angle from a navigation board through said common bus, computing a magnetic heading angle using said earth'"'"'s magnetic vector measurement and said pitch and roll angle by a north finder interface and processing board, and sending said magnetic heading angle to said navigation processing board through said common bus;
(d) performing an inertial navigation system (INS) processing using an INS processor;
(e) blending an output of said INS processor and said GPS measurements in a Kalman filter;
(f) feeding back an output of said Kalman filter to said INS processor to correct an INS navigation solution;
(g) injecting said velocity and acceleration data from said INS processor into a signal processor of said global positioning system processor to aid said code and carrier phase tracking of said global positioning system satellite signals;
(h) injecting said output of said signal processor of said global positioning system processor, said output of said INS processor, said output of said Kalman filter into a carrier phase integer ambiguity resolution module to fix a global positioning system satellite signal carrier phase integer ambiguity number (i) outputting said carrier phase integer number from said carrier phase integer ambiguity resolution module into said Kalman filter to further improve said positioning accuracy; and
(j) outputting said navigation data which are platform velocity, position, heading, and time data from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
receiving an altitude measurement from an altitude measurement device, converting said altitude measurement to a mean sea level (MSL) height in digital data type by an altitude interface and processing board, and passing said MSL height to said navigation processing board and said control board through said common bus.
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4. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 3, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said altitude measurement in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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5. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 4, after the step (b), further comprising the steps of:
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receiving an altitude measurement from an altitude measurement device, converting said altitude measurement to a mean sea level (MSL) height in digital data type by an altitude interface and processing board, and passing said MSL height to said navigation processing board and said control board through said common bus.
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6. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 5, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said altitude measurement in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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7. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 6, wherein in the step (j), said navigation data also includes an altitude which is also outputted from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus.
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8. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 2, after the step (b), further comprising the steps of:
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receiving an altitude measurement from an altitude measurement device, converting said altitude measurement to a mean sea level (MSL) height in digital data type by an altitude interface and processing board, and passing said MSL height to said navigation processing board and said control board through said common bus.
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9. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 8, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said altitude measurement in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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10. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 9, wherein in the step (j), said navigation data also includes an altitude which is also outputted from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus.
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11. A positioning and data integrating method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing GPS processing and receive GPS measurements, including pseudorange, carrier phase, Doppler shift, and time from a global positioning system processor, and passing said GPS measurements to a navigation processing board of a central navigation processor;
(b) receiving inertial measurements, including body angular rates and specific forces, from an inertial measurement unit, converting said inertial measurements into digital data of body acceleration and rotation by an IMU interface and preprocessing board, and sending said digital data of body acceleration and rotation to said navigation processing board and a control board via a common bus;
(c) receiving raw signal measurements proportional to velocity in a body frame with respect to ground or water from a velocity producer, converting said raw signal measurements into velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water by a velocity producer interface and processing board, and sending said velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water to said navigation processing board through said common bus;
(d) performing an inertial navigation system (INS) processing using an INS processor;
(e) blending an output of said INS processor and said GPS measurements in a Kalman filter;
(f) feeding back an output of said Kalman filter to said INS processor to correct an INS navigation solution;
(g) injecting said velocity and acceleration data from said INS processor into a signal processor of said global positioning system processor to aid said code and carrier phase tracking of said global positioning system satellite signals;
(h) injecting said output of said signal processor of said global positioning system processor, said output of said INS processor, said output of said Kalman filter into a carrier phase integer ambiguity resolution module to fix a global positioning system satellite signal carrier phase integer ambiguity number (i) outputting said carrier phase integer number from said carrier phase integer ambiguity resolution module into said Kalman filter to further improve said positioning accuracy; and
(j) outputting said navigation data which are platform velocity, position, heading, and time data from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
receiving an altitude measurement from an altitude measurement device, converting said altitude measurement to a mean sea level (MSL) height in digital data type by an altitude interface and processing board, and passing said MSL height to said navigation processing board and said control board through said common bus.
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14. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 13, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said altitude measurement in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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15. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 14, wherein in the step (j), said navigation data also includes an altitude which is also outputted from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus.
