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:
Feb. 16, 2010
Filed:
Nov. 04, 2004
Neil E. Goodzeit, Princeton, NJ (US);
Harald J. Weigl, Doylestown, PA (US);
Neil E. Goodzeit, Princeton, NJ (US);
Harald J. Weigl, Doylestown, PA (US);
Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bethesda, MD (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a system and a method for improving spacecraft antenna pointing accuracy utilizing feedforward estimation. The present invention takes advantage of the fact that spacecraft antenna pointing error has periodic behavior with a period of 24 hours. Thus, unlike the prior art feedback systems which blindly correct antenna pointing error continuously reacting only to presently sensed error, the present invention takes an intelligent approach and learns the periodic behavior of spacecraft antenna pointing error. Then, an estimate of antenna pointing error at a particular time going forward is predicted based on the learned model of the periodic behavior of the antenna pointing error. The predicted estimate is then used to correct or cancel out the antenna pointing error at a particular time in the future. The result is more accurate correction of spacecraft antenna pointing error by more than a factor of two.