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:
Apr. 13, 1993
Filed:
Sep. 27, 1990
Paul E Hollandsworth, Charlottesville, VA (US);
Clifford Cantrell, North Garden, VA (US);
Sperry Marine Inc., Charlottesville, VA (US);
Abstract
The line of sight of an airborne radar antenna is stabilized from the pitch and roll motions of the aircraft by mounting the antenna on a three degree of freedom gimbal system. The gimbal system is comprised of a first gimbal mounted for rotation about the aircraft Z axis (azimuth) for pointing the antenna along the intended line of sight, a second gimbal mounted on the first gimbal for rotating up and down with respect to the azimuth gimbal and a third gimbal mounted on the second gimbal to which the antenna is connected for providing rotation to align antenna polarization relative to inertial ground. A two degree of freedom stabilization gyro provides stabilizing signals representative of aircraft pitch and roll motions with respect to inertial reference axes. The stabilization signals, together with a line of sight pointing signal, are applied to coordinate transformation equations to generate drive signals for the respective gimbals so as to maintain the antenna pointing in the intended direction with correct polarization.