Event sensor
First Claim
1. A system for measuring steering accuracy through a water course, comprising:
- a position observer subsystem;
a timing measurement device;
a computing device in communication with the position observer subsystem and the timing measurement device; and
a non-volatile storage coupled to the computing device and including locational information describing a preferred path of a mapped water course;
wherein the computing device is configured to receive an observed position and an observed velocity of a watercraft from the position observer subsystem, compare the observed position and the observed velocity with the locational information describing the preferred path of the mapped water course to determine a deviation of the watercraft from the preferred path, and use the deviation to compensate for an error in a time measurement that is received from the timing measurement device and that measures an elapsed time between a plurality of points in the mapped water course.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automatic timing measurement system provides a measure of time of passage of a watercraft through a prescribed course. Inertial or other estimates augmented by GPS speed/position measurements are used to track position of a watercraft, and those estimates are used to allow the locations of prescribed courses to be mapped and memorized. The apparatus may automatically detect passage of a watercraft through mapped courses for the purpose of measuring and reporting time of passage past key points in the course, and for modifying the behavior of the speed control of the apparatus if necessary at certain points in the mapped course. GPS speed control may be augmented with a secondary velocity measurement device that measures speed over water resulting in an optional user selectable real-time compensation for water current. Furthermore, GPS may be used as the key input to produce boat speed-based pull-up profiles.
111 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for measuring steering accuracy through a water course, comprising:
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a position observer subsystem; a timing measurement device; a computing device in communication with the position observer subsystem and the timing measurement device; and a non-volatile storage coupled to the computing device and including locational information describing a preferred path of a mapped water course; wherein the computing device is configured to receive an observed position and an observed velocity of a watercraft from the position observer subsystem, compare the observed position and the observed velocity with the locational information describing the preferred path of the mapped water course to determine a deviation of the watercraft from the preferred path, and use the deviation to compensate for an error in a time measurement that is received from the timing measurement device and that measures an elapsed time between a plurality of points in the mapped water course. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for measuring steering accuracy through a water course, comprising:
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a Global Positioning System (GPS) device configured to provide a plurality of GPS information related to a watercraft; an accelerometer configured to provide a watercraft acceleration of the watercraft; a timing measurement device configured to measure a time period; a permanent storage medium configured to include locational information describing a preferred path of a water course; and a computing device coupled to the GPS device, the accelerometer, the time measurement device, and the permanent storage medium, wherein the computing device is configured to receive and use the GPS information, the watercraft acceleration, and the locational information to determine a deviation of the watercraft from the preferred path, and use the deviation to compensate for an error in a time period that is received from the timing measurement device and that includes an elapsed time between a plurality of points in the mapped water course. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A steering accuracy measurement system, comprising:
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an accelerometer; a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit; a time measurement device; a permanent storage medium; a computing device coupled to the accelerometer, the GPS unit, the time measurement device, and the permanent storage medium, wherein the computing device is configured to; receive a observed position of the watercraft determined using the GPS unit; compare the observed position of the watercraft to information retrieved from the permanent storage medium that describes a preferred path of a mapped water course; determine a deviation of the watercraft from the preferred path based on the comparison of the observed position and the information describing the preferred path; receive a time measurement from the timing measurement device that measures an elapsed time between a plurality of points in the mapped water course; and compensate for an error in the time measurement using the deviation. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification