Nautamatic Marine Systems, Inc.

Thrustmaster, Inc.

Eric K Juve

Douglas W Ford

Robert L Carter

Frank M Bouton

Clarence A Hoffman

Douglas F Paterson

Rodney W Kimmel

A steering system (,) includes an incremental helm (,), a control panel (,), and an autopilot (,) that are electrically connected to a command processor (,). The steering system further includes an autopilot attitude controller (,) and an incremental servo (,) for actuating the rudder. The incremental helm acts as a course selector for the autopilot. Upon autopilot engagement, the set heading is the current heading plus any heading change received from the helm after engagement. A course selection controller (,) employs a helm increment summer (,) and a washout filter (,) that are initialized to zero upon engagement. The washout filter follows short-term course changes but forgets them over a longer time. A disengage threshold block (,) receives the washout filter output and disengages the autopilot if the threshold is exceeded. The course selection controller allows a helmsman to make occasional course changes without automatically disengaging the autopilot unless the helmsman rotates the helm at a rate that exceeds the threshold. Upon disengagement, the autopilot is inhibited from re-engaging for a short time, after which the autopilot can re-engage when the turning rate approaches zero. The steering system further includes a helm rotation stop that provides the helmsman with rudder stop position feedback, responds to the rudder stops regardless of the current steering ratio, incorporates a powerful braking action with a low-power mechanism, and provides unidirectional braking at either rudder stop in response to a single steering limit signal.

Synchronizing multiple steering inputs to marine rudder/steering actuators

An automatic steering system (10) has a control subsystem (14) that employs a yaw rate control loop (90) and a steering control loop (92) to drive a hydraulic subsystem (12) in which the deflection rate of a steering actuator (16) is controlled without need for either a steering actuator angle sensor or an electronic steering bias integrator. Rather, the control subsystem employs a proportional rate servosystem to control the steering actuator deflection rate and a double-acting hydraulic cylinder (34) to provide the steering bias integral action. The control subsystem employs an electric compass (96) to generate heading data that are stored in a heading command register (102). An heading error is formed by calculating a difference between a desired heading and the current heading. A rate taker (94) generates a yaw rate feedback signal by differentiating changes in the current heading, or alternatively, a rate sensor (302) generates the yaw rate feedback signal directly. The heading error and yaw rate feedback signal are processed to generate a steering rate command to which the steering control loop responds by pumping hydraulic fluid at a rate proportional to the steering rate command into the hydraulic cylinder to deflect a steering actuator (38) of an outboard motor (18).

Automatic steering apparatus and method for small watercraft

A video game/simulator system in a personal computer (PC) with game port and keyboard port includes a joystick includes a base and a joystick handle pivotally mounted on the base for two-dimensional movement. The joystick controller is connectable to both the game port of the personal computer and to the keyboard port via a second, throttle controller. The throttle and joystick controller inputs are reconfigurable to work with different video game/simulator programs by downloading a new set of keycodes from the personal computer via the keyboard port to a microcontroller and nonvolatile memory in the throttle controller. The throttle and joystick controller have variable inputs which can be input to the PC in either analog or digital form. The digital inputs can be calibrated by changing their corresponding keycodes. A multi-stage trigger switch is hingedly mounted on the joystick for actuation by a user's index finger. The multi-stage trigger has a default position, a first actuated position, and a second actuated position and can be configured to fire a weapon in the first position and control a camera in the second position during operation of the video game/simulator.

Reconfigurable video game controller with graphical reconfiguration

An automatic steering system (10) has a control subsystem (14) that employs a yaw rate control loop (90) and a steering control loop (92) to drive a hydraulic subsystem (12) in which the deflection rate of a steering actuator (16) is controlled without need for either a steering actuator angle sensor or an electronic steering bias integrator. Rather, the control subsystem employs a proportional rate servosystem to control the steering actuator deflection rate and a double-acting hydraulic cylinder (34) to provide the steering bias integral action. The control subsystem employs an electric compass (96) to generate heading data that are stored in a heading command register (102). A heading error is formed by calculating a difference between a desired heading and the current heading. A rate taker (94) generates a yaw rate feedback signal by differentiating changes in the current heading. The heading error and yaw rate feedback signal are processed to generate a steering rate command to which the steering control loop responds by pumping hydraulic fluid at a rate proportional to the steering rate command into the hydraulic cylinder to deflect the steering actuator of an outboard motor (18).

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Aloha, OR, United States of America

Eric K Juve