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:
Dec. 04, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 13, 2000
Ashley Powers Danial, Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Arthur P. Balz, Jr., Anaheim, CA (US);
TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
A fine pointing assembly for steering a light beam in an optical inter-satellite communications system is disclosed. The fine pointing assembly (,) includes a mirror (,) connected to an assembly housing (,) by an outer gimbal (,), an inner gimbal (,) and a set of linear motors (,and,). The inner gimbal (,) is connected to the assembly housing (,) by flexure pivots (,and,) and the outer gimbal (,) is connected to the inner gimbal (,) by flexure pivots (,and,). A capacitive position sensor (,and,) and signal conditioning circuitry (,) located within the assembly housing (,) sense the position of the mirror (,) and provide feedback used in the control of the linear motors. The position sensor, linear motors and signal conditioning circuitry may include redundant elements. An exemplary embodiment of a fine pointing assembly (,) for pointing a representative 1.5 inch diameter mirror is described that displaces no more than 8 cubic inches.