Global positioning using planetary constants
First Claim
1. A location measurement device comprising:
- a reference member having at least two degrees of freedom and coupled to a frame, wherein the reference member includes a rotatable end;
an arm pivotably coupled to the rotatable end and having an axis;
a rotatable head rotatably coupled to the arm, wherein the rotatable head includes a first inertial measurement device configured to measure acceleration parallel to the axis of the arm and a second inertial measurement device configured to measure acceleration perpendicular to the axis of the arm; and
a computation module configured to determine a position of the reference member relative to a body based on at least one measurement of the first inertial measurement device while the frame is stationary.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The disclosed invention is generally comprised of a device capable of measuring the vector sum of the centripetal acceleration of the rotation of the Earth (or that of any other planet in a planetary system) around its axis (arot) and the centripetal acceleration of the planet'"'"'s revolution in its orbit around the Sun (arev) and a method for performing the same using the measured physical data to calculate the latitude and longitude of the device on a surface. Measurements are taken by stepping accelerometers through different axis to determine centripetal acceleration, reading the output of the accelerometers and reading the angular disposition of the accelerometers using encoders and calculating the latitude and longitude from the measured data.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A location measurement device comprising:
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a reference member having at least two degrees of freedom and coupled to a frame, wherein the reference member includes a rotatable end; an arm pivotably coupled to the rotatable end and having an axis; a rotatable head rotatably coupled to the arm, wherein the rotatable head includes a first inertial measurement device configured to measure acceleration parallel to the axis of the arm and a second inertial measurement device configured to measure acceleration perpendicular to the axis of the arm; and a computation module configured to determine a position of the reference member relative to a body based on at least one measurement of the first inertial measurement device while the frame is stationary. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A location measurement device comprising:
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a reference member configured to align with a gravitational vector of a body; and a first inertial measurement device configured to align with an equivalent vector including a rotation vector and a revolution vector of the body; wherein an acceleration reading of the first inertial measurement device and the alignment of the first inertial measurement device are associated with a position of the reference member relative to the body. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A location measurement device comprising:
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a reference member; an arm pivotably mounted to the reference member; and an accelerometer coupled to the arm; and a computation module configured to; align the reference member to a gravitational vector associated with a body; at a first time, pivot the arm to a first position where a first acceleration reading of the accelerometer is maximized; at a second time, pivot the arm to a second position where a second acceleration reading of the accelerometer is maximized; and determine a position of the reference member relative to the body based on the first acceleration reading and second acceleration reading. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of locating a device, the method comprising:
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determining, at a first time, a first normal vector normal to a rotation vector and a revolution vector of a body; determining, at a second time, a second normal vector normal to the rotation vector and the revolution vector of the body; determining the revolution vector based on the first normal vector and the second normal vector; determining a first rotation vector based on the revolution vector; and determining a latitude of the device based on the first rotation vector. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A method of locating a device, the method comprising:
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measuring an equivalent vector including a rotation vector and a revolution vector for at least three-quarters of a rotation of a body; determining a first midway equivalent vector and a second midway equivalent vector, wherein the first midway equivalent vector occurs halfway between a maximum equivalent vector and a minimum equivalent vector during the rotation, and wherein the second midway equivalent vector occurs halfway between the minimum equivalent vector and the maximum equivalent vector during the rotation; determining the revolution vector based on the first midway equivalent vector and the second midway equivalent vector; determining a first rotation vector based on the revolution vector; and determining a latitude of the device based on the first rotation vector. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification