Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Star tracker-aided airborne or spacecraft terrestrial landmark navigation system
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Application No.: US16020563Application Date: 2018-06-27
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Publication No.: US10935381B2Publication Date: 2021-03-02
- Inventor: Juha-Pekka J. Laine , Gregory P. Blasche , Matthew T. Jamula , Paul A. Bohn , Robin Mark Adrian Dawson , Benjamin F. Lane , Eric T. Hoke , Daniel M. Meiser , Joseph M. Kinast , Stephen P. Smith
- Applicant: The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.
- Applicant Address: US MA Cambridge
- Assignee: The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.
- Current Assignee: The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US MA Cambridge
- Agency: Sunstein LLP
- Main IPC: G01C21/00
- IPC: G01C21/00 ; G01S19/45 ; G06K9/00 ; G01C21/04 ; G01C21/16 ; G01C21/02 ; G06K9/62 ; G01S5/16 ; G01S19/48 ; G01S19/49

Abstract:
Methods and apparatus automatically determine a location, such as of an aircraft or spacecraft, by matching images of terrain below the craft, as captured by a camera, radar, etc. in the craft, with known or predicted terrain landmark data stored in an electronic data store. A star tracker measures attitude of the camera. An additional navigation aiding sensor provides additional navigational data. Optionally, a rangefinder measures altitude of the camera above the terrain. A navigation filter uses the attitude, the additional navigational data, and optionally the altitude, to resolve attitude, and optionally altitude, ambiguities and thereby avoid location solution errors common in prior art terrain matching navigation systems.
Public/Granted literature
- US20180313651A1 Star Tracker-Aided Airborne or Spacecraft Terrestrial Landmark Navigation System Public/Granted day:2018-11-01
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