Trw Limited

Bryan H Kang

Michael J Wehner

Mark L Hanson

George C Hughes

Paul Steiner

D Hobson Lane

Arnold J Galloway

Warren H Taylor

Michael Busby

Paul A Lavoie

A method that allows a space vehicle to determine navigation information represented by the contents of a state vector. The method includes the steps of intermittently receiving navigation signals, initializing the state vector with an estimate of the navigation information, and generating a predicted state vector that represents the predicted values for the navigation information after a predetermined time increment in the future. The method further determines whether a navigation signal has been received within a predetermined window of time from a navigation beacon. If a navigation signal has been received, the method updates the state vector and the contents of the state vector are propagated forward in time to provide an estimate of the navigation information after a predetermined time increment. In some instances, however, a navigation signal is not received within the predetermined window of time. In such situations, the method simply propagates the contents of the predicted state vector forward in time. Thus, the predicted state vector maintains an estimate of the current navigation information even in the absence of a navigation signal.

Method and system for space navigation

Growing community of inventors

La Mirada, CA, United States of America

Bryan H Kang