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:
Aug. 16, 2016
Filed:
Apr. 07, 2015
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Ross D. Rosenwald, Tucson, AZ (US);
Jeffery B. Saunders, Tucson, AZ (US);
David E. Bossert, Tucson, AZ (US);
Erwin M. De Sa, Tucson, AZ (US);
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
A path is automatically routed for a sensor platform that projects a constant sensor footprint to the surface to observe a region of interest without crossing into an excluded area and to tracking that path. The path is routed by defining a bounding region around the region of interest and defining a convex hull around an obstacle within the region of interest. A parallel arrangement of rectangular planks is generated from each edge of the convex hull out to the bounding region. The extent of each rectangular plank is bounded at one end by the intersection of the plank with the bounding region and at the other end by the intersection of the plank with an extension of a next edge of the convex hull. The path is routed to traverse the parallel arrangement of rectangular planks for each edge of the convex hull in a raster scan pattern and to circle the convex hull in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. The path is tracked and the surface below sensed to capture a sequence of sensor outputs that together cover the entire region of interest except the region excluded by the convex hull.