Attitude control system for antenna on mobile body

• US 5,173,708 A
• Filed: 11/06/1991
• Issued: 12/22/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Morita, Makoto, Suzuki, Katsuo, Sekino, Kazuhiko, Mikawa, Toshimasa, Mizuno, Sadami, Kato, Hideharu
• Primary Examiner(s): Blum, Theodore M.
• Application Number:
  US07/788,620
• Time in Patent Office: 412 Days
• Field of Search: 342/359, 343/765, 343/766
• US Class Current: 342/359
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/1257 using the received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/3275 mounted on a horizontal surface of the vehicle, e.g. on roof, hood, trunk
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/08 for varying two co-ordinates of the orientation

Abstract

An attitude control system for an antenna on a mobile body is comprised of a supporting device for supporting the antenna in such a manner that the antenna is rotatable and is movable in the vertical direction, a driving device for driving the antenna, an attitude change detecting device for detecting a speed of the attitude of the antenna relative to to the source of radio wave, a first control device for controlling the driving device in such a manner that the antenna is driven for cancelling the deviation between the resultant of the attitude change detecting device and a correcting value a receiving device for receiving radio wave which is connected to the antenna, a second control device for changing the attitude of the antenna toward higher receiving level derived from the receiving device and a drift correcting device for renewing the correcting value in such a manner that accumulated vector becomes zero which is the accumulation of a vector upon the changing of the attitude of the antenna.

Claims

1. An attitude control system for an antenna (Ant) which is mounted on a movable body to be oriented to a source of a radio wave, the system comprising:

supporting means for supporting the antenna in such a manner that the antenna is rotatable relative to the movable body;

driving means for rotating the antenna;

attitude change detecting means for detecting a yaw angle speed of the movable body relative to the source of the radio wave;

first control means for controlling the driving means in such a manner that the antenna is driven at a speed corresponding to the sum of the yaw angle speed and a set correction value so as to correct the shift of the antenna which is due to the attitude change of the movable body relative to the source of the radio wave;

receiving means, connected to the antenna, for receiving radio waves;

second control means for controlling the driving means in such a manner that the attitude of the antenna is changed in order to seek its optimum position at which the maximum value of the receiving signal level is obtained;

accumulating means, connected to the second control means, for the vector accumulation upon the changing of the attitude of the antenna by the second control means; and

drift correcting means, connected to the first control means and the accumulating means, for renewing the correcting value in order that the accumulated vector becomes zero.

2. An attitude control system for an antenna on a mobile body according to claim 1, wherein the attitude change detecting means is a yaw angle speed detector.

3. An attitude control system for an antenna on a mobile body according to claim 1, wherein the first control means, the second control means and the drift correcting means are integrated in a common microcomputer.

4. An attitude control system for an antenna on a mobile body according to claim 6, wherein the yaw angle speed detector is a gyro.