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16. A positioning and data integrating method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing GPS processing and receiving GPS measurements, including pseudorange, Doppler shift, and time from a global positioning system processor, and pass said GPS measurements to a navigation processing board;
(b) receiving inertial measurements, including body angular rates and specific forces, from an inertial measurement unit, converting said inertial measurements into digital data of body acceleration and rotation by an IMU interface and preprocessing board, and sending said digital data of body acceleration and rotation to said navigation processing board and a control board through a common bus;
(c) receiving an earth'"'"'s magnetic vector measurement from a magnetometer and a pitch and roll angle from a navigation board through said common bus, computing a magnetic heading angle using said earth'"'"'s magnetic vector measurement and said pitch and roll angle by a north finder interface and processing board, and sending said magnetic heading angle to said navigation processing board through said common bus;
(d) performing INS processing in an INS processor;
(e) blending an output of said INS processor and said GPS measurements in a Kalman filter;
(f) feeding back an output of said Kalman filter to said INS processor to correct an INS navigation solution;
(g) outputting said navigation data, including platform velocity, position, heading and time data, from said INS processor to said control board via said common bus; and
(h) injecting velocity and acceleration data from said INS processor into a micro-processor of said global positioning system processor to aid a code tracking of global positioning system satellite signals. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
receiving raw signal measurements proportional to velocity in a body frame with respect to ground or water from a velocity producer, converting said raw signal measurements into velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water by a velocity producer interface and processing board, and sending said velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water to said navigation processing board through said common bus.
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19. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 18, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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20. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 19, after the step (b), further comprising the steps of:
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receiving an altitude measurement from an altitude measurement device, converting said altitude measurement to a mean sea level (MSL) height in digital data type by an altitude interface and processing board, and passing said MSL height to said navigation processing board and said control board through said common bus.
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21. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 20, wherein the step (d) further comprises a step of blending said altitude measurement in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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22. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 21, wherein in the step (g), said navigation data also includes an altitude which is also outputted from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus.
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23. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 17, after the step (b), further comprising the steps of:
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receiving an altitude measurement from an altitude measurement device, converting said altitude measurement to a mean sea level (MSL) height in digital data type by an altitude interface and processing board, and passing said MSL height to said navigation processing board and said control board through said common bus.
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24. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 23, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said altitude measurement in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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25. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 24, wherein in the step (g), said navigation data also includes an altitude which is also outputted from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus.
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26. A positioning and data integrating method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing GPS processing and receiving GPS measurements, including pseudorange, Doppler shift, and time from a global positioning system processor, and pass said GPS measurements to a navigation processing board;
(b) receiving inertial measurements, including body angular rates and specific forces, from an inertial measurement unit, converting said inertial measurements into digital data of body acceleration and rotation by an IMU interface and preprocessing board, and sending said digital data of body acceleration and rotation to said navigation processing board and a control board through a common bus;
(c) receiving raw signal measurements proportional to velocity in a body frame with respect to ground or water from a velocity producer, converting said raw signal measurements into velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water by a velocity producer interface and processing board, and sending said velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water to said navigation processing board through said common bus;
(d) performing INS processing in an INS processor;
(e) blending an output of said INS processor and said GPS measurements in a Kalman filter;
(f) feeding back an output of said Kalman filter to said INS processor to correct an INS navigation solution;
(g) outputting said navigation data, including platform velocity, position, heading and time data, from said INS processor to said control board via said common bus; and
(h) injecting velocity and acceleration data from said INS processor into a micro-processor of said global positioning system processor to aid a code tracking of global positioning system satellite signals. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30)
receiving an altitude measurement from an altitude measurement device, converting said altitude measurement to a mean sea level (MSL) height in digital data type by an altitude interface and processing board, and passing said MSL height to said navigation processing board and said control board through said common bus.
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29. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 28, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said altitude measurement in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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30. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 29, wherein in the step (g), said navigation data also includes an altitude which is also outputted from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus.
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31. A positioning and data integrating method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing GPS processing and receiving GPS navigation solution, including position and velocity, and time from a global positioning system processor and passing said navigation solution to a navigation processing board;
(b) receiving inertial measurements, including body angular rates and specific forces, from an inertial measurement unit, converting said inertial measurement into digital data of body acceleration and rotation by an IMU interface and preprocessing board, and sending said digital data of body acceleration and rotation to said navigation processing board and a control board through a common bus;
(c) receiving an earth'"'"'s magnetic vector measurement from a magnetometer and a pitch and roll angle from a navigation board through said common bus, computing a magnetic heading angle using said earth'"'"'s magnetic vector measurement and said pitch and roll angle by a north finder interface and processing board, and sending said magnetic heading angle to said navigation processing board through said common bus;
(d) performing INS processing using an INS processor;
(e) blending an output of said INS processor and said GPS measurements in a Kalman filter;
(f) feeding back an output of said Kalman filter to said INS processor to correct an INS navigation solution; and
(g) outputting said navigation data, including platform velocity, position, heading and time data, from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
receiving raw signal measurements proportional to velocity in a body frame with respect to ground or water from a velocity producer, converting said raw signal measurements into velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water by a velocity producer interface and processing board, and sending said velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water to said navigation processing board through said common bus.
