Honeywell G.m.b.h.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation

Sperry Marine Inc.

Eldon John Thompson

Ronald K Richey

John F Dawson

Gregory Schluge

Rebecca A Bird

James A Cousens

David A Bennett

Jeffrey C Johnson

Albert L Coleman

John F Yancey, Jr

Johann-Peter Hoelting

Uwe Gerhard Oldekop

Hayo Steiger

Steven E Schubert

A marine vessel steering system having a bus to which an autopilot interface unit (AIU) containing an autopilot function is coupled. The system having at least one steering location at which autopilot function controls are positioned and coupled through a cable (bus) interface unit (CIU) to the bus for communication with the AIU. In the event that more than one steering location seeks access to the bus, priority is established by an arbitration procedure between data frames transmitted from each steering location. A manual steering unit, such as a helm, is positioned at the main steering location and directly coupled to the AIU, wherein a switch selects between autopilot function rudder control and helm rudder control. Miniwheels, which operate in a manner similar to that of a helm, are positioned at steering locations remote to the main steering location which communicate with the AIU to switch between autopilot function control to miniwheel control. A multiplicity of AIUs may be utilized to maintain operation with a minimum of disruption should an AIU fail by switching from the failed unit to one of the other AIUs. Marine vessels containing more than one rudder have an AIU respectively associated with each rudder. Through a master/slave arbitration procedure one AIU is established as the master and the others as the slaves. After the master/slave relationship is establish, the master provides all data for rudder control.

Flexible and fault tolerant networked steering system

The rudder angle indicator system utilizes a low cost potentiometer coupled to the rudder to provide a signal proportional to rudder angle. A stepper motor positions, in open loop arrangement, the dial of a rudder angle indicator, such as a large three-faced rudder angle display, in accordance with the potentiometer signal. An active sector tab and sensor are utilized to provide a signal in accordance with when the indicator is in the active sector of the display so as to minimize the search for the indicator zero index tab.

Rudder angle indicator system with active sector sensing

A ship steering system has a multiplicity of selectable steering stations. A continuously rotating helm at each steering station generates digital rudder control signals which cause a predetermined rudder movement for each 360.degree. of helm rotation. Steering stations are selected through a multiplexer controlled at a command steering station. The steering system is operable from the command steering station in a plurality of modes, which includes auto-pilot, helm (full-follow-up), and tiller (non-follow-up). Helm and/or tiller modes of operation are available at steering stations remote from the command steering station. The system provides for an emergency takeover from the helm or autopilot modes by automatically establishing the tiller mode when the tiller stick is moved. When in the autopilot mode an alarm system provides an alert should the course deviate from a selected course tolerance.

Configurable marine steering system

A digital mapping display system for an aircraft wherein map data from a mass memory unit is periodically loaded into RAM in the form of a cache memory in accordance with the aircraft trajectory. The cache memory is randomly addressable within the physical address space of a control processor, individual segments of the cache memory being loaded with map data and updated while other segments are being displayed, thereby avoiding the inherent delay of accessing the mass memory unit and addressing the entire RAM array. Parallel processing of map data and symbology facilitate a real-time display.

Digital map system

A contour line generator for identifying and displaying real time elevation contour lines for use with a moving map display. A plurality of data points neighboring a selected data point are compared to determine the presence or absence of a contour line. An average elevation is computed and applied to address a contour memory, having stored therein the elevations at which contour lines are desired to be displayed. The resultant logic signals are applied dynamically to override normal display data when a contour line is to be generated. The system provides programability for flexibility in modifying contour line intervals.

Digital contour line generator

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Ruckersville, VA, United States of America

Eldon John Thompson