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:
Nov. 14, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 22, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Garry Didinsky, Niles, IL (US);
Yeong-Wei Andy Wu, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (US);
Assignee:
Hughes Electronics Corporation, El Segundo, CA (US);
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B64G / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
244164 ; 244171 ;
Abstract
An attitude sensing system utilizing simplified techniques and apparatus includes a spacecraft control processor which receives signals from an inertial measurement unit and two attitude sensors. The spacecraft control processor calculates a time-varying gain matrix for estimating attitude errors and gyroscope drifts corresponding to the axes of the inertial measurement unit. In special cases where the separation angle between the attitude sensor vectors is less than approximately 10 degrees, the time-varying gain matrix is computed as a fixed gain matrix and a corresponding desensitizing factor.