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:
Sep. 11, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 25, 2000
Yeong-Wei Andy Wu, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (US);
Umesh S. Ketkar, Torrance, CA (US);
Rongsheng Li, Hacienda Heights, CA (US);
Richard Y. Chiang, RPV, CA (US);
Hughes Electronics Corporation, El Segundo, CA (US);
Abstract
Control systems and methods are provided which enhance acquisition range, transient response and offset pointing accuracy in beacon-assisted orientation of a spacecraft to a desired spacecraft attitude A,. The methods receive a beacon signal with antennas that are arranged in a fixed angular relationship to thereby form an attitude error signal S,whose magnitude is a measure of the attitude difference between a current spacecraft attitude A,and the desired spacecraft attitude A,. A sum power P,that is the sum of the signal powers from the antennas is sensed and a signal modifier S,is generated that increases with decreases in the sum power P,. The attitude error signal S,is then modified with a term (1+S,) to form an enhanced attitude error signal S,. In one embodiment, the signal modifier S,is n|P,−P,|,wherein n and m are positive numbers and P,is the sum power P,when the attitude error is zero.