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:
Jan. 18, 2000
Filed:
Dec. 17, 1998
Lea Ann McNabb, Cupertino, CA (US);
David R Gildea, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Trimble Navigation Limited, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
An antenna aiming method and apparatus for automatically pointing an antenna to a selected distant location. The antenna aiming apparatus includes a database for storing data for distant locations, an electronic compass for determining a reference azimuth for the local antenna, and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for determining a local location. A processor computes a pointing direction having an azimuth and an elevation from the local location to the distant location and then computes a horizontal rotation angle between the pointing direction and the reference azimuth and a vertical rotation angle from horizontal to the elevation. An antenna rotator servo-mechanism under processor control rotates the local antenna by the horizontal and vertical rotation angles for pointing the local antenna to the distant location. Optionally, the apparatus further includes electronic roll and pitch inclinometers for providing information to the processor for correcting the horizontal and vertical rotation angles for pitch and roll of the platform.