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.

Date of Patent:
Oct. 23, 1990

Filed:

Oct. 31, 1988
Applicant:
Inventors:

Gerard K O'Neill, Princeton, NJ (US);

Leslie O Snively, Princeton, NJ (US);

Assignee:

Geostar Corporation, Washington, DC (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01S / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
342357 ; 342451 ; 342453 ; 342462 ;
Abstract

A radio position determation and message transfer system is implemented using a pair of satellites in geostationary orbit for replaying interrogation and replay signals between a ground station and a user-carried transceiver. The user portion is calculated based on the arrival times of replay signals received at the ground station via the two satellites, the known transmission time of the interrogation signal from the ground station, and the user's elevation on the surface of the earth. The elevation is derived from a stored terrain map providing local terrain elevations at a plurality of points of the earth's surface. The stored terrain map allows accurate position fixed to be obtained for surface users regardless of the deviation of the local terrain from the spherical or ellipsoidal model of the earth's surface.


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