The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 09, 1989
Filed:
Apr. 18, 1986
Applicant:
Inventor:
Everette E Vermilion, Seattle, WA (US);
Assignee:
Sundstrand Data Control, Inc., Redmond, WA (US);
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01C / ; G01C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
356-1 ; 356-5 ; 342120 ; 342453 ; 364458 ;
Abstract
A method and apparatus is disclosed for passively determining altitude above the ground of an aircraft by use of an active emitter carried on a second higher altitude aircraft. Specifically, the altitude of the aircraft is determined by measuring the time difference between direct path radiation and reflected path radiation, taking into account the distance between an upper antenna which receives the direct path radiation and a lower antenna which receives the reflected path radiation and the angles of travel relative to the vertical between the direct path radiation and the reflected path radiation.