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:
Jun. 13, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 08, 1999
Joseph W Goode, III, Alpharetta, GA (US);
John R Smith, Buford, GA (US);
Kenneth D Ashcraft, Alpharetta, GA (US);
Universal Avionics Systems Corporation--Instrument Division, Norcross, GA (US);
L-3 Communications Corporation, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus which utilizes a software-based digital signal processing circuit to generate a signal which is representative of the status of a movable component. A preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention includes a synchro which is connected to a movable component. An analog reference excitation may be applied to the synchro, and the synchro generates analog synchro signals which bear a relationship to the status of the movable component. The analog synchro signals are converted to digital synchro signals by a plurality of analog-to-digital converters. A digital reference signal and the digital synchro signals are provided to a software-based digital signal processing circuit which preferably corrects constant and time-varying errors in the digital synchro signals and generates a status signal which is representative of the status of the movable component. For instance, the status signal may represent the angular position of the movable component. A different embodiment of the status signal may represent the angular velocity of the movable component.