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34. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 33, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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35. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 34, after the step (b), further comprising the steps of:
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receiving an altitude measurement from an altitude measurement device, converting said altitude measurement to a mean sea level (MSL) height in digital data type by an altitude interface and processing board, and passing said MSL height to said navigation processing board and said control board through said common bus.
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36. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 35, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said altitude measurement in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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37. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 36, wherein in the step (g), said navigation data also includes an altitude which is also outputted from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus.
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38. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 32, after the step (b), further comprising the steps of:
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receiving an altitude measurement from an altitude measurement device, converting said altitude measurement to a mean sea level (MSL) height in digital data type by an altitude interface and processing board, and passing said MSL height to said navigation processing board and said control board through said common bus.
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39. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 38, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said altitude measurement in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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40. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 39, wherein in the step (g), said navigation data also includes an altitude which is also outputted from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus.
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41. A positioning and data integrating method, comprising the steps of:
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(a) performing GPS processing and receiving GPS navigation solution, including position and velocity, and time from a global positioning system processor and passing said navigation solution to a navigation processing board;
(b) receiving raw signal measurements proportional to velocity in a body frame with respect to ground or water from a velocity producer, converting said raw signal measurements into velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water by a velocity producer interface and processing board, and sending said velocity data in said body frame with respect to ground or water to said navigation processing board through said common bus;
(c) receiving an earth'"'"'s magnetic vector measurement from a magnetometer and a pitch and roll angle from a navigation board through said common bus, computing a magnetic heading angle using said earth'"'"'s magnetic vector measurement and said pitch and roll angle by a north finder interface and processing board, and sending said magnetic heading angle to said navigation processing board through said common bus;
(d) performing INS processing using an INS processor;
(e) blending an output of said INS processor and said GPS measurements in a Kalman filter;
(f) feeding back an output of said Kalman filter to said INS processor to correct an INS navigation solution; and
(g) outputting said navigation data, including platform velocity, position, heading and time data, from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45)
receiving an altitude measurement from an altitude measurement device, converting said altitude measurement to a mean sea level (MSL) height in digital data type by an altitude interface and processing board, and passing said MSL height to said navigation processing board and said control board through said common bus.
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44. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 43, wherein the step (e) further comprises a step of blending said altitude measurement in said body frame with respect to ground or water in said Kalman filter.
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45. The positioning and data integrating method, as recited in claim 44, wherein in the step (g), said navigation data also includes an altitude which is also outputted from said INS processor to said control board through said common bus.
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46. A universal navigation and control box, comprising:
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an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for providing inertial measurements including body angular rates and specific forces;
a global positioning system (GPS) processor for providing GPS measurements including pseudorange, carrier phase, and Doppler shift;
a central navigation and control processor for processing said GPS measurements and said inertial measurements to derive a navigation solution, which are connected with said GPS processor, said IMU and a data bus, comprising an IMU interface and preprocessing board, a navigation processing board, a shared memory card for storing data, a bus arbiter for monitoring and managing a common bus and a data bus, and a control board for controlling the data stream mutually connected together via said common bus, wherein said navigation processing board is connected with said GPS processor and a data bus for receiving said GPS measurements, said IMU interface and preprocessing board is connected with said IMU for converting said inertial measurements received from said IMU into digital data of body acceleration and rotation which are sent to said navigation processing board and said control board via said common bus, and said bus interface is connected between said control board and said data bus; and
a north finder to provide heading measurement of a carrier of said universal navigation and control box for said navigation processing board over a north finder interface and processing board and said common bus. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
wherein said analog IMU signals from said IMU are filtered by said multi-channel low pass filter, said filtered analog IMU signals are sent to said multi-channel A/D converter circuit, said timing circuit provides a sampling frequency for said multi-channel A/D converter circuit, said multi-channel A/D converter circuit samples and digitizes said filtered analog IMU signals, said timing circuit also triggers said DMA interface;
wherein after sampling and digitizing operation of said multi-channel A/D converter circuit, said DMA interface informs said navigation processing board and said control board via said common bus to get IMU data on said common bus;
wherein after receiving of the DMA signal by said navigation processing board and said control board, said multi-channel A/D converter circuit outputs said digitized IMU data on said common bus.
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71. The universal navigation and control box, as recited in claim 69, wherein said IMU interface and preprocessing board includes a serial signal interface which is a multi-channel RS-485 communication control circuit board for receiving serial IMU data, which comprises an RS-485 interface circuit connected between said IMU and said common bus, and an interrupt circuit connected between said RS-485 interface circuit and said common bus;
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wherein said RS-485 interface circuit receives said serial IMU signal from said IMU;
wherein once receiving operation is finished, said RS-485 interface circuit informs said interrupt circuit, said interrupt circuit then tells said navigation processing board and said control board via said common bus that said IMU data is ready;
wherein after receiving interrupt signal from said interrupt interface by said navigation processing board and said control board via said common bus, said RS-485 interface circuit outputs said IMU data on said common bus, wherein said navigation processing board and said control board get said IMU data which are body rates and accelerations from said common bus.
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72. The universal navigation and control box, as recited in claim 69, wherein said IMU interface and preprocessing board includes a pulse signal interface which is a multi-channel frequency/digital converter circuit board for receiving pulse IMU signals, comprising an Inc/Dec pulse separation circuit connected to said IMU, a bus interface circuit and a interrupt circuit connected to said common bus respectively;
- wherein said multi-channel frequency/digital converter circuit board further comprises a multi-channel frequency/digital circuit connected between said Inc/Dec pulse separation circuit and said bus interface circuit;
wherein said pulse IMU signals are passed to said multi-channel frequency/digital circuit via said Inc/Dec pulse separation circuit from said IMU, wherein said Inc/Dec pulse separation circuit regulates said pulse IMU signals, said multi-channel frequency/digital circuit converts said regulated pulse IMU signals into digital data;
wherein once the conversion is finished, said digital IMU data are passed to said bus interface circuit, wherein said bus interface coverts said digital IMU into common bus compatible digital data and outputs them to said common bus;
wherein said bus interface circuit triggers said interrupt circuit to generate interrupt signal, said interrupt signal informs said navigation processing board and said control board that said IMU data is ready via said common bus.
- wherein said multi-channel frequency/digital converter circuit board further comprises a multi-channel frequency/digital circuit connected between said Inc/Dec pulse separation circuit and said bus interface circuit;
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73. The universal navigation and control box, as recited in claim 69, wherein said IMU interface and preprocessing board includes a parallel digital signal interface which comprises a bus interface circuit connected between said IMU and said common bus, and an interrupt circuit connected between said bus interface circuit and said common bus;
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wherein said parallel IMU signal are received by said bus interface circuit from said IMU and converted into common bus compatible data;
wherein after receiving said parallel IMU data, said bus interface circuit triggers said interrupt circuit to generate interrupt signal which is used to inform said navigation processing board and said control board via said common bus that said IMU data is ready;
wherein said bus interface circuit outputs said IMU data to said common bus, and said navigation processing board and said control board receive said IMU data from said common bus.
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74. The universal navigation and control box, as recited in claim 69, said control board controls and distributes navigation data to other avionics systems;
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wherein said control board receives said body acceleration and rotation data from said IMU interface and preprocessing board, receives said vehicle altitude data from said altitude interface and processing board via said common bus, and receives said vehicle position, velocity, attitude, and time data from said navigation board via said common bus;
wherein said control board sends vehicle position, velocity, attitude, and time data to said flight management system via said bus interface and said data bus;
wherein said control board sends said vehicle velocity, attitude, and said digital body acceleration and rotation data to said flight control system via said bus interface and said data bus;
wherein said control board sends said vehicle position and time data to said automatic dependence surveillance via said bus interface and said data bus;
wherein said control board sends said vehicle position, velocity, attitude, and time data to said cockpit display via said bus interface and said data bus;
wherein said control board sends said vehicle position, velocity, and attitude data to said enhanced ground proximity warning system via said bus interface and said data bus;
wherein said control board sends said vehicle attitude and said body acceleration data to said weather radar via said bus interface and said data bus;
wherein said control board sends said vehicle position and attitude data to said satellite communication system via said bus interface and said data bus.
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63. A universal navigation and control box, comprising:
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an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for providing inertial measurements including body angular rates and specific forces;
a global positioning system (GPS) processor for providing GPS measurements including pseudorange, carrier phase, and. Doppler shift;
a central navigation and control processor for processing said GPS measurements and said inertial measurements to derive a navigation solution, which are connected with said GPS processor, said IMU and a data bus, comprising an IMU interface and preprocessing board, a navigation processing board, a shared memory card for storing data, a bus arbiter for monitoring and managing a common bus and a data bus, and a control board for controlling the data stream mutually connected together via said common bus, wherein said navigation processing board is connected with said GPS processor and a data bus for receiving said GPS measurements, said IMU interface and preprocessing board is connected with said IMU for converting said inertial measurements received from said IMU into digital data of body acceleration and rotation which are sent to said navigation processing board and said control board via said common bus, and said bus interface is connected between said control board and said data bus; and
a velocity producer for providing velocity measurement of a carrier of said universal navigation and control box with respect to said ground or water for said navigation processing board over a velocity producer interface and processing board and said common bus. - View Dependent Claims (64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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Specification